Hillary Clinton’s loss to Donald Trump on November 8, 2016 came as a devastating blow
to many people across the country eager to see a woman take office. But
among Tuesday’s winners is California’s new Democratic senator-elect,
Kamala Harris, who may be the next best hope for shattering that glass
ceiling.
She’s drawn many comparisons to President Barack Obama,
who famously ran for president during his first term in the Senate. Her
background and her polished yet personable approach to politics embody
what many think the Democratic Party should aim to look like going
forward. And even before her Senate win, her name was floated for roles
including California governor, Supreme Court justice, and vice president.
Here are some things you should know about the woman who could very well challenge Trump in 2020.
She’s spent six years as California’s attorney general.
Harris, a San Francisco Bay Area native,
spent years as a prosecutor and was elected twice as San Francisco’s
district attorney before she won the California attorney general race in
2010. That election placed her at the top of the most populous state’s
enormous law enforcement system and gave her a platform to fight for the
issues she cared about.
Among her more high-profile efforts: waging a statewide campaign to reduce school truancy, eliminating the state’s backlog of untested rape kits, successfully suing the for-profit Corinthian Colleges to the tune of $1.1 billion and negotiating a mortgage relief settlement on behalf of California homeowners (which some critics said made a nice headline but didn’t accomplish much).
She’s also emerged as one of the leading attorneys general standing in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. During
a pen-and-pad session with reporters at the Democratic National
Convention in July, she spoke at length about police killings of black
men and women, arguing that states should take steps like keeping track
of the data on officer-involved shootings and increasing training to
reduce police bias.
Still, she’s been criticized by activists for not doing enough to investigate police shootings and for her opposition to statewide regulations on body cameras for police.
She’s campaigned on her criminal justice reform record.
Harris has run multiple races on the
back of what she describes as her “smart on crime” approach to criminal
justice. That approach is largely focused on keeping low-level offenders
out of jail. As state attorney general, she has openly addressed the
failures of the war on drugs and pointed to the importance of early
childhood education in keeping kids out of trouble. In 2013, she
launched an initiative to reduce recidivism via partnerships between the state’s Justice Department and local officials.
However, reform advocates have said Harris’ tenure as California’s top cop was too cautious,
pointing out that many of the state’s strides over the last years
toward reducing the prison population ― including the state’s prison
realignment ― happened in the state legislature or via ballot
initiative. She’s also been criticized for not taking a strong stand on
prosecutorial misconduct, including her lukewarm response to a jailhouse informant scandal in Orange County.
She played a big role in the fight for marriage equality.
Harris refused to enforce California’s
Proposition 8, a voter-passed initiative in 2008 that banned same-sex
marriage in the state, and in 2011 she pressed a federal appeals court to allow weddings to continue as the court considered the constitutionality of the ban.
“I declined to defend Proposition 8 because it violates the Constitution,” Harris said in 2013, when the case against Prop. 8 made it to the U.S. Supreme Court,
which set a process in motion that eventually ended the ban. “The time
has come for this right to be afforded to every citizen.”
She’s remained a champion of gay rights,
and in 2015 she specifically called out Supreme Court Justice Antonin
Scalia for dismissing California as different from the rest of the
country in his dissent of the court’s decision that legalized same-sex
marriages nationwide.
“Don’t hate the playa;
hate the game,” she said. “Justice Scalia has caused many people to
question the dignity of the court when he makes statements such as the
statements he’s made in connection with this case. And that’s
unfortunate.”
She’s already made history with her Senate win.
Harris is just the second black woman
ever elected to the upper chamber. The first, Carol Moseley Braun
(D-Ill.), was elected in 1992 and served one term. She’s also the first
Indian-American ever elected to the Senate. (Harris’ mother immigrated
to the U.S. from India.)
Breaking down these kind of barriers is
nothing new to Harris. She was the first woman, the first
African-American and the first Indian-American to become California’s
top cop.
“My mother had a saying ― ‘you may be the first to do many things, make sure you aren’t the last,’” Harris told CQ Roll Call
in June. “We need to work to ensure the leaders reflect the people they
are supposed to represent, and until we achieve that full
representation, I think we should understand we are falling short of the
ideals of this country.”
She’s got friends in high places.
Chiefly, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, who are on track to leave office with very strong approval ratings and who endorsed
Harris over U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez, a fellow Democrat, in this
Senate race. Obama is a longtime ally of Harris ― he also endorsed her
in her first bid for attorney general in 2010. (He also praised her as
the nation’s “best-looking” attorney general, a statement he later had to apologize for.)
She also has support from a deep bench
of prominent and popular Democrats, including Massachusetts Sen.
Elizabeth Warren, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, California Sens. Dianne
Feinstein and Barbara Boxer (whom she’ll replace), New York Sens.
Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, California Gov. Jerry Brown,
California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and many House members.
These alliances could help boost Harris’ profile across the country should she choose to run for president in 2020.
Her first move as senator-elect? Denouncing Trumpism.
Harris’ Tuesday night victory party was
overshadowed by Trump’s victory, giving what would typically be a
jubilant event a rather somber tone. She took the opportunity to make a
full-throated case against embracing the racist, xenophobic values
espoused by Trump throughout his campaign, urging her supporters to
continue to fight inequality.
“It is the very nature of this fight for
civil rights and justice and equality that whatever gains we make, they
will not be permanent. So we must be vigilant,” Harris said. “Do not
despair. Do not be overwhelmed. Do not throw up our hands when it is
time to roll up our sleeves and fight for who we are.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment