Harris no longer supports some very liberal ideas she used to.
Vice President Harris, who recently launched a new bid for the presidency following President Biden’s exit from the race, is now distancing herself from several far-left positions that she previously supported.
During her initial presidential run years ago, Harris appealed to the liberal faction of the Democratic Party to attract attention. However, she ended that campaign in December 2019. In the summer of 2020, amidst the new radical ideas embraced by Democrats following George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis and the Black Lives Matter protests, Harris shifted her stance.
In recently resurfaced video clips featured in ads by Republican David McCormick’s U.S. Senate campaign in Pennsylvania, Harris can be seen opposing fracking, suggesting a potential abolishment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), criticizing the idea of hiring more police officers, and contemplating allowing felons to vote. Additionally, Harris expressed support for a “mandatory buyback program” for guns and the elimination of private health insurance. These details were summarized by the New York Times.
Especially significant for Pennsylvania, a crucial battleground state in the 2024 race, was Harris’ reversal on fracking announced on Friday by her re-election campaign official. The Harris campaign clarified to The Hill that if she were to be elected president, she would not seek to ban fracking, contrary to her previous statement to CNN during the 2020 nomination campaign, where she had declared her favor for a fracking ban.
Former President and Republican nominee Donald Trump referenced Harris’ anti-fracking position in Minnesota, highlighting the impact this could have in Pennsylvania. He emphasized the value of modern technology in capturing politicians’ statements, asserting that individuals cannot escape accountability for their words.
A Harris campaign official informed the Times that the campaign intends to discredit claims made by Republicans based on Harris’ past remarks supporting left-wing ideologies. They plan to portray them as exaggerated or false accusations regarding Harris’ actual record. Emphasizing Harris’ ties to law enforcement, the campaign aims to highlight her history as a local prosecutor and state attorney general in California.
As of late, Harris has demonstrated a shift in her positions, aligning with the Biden administration’s budget requests for increased border enforcement funding, withdrawing her opposition to a universal health insurance system, and supporting Biden’s proposal to ban assault weapons. However, she now opposes any mandate requiring private firearm owners to sell their weapons to the federal government.
Notably, Harris no longer advocates for “Medicare-for-all,” suggesting a departure from her previous stance. Brian Fallon, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, emphasized her decades-long career as a prosecutor dedicated to sending violent offenders to prison, countering Trump’s attempts to distort her image through falsehoods.
Highlighting a remark made by Harris in 2019 about being receptive to expanding the Supreme Court, the Trump campaign drew attention to this statement. However, the Harris campaign has issued a statement endorsing Biden’s Supreme Court reform proposal that entails term limits and ethical guidelines for justices, without the addition of more members to the court.
Discussing the array of video clips showcasing Harris’ previous far-left viewpoints, Republican strategist Brad Todd, working with McCormick’s campaign, underscored their intention to utilize this content extensively in the ongoing campaign.
