By Macy Meinhardt, Voice & Viewpoint Staff Writer
Vice President Kamala Harris’s entrance into the presidential campaign has sparked vigorous debate over her track record so far, as well as her ability to lead the country on key voter issues such as immigration, the economy, and reproductive rights.
Voice & Viewpoint met up with volunteer workers at the local Harris-Walz headquarters, —hosted by the San Diego Democratic Party—at the Jacobs Center in Southeast San Diego as they embarked on the final stretch to reach voters.
Up against an abbreviated campaign season, a key challenge for the Democratic campaign is distinguishing Harris’s policy positions from President Joe Biden, while communicating what she has already done and plans to do.
“A big part of this work is getting people to understand that Kamala Harris has been a vice president, and not a president and so people have misinformed views or expectations of what she might have been able to do in her role as a vice president, versus if she were a president,” said Samantha Jenkins, a local volunteer helping with voter outreach and engagement for the San Diego Democratic Party.
During her vice presidency, Biden appointed Harris to lead key objectives within his administration: addressing the root causes of immigration, reproductive and maternal health rights advocacy, voting rights legislation, and gun violence prevention.
Here is where her record stands.
Historic Tie-Breaking Votes
The Vice President is empowered to cast a tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate to advance legislation. Harris has broken the record for tie breaking Senate votes, with 33 such votes that advanced items including reformative environmental and health care law and a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package. In addition, over 30 percent of her tie breaking votes went towards the nomination of people of color to open federal reserve positions, based on records from Ballotpedia.
Cost of Living
- Inflation Reduction Act: Harris cast a tie-breaking vote to pass the largest climate and clean energy investment in U.S history. The legislation works to reduce gas and prescription drug costs, climate change affects, stimulate job and economic growth, and includes a $265 billion investment in clean energy.
- American Rescue Plan: Harris’s vote helped pass COVID relief legislation, a $1.9 trillion dollar package to help Americans and businesses recover from COVID-19 impacts.
- Economic Opportunity Coalition: Harris announced the EOC in 2021 to address economic disparities and boost opportunities in communities of color and underserved areas. The initiative, through a partnership between the federal government and a coalition of 24 companies and foundations, has reached its $1 billion goal in minority and community lending.
Black Maternal Health
- BluePrint for Addressing The Maternal Health Crisis: Spearheaded by Harris, the Blueprint works to combat maternal mortality rates, particularly among women of color. Key efforts include: extending postpartum Medicaid coverage from 2 to 12 months, encouraging states to cover doula services, a National Maternal Health Hotline, and an investment to grow and diversify the perinatal workforce to include non-traditional providers. As of August, $558 million in funding by The U.S Department of Health and Human Services has been announced in direct connection to the Blueprint, according to a news release from The Centers for Disease Control.
Reproductive Rights
- Leading Voice Against Roe V. Wade Reversal: As a result of the reversal of core reproductive rights legislation in 2022, Harris has dedicated the last two years in office meeting with lawmakers, activists, and healthcare providers to strategize on protecting access to abortion services. Executive and legal actions taken to limit the impact of the ban include safeguarding emergency care under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA), ensuring pharmacy compliance, enforcing non-discrimination policies, strengthening data privacy, and defending the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, a drug used to end a pregnancy.
Immigration
- Addressing the root cause of Immigration: In the early months of her term, Biden tapped Harris to lead diplomatic efforts in addressing the “root causes” of immigration. Harris’ task was to improve the living conditions of three Latin American Countries–El Salavador, Honduras, and Guatemala–in an effort to decrease the odds of migrants wanting to leave due to poverty, gang-violence, and corruption. $4.2 billion from more than 50 companies and organizations have gone towards economic growth in these regions, through Harris’ Central America Forward initiative. Reportage from The Washington Post shows that migration from the three Central American countries dropped by 35 percent in 2023, although it is difficult to tie that directly to Harris’ records, as migration from other countries such as Venezuela has increased.
Voting Rights Protection
- Led the administration’s efforts to expand voter protections: Biden appointed Harris in 2021 to lead efforts in protecting voting rights, particularly for minorities. Harris pushed Congress to pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which would prevent states from passing discriminatory voting laws against minority voters, set standards for early voting, mail voting, and would take action to curb gerrymandering and certain campaign finance practices. The bills met opposition in the Senate and were stalled. While on the campaign trail she has made promises to sign the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and Freedom to Vote Act into law if voted into office as president.
Gun Violence Prevention
- Oversees the first ever White House Office for Gun Violence Prevention: Established in 2023, Harris oversees the office’s key priorities, including enhancing background checks and expanding support for survivors and victims of gun violence.
- Contributed to Bipartisan Safer Communities Act: Regarded by the White House as the most impactful gun violence prevention measure in three decades. Expands background checks to include juvenile records for sales to persons under 21, grants the U.S. Department of Justice additional powers to prosecute gun traffickers, provides mental health services in schools to assist youth affected by gun violence trauma, and funds community-based violence intervention programs.
The aforementioned list reflects Harris’s track record on issues top of mind in this election-–cost of living, immigration, reproductive rights, healthcare, and gun violence.
Although her record stands, Harris’s effectiveness as vice president is still debated.
“What’s coming out of the right and out of the opposition is this: ‘Well, she’s been vice president for three and a half years. Why hasn’t she done all the things that she is creating her platform on now?’ A big part of that is informing people of what isn’t even in the purview of the vice president—it’s that education piece,” said Jenkins.
Oakland University student, Marcus Johnson, recently went viral for his live commentary on the role of vice president during a voter panel discussion hosted by NBC.
“If anyone took high school civics class, they would know what the vice president can do, and what the vice president cannot do,” said Johnson. “You don’t get to do what you want, you do what the president delegates you to do.”
As a voter, Jenkins perceives the controversy over Harris’s track record as being tied to racist and misogynistic undertones.
“I’m very comfortable with Kamala Harris. I recognize that there has been consistent misinformation around her record, and I think a lot of that is—up until now, I think the media’s unwillingness to really hold people accountable for misogyny and racism,” said Jenkins.
“As a person with an intersectional identity, she’s experiencing both of those things.”
