Since she announced her candidacy for president of the United States in January 2019, Sen. Kamala Harris has been the subject of a smear campaign full of lies by the majority of news outlets, public figures and general social media users.
One myth about Harris is she is not progressive. This rhetoric came largely from Sen. Bernie Sanders’ and Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s supporters. Harris is constantly being touted as not progressive and a “more moderate candidate.”
As someone who has supported Harris since seeing her questioning of Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, I have gone through her entire history of sponsored/co-sponsored bills and skimmed through her voting record.
A summary I can offer is via a nonpartisan organization known as ProgressivePunch. ProgressivePunch.org gives an in-depth rundown of a senator’s voting record — and whether their vote was progressive. Since taking office in 2017, Harris has voted the progressive way on 620 out of 638 bills — equaling a Progressive Composite Score of 97.18%. Warren and Sanders — who have been crowned the face of the progressive and liberal movement — have scores of 98.53% and 96.77% respectively.
Not being progressive isn’t the only thing pinned against Harris. She’s been slammed for not supporting the LGBTQA+ community as well.
She has been a documented supporter of the LGBTQ+ community since her days as a District Attorney in 2004. As the DA for San Francisco, she gathered a diverse group of 200 other DAs from around the country to discuss and combat the legal Gay/Trans Panic Defense. Shortly after, California became the first state to ban the Gay/Trans Panic Defense.
Also, in 2013, then-Attorney General Harris spoke six bold words that literally made history: “You must start the marriages immediately.” She was quick to step in when a county clerk hesitated to give out a same-sex marriage license and she officiated one of the first same-sex marriages in the state.
When Harris was AG, a transgender person in the prison system sued the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation because they wanted gender-reassignment surgery, but the department wouldn’t allow it. The case caught Harris’ attention and now, thanks to her, transgender people who are incarcerated in California can get gender-reassignment surgeries and the department pays for it.
Finally, the phrase “Kamala is a cop” is often thrown around. Harris has always said she wants to be smart on crime. This has somehow been interpreted to mean “tough on crime.” Harris has spent her entire career ensuring that law enforcement and the criminal justice system targets the correct people — dating all the way back to her career as District Attorney. As attorney general, Harris asked then-California Gov. Jerry Brown to open a special department with a group of prosecutors solely to investigate police shootings. This was crucial because it would allow a third-party to look into police misconduct. Though her request was denied by Brown, she continued fighting for the idea of being “smart on crime” rather than “tough on crime” — which she is very often wrongfully described as.
For students and workers, it can be difficult to find time to do research outside your academic or professional duties, but I urge you to do so before exhibiting rhetoric about Sen. Kamala Harris. She has been the subject of so many hit pieces that the first page of a simple Google search about her will have nothing but negative headlines — and who of us actually takes the time to go to the second page of a Google search? Not me.
Go directly to governmental or nonpartisan websites to look at her voting record and views — that’s where you can form an accurate opinion about elected officials.
Aaron Bharucha can be reached at [email protected].