WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� As California鈥檚 attorney general, Kamala Harris successfully defended the death penalty in court, despite her past crusade against it.
As a new senator, 鈥� a reversal from when she chided San Francisco judges for making it 鈥渃heaper鈥� to commit crimes by setting bail amounts too low.
And now, as vice president and the Democratic presidential nominee, Harris' , an oil and gas extraction process, even though that was just a few years ago when she first pursued the White House.
Politicians often recalibrate in the face of shifting public opinions and circumstances. Across two decades in elected office and now seeking the presidency for the second time, to stake out expedient and 鈥� at times 鈥� contradictory positions as she climbed the political ladder. Harris鈥� litany of policy reversals is opening her to attacks by Republicans and testing the strength of her pitch to voters as a truth-teller who is more credible than former President Donald Trump.
Her shifts, including on issues, could raise doubts about her convictions as she is reintroducing herself to the public after taking the reins of the campaign from President Joe Biden, who last month dropped out of the race.
In addition to reversing course on fracking and cash bail, Harris has changed tack on issues including health care (she supported a plan before she opposed it), and gun control.
鈥淪he is vulnerable to the charge of flip-flopping, no question about that,鈥� said John Pitney, a professor of political science at Claremont McKenna College in California, who worked as a GOP congressional and political aide in the 1980s. 鈥淭he trouble for Republicans, to put it lightly鈥� is Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, 鈥渄o not come to this issue with spotless records.鈥�
In a statement, Harris' campaign did not address her policy shifts. Instead, a campaign spokesman leaned into her credentials as a San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general to attack Trump.
鈥淒uring her career in law enforcement, Kamala Harris was a pragmatic prosecutor who successfully took on predators, fraudsters and cheaters like Donald Trump," said spokesman James Singer.
Trump has changed positions, too
Trump has a well-documented record of One of the clearest examples of his penchant for taking all sides of an issue is on abortion, a transition that took him from 鈥渧ery pro-choice鈥� in 1999 to 鈥減ro-life" in recent years. He suggested during his 2016 presidential campaign that women who have abortions should be subject to 鈥渟ome form of punishment,鈥� but now says should be left up to the states. He has also boasted of appointing three justices to the Supreme Court, paving the way for its landmark 2022 ruling striking down the constitutional right to abortion.
Nevertheless, there is ample incentive for Republicans to attack Harris along similar lines if history is a guide.
Republicans in 2004 savaged then-Sen. John Kerry for voting both for and against the same Iraq War funding bill, which they distilled down to the attack that he 鈥渨as for it before (he) was against it." Democrats attacked George H.W. Bush for failing to abide by his 鈥渞ead my lips鈥� vow to not raise taxes.
Such criticism hasn't always resonated. In 1992, Democratic presidential hopeful Paul Tsongas attacked Bill Clinton, dismissing him days before the New Hampshire primary as a 鈥減ander bear鈥� who "will say anything, do anything to get votes.鈥� Clinton defeated Tsongas days later before winning two terms in the White House.
The death penalty
One of Harris鈥� most pronounced shifts was over the death penalty. During a 2004 inauguration speech after her election as San Francisco鈥檚 district attorney, Harris vowed to 鈥渘ever charge the death penalty.鈥� She framed her choice as a moral one.
She stuck to that pledge when a 21-year-old gang member was accused of killing San Francisco Police Officer Isaac Espinoza. Harris announced that she would not seek the ultimate punishment 鈥� a decision condemned by police and some fellow Democrats. At the officer's funeral, Harris was forced to look on as Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein received a standing ovation when she said the death penalty was warranted.
Harris softened her approach four years later, after launching her campaign for California attorney general. Amid a tightly contested race with Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, a Republican, Harris said she would 鈥漞nforce the death penalty as the law dictates.鈥� While other Democrats on the ballot cruised to victory , Harris barely won.
She kept that promise. Her office successfully defended the death penalty in court, arguing she was obligated to uphold the law as the state's top attorney 鈥� even as she refused to enforce a referendum that banned gay marriage.
鈥楤lood and guts prosecutor鈥� turned progressive
As district attorney, Harris zealously approached criminal enforcement matters. While still a candidate, she blasted the progressive incumbent, Terence Hallinan, as a 鈥渄o nothing prosecutor鈥� and called for taking more aggressive steps to police the homeless. Once in office, she pursued the parents of chronically truant students, sought higher bail amounts and aggressively prosecuted drug crimes, earning her the nickname of 鈥淐opala.鈥�
When a scandal erupted at the city's crime lab involving a drug-skimming evidence technician, her office failed to promptly disclose the problem to defense attorneys, as required. She also sought to continue prosecuting the tainted cases, criticized the judge handling the matter as biased and trying to have her removed from overseeing the cases involving the technician, who had often served as an expert witness.
