Kamala Harris, You're Not in California Anymore

WASHINGTON -- Over the many years when I wrote a column for the San Francisco Chronicle, political insiders had their eye on one local official who, they figured, could be president someday. That person was Gavin Newsom.

It was not Kamala Harris.

Because Newsom, San Francisco's former mayor, had his eye on the governor's mansion, Harris faced no major Democratic competition when she ran for the U.S. Senate in 2016.

That seat became open when then-Sen. Barbara Boxer announced she would not run for reelection.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wanted to run for Boxer's seat, but former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown warned him off. Yes, that would be the same Willie Brown whom Harris had dated.

Thus, 2016 was a win-win for the California Democrat establishment. Newsom won the governor's office, and Harris could use the Senate as a platform to preach her progressive ideas.

By 2019, Harris was running for the White House. But her candidacy failed to generate steam. She dropped out of the race before she could be humiliated in the 2020 Iowa caucuses, the election season's first vote, and before California primary voters could reject her.

Harris, you see, did not have the heft to win a presidential primary in her own ultra-liberal home state.

But she always had luck in her corner. In 2020, front-runner Joe Biden had said he would pick a female running mate. Yes, like every other politician in America, Harris carried some baggage. Throughout her career, Harris was notorious for high staff turnover in her ranks. Biden apparently didn't care.

Did she improve?

In 2021, former Harris communications director Gil Duran wrote in the San Francisco Examiner, "The only people suffering more than Harris are her staff members, some of whom have already quit their plum positions amid reports of a toxic office environment."

If you've been watching CNN of late, you may see Harris as she wants you to see her: a former hard-nosed prosecutor who started out as a data-driven, do-your-homework, moderate Democrat.

I laugh out loud.

Tough? Prepared? Moderate? Um, no. Those aren't terms that people who knew Harris would have used to describe her during her time as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general.

When she was DA, Harris' focus was on progressive politics -- not seeking the death penalty, even for cop killers, and not seeking the toughest sentences for repeat offenders.

I remember a district attorney who talked inordinately about the crimes she would not prosecute.

When Harris ran for president in 2019, she actually told the ACLU she supported spending tax dollars on transgender surgeries and treatments -- including for detained migrants and inmates.

Since Biden unceremoniously ended his reelection campaign in July and handed his party's nod to his vice president, Harris has boasted that she was the only border-state prosecutor in the race. But that doesn't mean she was good at it.

To the contrary, as she worked her way up the political ladder, Harris supported decreasing funding for ICE and ending ICE detainers for local law enforcement.

Harris has criticized Donald Trump for doing "nothing to fix our broken immigration system" after she, Biden's "point person on immigration," and Biden did nothing to fix that sorry structure.

So it should be no surprise that after Biden put the border in his vice president's portfolio, she visited the border once, under pressure.

If Harris wins this election, where will she stand on the border? Probably on both sides. Expect her to talk tough on enforcement but pick a team that doesn't see illegal immigration as a problem deserving of more than lip service.

When Biden chose Harris to be a running mate, cynics and wags looked at her as his insurance policy.

Sure, Biden's verbal stumbles were concerning, and, yes, the commander in chief had blustered past the 80-year mark. Before the June debate in which Biden fumbled and stumbled, party biggies thought Biden was a better bet than Harris, who just turned 60.

Now, some of the folks who pushed for Harris are wondering if they made a mistake.

Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.

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