Kamala Harris, then-San Francisco District Attorney, poses for a portrait on June 18, 2004.
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Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press
Two days before President Biden announced he would withdraw from his bid for a second term, his campaign chairwoman, Jen O’Malley Dillon, appear on televisionaffirmed that the president will continue to run for re-election.
“He is the best person to take on Donald Trump and prosecute that case,” Dillon said.
But about 72 hours later, Vice President Harris took his place. make the same argument — and reiterated an argument she made in 2019, when she ran for that year’s Democratic nomination.
“Before I was elected vice president, before I was elected United States senator, I was the elected attorney general, as I mentioned, of California. And before that, I was a court prosecutor,” Harris said. told campaign staff in Wilmington, Del., the day after Biden endorsed her to replace him at the top of the Democratic nomination.
“In those roles, I took on villains of all kinds — predators who abused women, con men who ripped off consumers, crooks who broke the rules for their own gain. So listen to me when I say: I know Donald Trump’s type,” Harris said, in a line that became the centerpiece of her blitzkrieg campaign.
Then-California Attorney General Kamala Harris speaks to the media after a raid on a money laundering operation in Los Angeles on September 10, 2014.
Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images
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Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images
It’s rhetoric Harris has used before.
Back in 2019, when she first ran for president, Harris’ campaign focused on her career as a prosecutor. Her motto was “for the people,” which is how Harris introduced herself in court.
Her appeal to voters remains the same today: that with her experience as a prosecutor, she is best suited to take on Trump.
But Five years agoHarris’ record as a prosecutor has been a liability in her campaign. She faced attacks from her Democratic opponents in the primary debates over her record on marijuana and her crackdown on truancy rates. Voters on the left have called Harris a cop.
“And they don’t mean it as a compliment,” said Paul Butler, a law professor at Georgetown and former prosecutor.
Former President Donald Trump leaves court after being found guilty in his hush money trial in Manhattan Criminal Court on May 30, 2024.
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The message will be different in 2024
This time, however, Butler said Harris’ history as a prosecutor may be viewed differently by voters — because voters’ perceptions of public safety, criminal justice and Trump have changed.
“In some ways, the prosecution of Donald Trump has upended the way that some progressives and some conservatives think about our criminal justice system,” Butler said. “Now, a lot of people on the left are focused on prosecuting, holding Donald Trump accountable.”
Butler said Harris would likely use her experience as a prosecutor to try to highlight her centrist political views.
“Her message to more conservative audiences will be that her policies as district attorney and attorney general of California demonstrate that she is not soft on crime,” Butler said. “But her message to progressive audiences will be that her experience as a prosecutor gives her unique expertise in the problems in the system and how to fix them.”
Vice President Harris speaks to police officers after a shooting that left seven people dead in Highland Park, Ill., on July 5, 2022.
Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images
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Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images
Harris’ presentation is ‘smart’ about crime
Trying to resolve justice issues peacefully has long been part of Harris’ strategy.
In 2003, Harris, a court prosecutor, launched her first political campaign, running for San Francisco district attorney.
She rejected the idea that law enforcement officials had to be tough on crime or soft on crime, said David Chiu, a friend who was part of Harris’s “kitchen” at the time. Instead, she wanted to be “smart” about crime, he said.
“The goal is to increase conviction rates, but at the same time, we have to look at recidivism rates and use data to drive reform and accountability,” said Chiu, now the San Francisco City Attorney.
As district attorney, Harris spearheaded initiatives like Back on Track, a job training program for first-time, nonviolent offenders. Harris’ supporters say that program and other Harris efforts were ahead of her time.
But some of her other efforts have been criticized — particularly her efforts to cut truancy, which criminalized parents whose children missed school. That history has come back to haunt her 2019 campaign.
But allies like Chiu say times have changed. “The times in 2003 were very different than they were in ’24,” Chiu said.
