- Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic front-runner on Sunday.
- The former California prosecutor once described himself as a center-left politician.
- But her positions on abortion, climate and the economy have managed to grab the attention of progressives.
Vice President Kamala Harris has become the front-runner for the Democratic nomination after President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race in a stunning policy reversal four months before the election.
Harris ran a successful campaign as a center-left politician, including winning a statewide election in California. The San Francisco District Attorney’s Office, the state Attorney General, and the U.S. Senator.
Harris was seen as the Democratic front-runner in the 2020 election and a relative moderate behind Biden, but her campaign faltered after some critics said she failed to present a clear ideological vision.
Still, the former prosecutor turned vice president has managed to attract both moderates and progressives with her stances on abortion, climate and the economy.
Here’s where she stands on the key issues:
abortion
Harris has supported abortion rights since her time as a senator.
She previously voted against a bill that would have banned abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, and criticized Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s stance on abortion during his 2018 confirmation hearing.
As vice president, Harris repeatedly stressed the importance of abortion rights and became a leading voice on the issue in the Biden administration after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
According to CNN, Harris is believed to be the first sitting president or vice president to make an official visit to an abortion clinic.
climate
Harris previously said: Policies to combat climate change, including a plan to transition the United States to 100% renewable energy and a carbon tax.
In July 2023, Harris helped the Biden Administration introduce a $20 billion plan to fund climate and clean energy projects across the country.
Criminal Justice
As district attorney and attorney general, Harris took some controversial actions that drew criticism from progressives, but she has changed her stance over time, and in the 2020 election, she ran more to the left of Biden on several issues related to criminal justice reform, according to the Marshall Project.
Harris co-sponsored the Marijuana Justice Act of 2018, which would not classify cannabis as a controlled substance, and was opposed to recreational marijuana legalization until she changed her position in 2018.
During the 2020 campaign, Harris laid out a plan to reduce prison populations for women and children and end solitary confinement.
She also said she supports federal standards on police departments’ use of force and proposed creating a federal commission that could review police shootings, according to the Marshall Project.
economy
Harris is expected to tout several advances. The Biden administration has achieved several economic policy successes, including an infrastructure deal and an inflation-busting law that caps insulin costs.
In April, Harris announced a nationwide “Economic Opportunity Tour” to tout her administration’s progress on small business investment, inflation and student loan forgiveness.
Harris has previously introduced policies to help the middle class, including a $3,000 refundable tax credit for people making under $50,000 a year and a $6,000 credit for couples making under $100,000.
She also pushed for higher corporate taxes and criticized former President Donald Trump’s tax cuts.
health care
During her first presidential run, Harris’ rivals harshly criticized her shifting stance on health insurance, and in 2019, she made waves by becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate to team up with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on a “Medicare for All” plan.
As a presidential candidate, Harris was equivocal about whether she would allow private health insurance to remain in place, raising her hand during a primary debate to say she would abolish them but later said she misunderstood the question.
Harris eventually released her own version of a “Medicare for All” plan, but the Sanders campaign criticized it for moving too slowly (her plan called for a 10-year transition period) and Biden’s advisers slammed it for being too progressive, The Huffington Post recently reported.
In another difference from Biden, Harris supports strong drug price controls, such as pegging US drug prices to those in other wealthy countries, according to Stat News.
Immigration
Immigration is another area where Harris has shifted her policy stance over time.
As San Francisco’s district attorney, she supported the city’s policy of turning young immigrants over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement if they were arrested or charged with a felony.
A spokesperson for Harris’ campaign later told CNN that “this policy could have been applied more fairly.”
Ms. Harris has said she wants to overhaul Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), criticized President Trump’s border wall as a “medieval vanity project,” and supported a bipartisan border security deal that would close the border if the number of migrants reaches a threshold of 5,000 per week. Senate Republicans rejected the bill in May.
Vice President Harris was tasked with addressing the root causes of migration from Central America to the US. She has warned migrants not to travel to the US border, angering some Democrats.
“Don’t come. Don’t come. The United States will continue to enforce our laws and protect our borders,” Harris said at a 2021 press conference alongside Guatemala’s then-President Alejandro Giammattei.
Republicans have already cast Harris as a “border secretary” and tried to exaggerate her responsibility. Polls show Trump with a big lead on immigration, making it clear why Republicans want to push the issue onto Harris.
Israel and Gaza
Harris was a strong supporter of the US-Israel relationship during the 2020 campaign, once calling it an “unbreakable” bond and pledging to “do everything in our power” to preserve Israel’s right to defend itself.
After Hamas’ invasion of Israel, Harris said “the threat that Hamas poses to the Israeli people must be eliminated,” but later in March she also called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.
She also reiterated the Biden administration’s call against Israel’s incursion into Rafah in southern Gaza.
In December 2023, Harris said she supported a two-state solution.
LGBTQ+ rights
During her time as attorney general, Harris supported the legalization of same-sex marriage and did not defend California’s ban on same-sex marriage.
But Judge Harris tried to block sex reassignment surgery for transgender prisoners, arguing it was not “immediately necessary.”
As San Francisco’s district attorney, she established a hate crimes unit to investigate crimes against LGBTQ+ youth.
Harris reaffirmed her support for LGBTQ+ rights as vice president, but did not outline any specific policies.
