Harris recalibrates policy stances as she adjusts to role atop Democratic ticket
From fracking to single-payer health care, several cornerstones of her 2020 presidential run, as well as her time as a US senator and California attorney general, now appear at odds with the policies that have crystallized during the Biden-Harris administration and emerged as critical issues in battleground states.
The policy changes reflect the differences between the moderation that has come with governing during the current administration’s time in office and the demands of the 2020 Democratic primary, when both Joe Biden and Harris reversed course on certain policies in an attempt to move to the left. Harris ended her 11-month bid as one of the more progressive candidates in a crowded field.
But the recent clarifications on her current positions, and the speed at which her fledgling campaign moved to make them, also demonstrate the Harris team’s need to define the presumptive Democratic nominee – lest Republicans beat them to it. Even as Harris has energized Democrats and boosted the ticket’s appeal to Black, Latino and younger voters, she is also seeking a running mate who is likely to be a White man with a more centrist persona.
The push to bolster a more moderate image comes as former President Donald Trump and his campaign have ratcheted up criticisms of Harris, seeking to frame her as more liberal than Biden and highlight her California roots. The Trump campaign is up with two ads attacking Harris on border security and describing her as “dangerously liberal.” The $12 million ad buy will air in six battleground states: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada.
During a Saturday rally in Minnesota, Trump called Harris the “number one most radical left Democrat in the entire Senate,” a reference to a since retracted GovTrack legislator ranking that rated her the most liberal member of the Senate in 2019 based on the bills she introduced and co-sponsored.
No ban on fracking
At that same rally, Trump accused Harris of trying to hide her past opposition to fracking, the process of using liquid to free natural gas from rock formations – and the primary mode for extracting gas for energy in battleground Pennsylvania. A Harris campaign official said Monday she no longer supports a fracking ban.
During a September 2019 climate crisis town hall hosted by CNN, Harris was asked if she would commit to implementing a federal ban on fracking on her first day in office.
“There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking, and starting with what we can do on Day 1 around public lands,” Harris said at the time.
Harris acknowledged that it would take legislation to restrict fracking beyond federal lands, and pointed to the residual health impacts of fracking on local communities.
Single-payer health care
Harris’ campaign also confirmed this week that the vice president no longer supports a single-payer health care system.
The vice president’s shifting stances on health care plagued her throughout her 2020 campaign.
During her first year in the Senate, she co-sponsored independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All legislation, which would create a government-run health insurance program and essentially end the private insurance market. During a January 2019 CNN town hall right after she launched her first presidential campaign, Harris said she would eliminate private health insurance as a necessary part of implementing Medicare for All.
“We need to have Medicare for all,” she said in response to a question.
The health care plan she rolled out that July stopped short of completely eliminating private insurance. Instead, it would have shifted the US to a government-backed health insurance system by transitioning to a Medicare-for-All-type system over 10 years and continuing to allow private insurance companies to offer Medicare plans.
Harris argued that she adjusted her plan based on feedback she received from voters, and was willing to deal with the political fallout.
“I said to my team, ‘We need to do a better plan, this is not good enough.’ And I said to my team, ‘I know we’re going to take a political hit for it,’” Harris said during an interview with “Axios on HBO” that aired October 2019. “I knew I’d be called a flip flopper for that.”
Since becoming Biden’s vice president, she has supported his efforts to strengthen the Affordable Care Act, which has led to a record number of people signing up for 2024 coverage from private insurers on the individual market.
Border control
As a presidential candidate in the leadup to 2020, Harris suggested that Democrats needed to “critically examine” the role of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), when asked whether she sided with Democrats arguing to abolish the department.
“We need to probably think about starting from scratch because there’s a lot that is wrong with the way it’s conducting itself,” Harris told MSNBC in an interview at the time.
As apprehensions and border crossings skyrocketed over the course of Biden’s term, the Biden-Harris administration moved to support increasing resources for ICE and implementing tighter policy controls to try to limit the surge of migrants.
As vice president, Harris supported a bipartisan border bill that would have ramped up enforcement at the US-Mexico border. The package, which ultimately failed to advance, would have provided thousands of additional customs and asylum officers, as well as tens of thousands of additional detention beds for ICE.
In June 2024, the White House announced a crackdown on asylum claims meant to continue reducing the flow – a policy that Harris’ campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, indicated would continue under a Harris administration.
“I think at this point, you know, the policies that are, you know, having a real impact on ensuring that we have security and order at our border are policies that will continue,” Chavez Rodriguez told CBS News.
Police funding
In the midst of nationwide 2020 protests sparked by George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer, Harris voiced support for the “defund the police” movement, which argues for redirecting funds from law enforcement to social services.
“This whole movement is about rightly saying we need to take a look at these budgets and figure out whether it reflects the right priorities,” Harris said in a June 2020 radio interview, CNN’s KFile reported.
Throughout the summer, Harris supported the movement and called for demilitarizing police departments. Biden, the 2020 Democratic nominee, called for policing reform but denounced the idea of defunding departments. As a ticket, they also opposed the movement.
“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris do not support defunding the police, and it is a lie to suggest otherwise,” former Harris press secretary Sabrina Singh said in October 2020. “Throughout her career, Sen. Harris has supported increasing funding to police departments and boosting funding for community policing.”
Democrats largely backed away from calls to defund the police after Republicans attempted to tie the movement to increases in crime during the 2022 midterm elections.
Mitch Landrieu, national co-chair for the Harris campaign and former mayor of New Orleans, walked back a “defund the police” sentiment voiced by Harris in 2020, saying what she meant is she supports being “tough and smart on crime.”
“Her position has always been that you can both be tough and smart on crime, and it requires funding police, but it also requires funding rehabilitation and things that might criminal justice system safer,” Landrieu told CNN’s Pamela Brown. “You can do both.”
CNN’s Tami Luhby, Donald Judd and Priscilla Alvarez contributed to this story.
The policy shifts in Kamala Harris' positions, particularly on fracking and single-payer health care, have been a topic of discussion since her time as a US senator. While she previously supported a ban on fracking and a single-payer health care system, her campaign has recently confirmed that she no longer holds these positions.
The Biden-Harris administration's approach to border control has also evolved, with Harris supporting a bipartisan border bill that increased enforcement resources and detention beds for ICE, despite initially voicing support for reexamining the role of ICE.