Harris has said she was unaware of issues with the lab, though emails released in a court case show her top deputies knew there was a problem.
鈥淪he was a blood and guts prosecutor,鈥� said Bill Fazio, a longtime San Francisco attorney who ran against Harris in the 2003 district attorney's race. 鈥淢y history with her is she never gave away cases.鈥�
As attorney general, Harris continued to take hardline stances on criminal justice matters. She appealed convictions that judges had ordered thrown out. Her office fought a court order mandating the release of state prisoners due to overcrowding. She also opposed legislation requiring her office to investigate shootings involving police and declined to back statewide standards for the use of body cameras by local law enforcement.
Once elected to the Senate in 2016, however, Harris jettisoned many of those positions amid speculation she would pursue the presidency. She sought instead to portray herself as a 鈥減rogressive prosecutor鈥� and proposed sweeping reforms, including abolishing the cash bail system 鈥� which her attorneys had defended in court just months before 鈥�
In May 2020, violent protests erupted in Minneapolis over the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man. A police station was torched and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who is now Harris' running mate, called in the National Guard to help quell the unrest. In the days that followed, Harris took to the social media site Twitter, now known as X, and urged her followers to 鈥渃hip in鈥� to a bail fund to help those arrested post bond.
It鈥檚 unclear if Harris, who tweeted 鈥淓nd money bail鈥� as a presidential candidate, still supports the idea. She abandoned her and was picked the next year to join Biden's ticket. Her campaign declined to directly address the question.
鈥淪he believes that we need a system where public safety, not wealth, determines who should stay behind bars following an arrest. Anyone who is a danger to society should be detained regardless of how wealthy they are,鈥� said Singer, the spokesman.
鈥業 did inhale鈥�
Harris also changed positions on two other hot-button issues: marijuana and gun control.
Most Americans live in states where marijuana is legal in some form, and Harris is now the first major party presidential nominee to advocate for marijuana legalization.
But at different junctures of her time in office, she has been an enforcer of cannabis laws and an opponent of legalized use for adults in California.
Though she defended marijuana鈥檚 use for medicinal purposes as district attorney, her prosecutors in San Francisco convicted more than 1,900 people on cannabis-related offenses.
In 2010, when she was running to become California鈥檚 top law enforcement official, she opposed allowing marijuana sales for recreational use. At the time, she said it would cause confusion in the state鈥檚 loosely regulated medicinal marketplace.
When running for reelection as California attorney general, Harris said she did not support legalizing recreational use of marijuana 鈥� a position endorsed by her Republican challenger.
By the time she was running for president in 2019, she had reversed course and was even joking about having smoked the drug.
鈥淚 did inhale,鈥� she quipped during a radio interview, referring to smoking pot in her college days, twisting a line Bill Clinton used in his 1992 campaign to deflect criticism that he had used the drug.
Earlier this year, as more dangerous than fentanyl, and she criticized the federal classification of cannabis as 鈥減atently unfair.鈥�
Harris has undergone an 鈥渆volution in thought on the issue that is representative of the American public at large,鈥� said Morgan Fox, political director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML.
With most American adults supporting legalization, Fox said, 鈥渋t鈥檚 not surprising that any particular politician also would."
Since becoming vice president, Harris has pulled back from her support for mandatory gun buy-back programs, which helped her stand out in a crowded 2019 Democratic primary. Such policies would force millions of gun owners to sell their AR-15s and similar firearms to the government, a proposal that found little support among other Democrats or gun safety advocates.
She now advocates for more moderate and politically popular proposals, including universal background checks on gun sales and 鈥渞ed flag鈥� laws that generally allow family members or law enforcement officers to seek a court order restricting gun access to those posing an immediate risk to themselves or public safety.
鈥淪he鈥檚 a political animal, there鈥檚 no question about it,鈥� said Geoff Brown, a former San Francisco public defender who knew Harris during her time as a Bay Area prosecutor. 鈥淏ut you don鈥檛 get to be president unless you are one."
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Blood reported from Los Angeles and Suderman reported from Richmond, Virginia.
Brian Slodysko, Michael R. Blood And Alan Suderman, The Associated Press
