Vice President Kamala Harris has yet to issue her position on numerous issues with just over a month until Election Day.
The Democratic presidential nominee has refused to specify her stance on the death penalty, tightening crime laws in her home state, restricting late-term abortion, supporting Israel’s war in Gaza, and decriminalizing sex work. At least three out of five of the policies hold popular public support.
Harris’s silence comes as she has limited her interviews on the campaign trail and failed to expound on policy positions.
Shifting on the death penalty
Harris opposed the death penalty for decades. But now her campaign won’t answer questions regarding her position on the policy, according to an Axios report.
After she was elected San Francisco’s district attorney in 2003, Harris stated vehement opposition to the death penalty during her inaugural address.
Harris wavered on the policy in 2014, when she led the California Attorney General’s Office in defending the constitutionality of the state’s death penalty before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
However, less than five years later, she was back to a full-throttled defense of the policy as she praised Newsom for halting the death penalty in California.
During her short-lived presidential campaign in 2020, Harris’s website stated that “Kamala believes the death penalty is immoral, discriminatory, ineffective and a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars.”
Roughly 62% of the country believes the death penalty should be legal, according to a 2023 poll from YouGov.
Breaking with Newsom on California crime measure?
Back in Harris’s home state, California residents are considering a ballot proposal that would toughen crime measures and reform treatment incentives for drug offenders. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has expressed harsh criticism for Proposition 36, although he recently conceded he didn’t have the “bandwidth” to use campaign resources to fight the measure.
Newsom and Harris worked together as Democratic California colleagues for years in the Golden State. However, the vice president recently declined to say whether she echoed Newsom’s opposition to the ballot measure.
The Harris campaign refused to give comment to the Los Angeles Times request for her position on Proposition 36, according to a report published Wednesday.
Voters in Harris’s home state heavily support the measure 71%-26%, according to a poll released earlier this month.
Proposition 36 rolls back several of the relaxed crime policies ushered in by Proposition 47, which Californians approved in 2014. Harris was the state’s Democratic attorney general at the time and didn’t weigh in on the measure due to apparent concerns there could be a conflict of interest. As attorney general, she was in charge of writing the ballot summary and title for Proposition 47.
However, several close allies, including Newsom and Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon, who signed the ballot argument favoring Proposition 47, firmly backed the proposal.
Sidestepping late-term abortion discussion
A firm proponent of abortion, it remains unclear as to whether Harris supports a federal law permitting abortion later than 24 weeks. Abortion is legal at 24 weeks or later in 18 states, according to a recent Axios report, though polls indicate late-term abortions are unpopular with the public.
When asked if she would support any restrictions on abortions during her first debate with former President Donald Trump earlier this month, Harris deflected.
“I absolutely support reinstating the protections of Roe v. Wade,” she told the debate moderators. The 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizes abortion up to the point of viability of a baby. The 24-week mark is generally considered the marker when the baby is able to survive outside the womb.”
“Nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion,” Harris continued. “That is not happening.”
There are currently no legal limits to abortion in Oregon, New Mexico, Colorado, Minnesota, Vermont, New Jersey, Alaska, and the District of Columbia.
The majority of the country opposes abortions in the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, according to a Gallup poll conducted last year.
Changes in Middle Eastern policy
During her recent appearance before the National Association of Black Journalists and throughout her time on the campaign trail, Harris has refused to say whether she will make any specific policy changes to President Joe Biden’s approach to the war in Gaza.
The issue has ignited tension within the Democratic Party ahead of the November elections. The “Uncommitted” movement, a group of pro-Palestinian activists, withheld a vital endorsement to Harris over her refusal to clarify if she’ll break with Biden’s Middle Eastern policy. The group wields significant political power in Michigan, which is a crucial battleground state Harris will likely need to win in order to secure a victory this November.
The Uncommitted movement and other far-Left factions of her party demand that Harris institute an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as well as an instant arms embargo on Israel if she wins the election.
During her most recent media appearance, and one of only two sitdowns she’s done with members of the press, she once again dodged questions from a NABJ panel on whether she would continue the Biden administration’s approach to the Israel-Hamas war.
“I absolutely believe that this war has to end, and it has to end as soon as possible, and the way that will be achieved is by getting a hostage deal and the ceasefire deal done, and we are working around the clock to achieve that end,” Harris said.
The majority of the country wants a ceasefire and return of the Israeli hostages still held by Hamas.
Decriminalize prostitution?
Harris has also refused to clarify her 2024 position on decriminalizing sex work, per an Axios report. Her campaign’s refusal to clarify her stance comes after she said in 2019 that she supported decriminalizing prostitution.
“When you’re talking about consenting adults, I think that, yes, we should really consider that we can’t criminalize consensual behavior as long as no one is being harmed,” she told the Root.
She defended her record of supporting the legalization of sex work during her tenure as San Francisco district attorney.
“I was advocating then that we need to stop arresting these prostitutes and instead go after the Johns and the pimps because we were criminalizing the women,” she touted.
Harris’s stance in 2019 marked a reversal from her position in 2008. At the time, she opposed a California ballot measure to decriminalize prostitution.
“I think it’s completely ridiculous, just in case there’s any ambiguity about my position,” she told the New York Times. “It would put a welcome mat out for pimps and prostitutes to come on into San Francisco.”
These days, Harris’s campaign appears to be perfectly happy to be ambiguous about her position.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
A 2021 poll showed 42% of voters favored decriminalizing prostitution.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Harris campaign for clarification on her policy positions.
