Vice President Kamala Harris is heavily scrutinized after President Joe Biden’s lackluster performance against former President Donald Trump in the June 27 presidential debate. Biden ended his presidential reelection bid and endorsed Harris to carry the baton.
Harris has struggled to prove her worth despite low approval ratings and criticisms of her job. She has dedicated years of effort to the administration’s and the campaign’s appeal to younger people. However, she must also negotiate the complex realities of being a Black woman in politics.
Her supporters claim that Harris has consistently encountered racism and sexism, both in the form of exaggerated criticism and irrational expectations. Despite these obstacles, Harris has demonstrated her competence and tenacity in the political sphere by taking the lead on some divisive subjects.
The role of the Vice President is mostly seen as the behind-the-scene position, and it’s not unusual for a person second-in-command to establish themselves as a front-runner. After a failed 2020 presidential bid, many are concerned that she might not have what it takes to run against Trump. Despite these challenges, Harris has taken the lead on several contentious issues as Vice President and in her career as a prosecutor to have an edge in the race for the November elections.
During her years as San Francisco’s district attorney and then as California’s attorney general, Harris adopted positions well-received by the party’s left wing, such as opposing the death penalty and taking a firm stand in talks with large banks on improper foreclosure practices. Critics have also shown that she didn’t do enough to fight for the defendants’ rights and protect those in low-income communities.
In a CBS News interview, she nudged back at them, saying that she advocated for law enforcement changes, such as mandating body cameras and “implicit bias” training for officers.
While serving as San Francisco’s district attorney, she launched the “Back on Track” program to assist low-level drug offenders in reentering society. She also supported LGBTQ rights and efforts to combat climate change.
Harris’ memoir, The Truths We Hold, discusses her battle against for-profit universities during her time as California’s attorney general and her success in getting a $1.2 billion judgment against Corinthian Colleges, which is no longer in operation, for its lending and advertising policies.
However, some detractors contend that her initiatives to combat truancy disproportionately singled out impoverished neighborhoods. When a parent’s child misses school, they may be fined up to $2,000 and incarcerated for up to a year. Harris then apologized for the policy.
Kamala Harris’s election as Vice President in 2020 was a historic milestone. In office, she has focused on key issues such as immigration, reproductive rights, and voting rights. Harris led the Biden administration’s diplomatic efforts to address the root causes of migration from Central America, securing significant private sector investments to promote economic opportunities and reduce violence in the region.
In 2022, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Harris emerged as a vocal advocate for abortion rights. She launched the “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour in January 2024, visiting clinics and pushing for increased abortion access. Her visit to a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota marked the first time a sitting vice president or president had visited such a facility.
She has also been at the forefront of efforts to codify voting rights protections. She pushed for the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, which aimed to extend the 1965 Voting Rights Act protections and require federal approval for changes to local election laws.
Harris has been overseeing the first-ever Office of Gun Violence and Prevention, addressing an issue that Republicans have long obstructed. She has led maternal health efforts, expanded postpartum Medicaid access in 47 states plus D.C., and established the national maternal mental health hotline. Harris’s initiatives include eradicating lead pipes, expanding broadband access, and making Juneteenth a federal holiday. She played a key role in passing the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, making lynching a federal crime after over 200 failed attempts.
