DETROIT (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris declined to say Sunday how she voted for one most important ballot measure in her home state of California, which would undo criminal justice reforms passed in recent years.
Harris responded to a question about the ballot initiative in comments to reporters while campaigning in battleground Michigan. She also confirmed, two days before Election Day, that she had “just filled out” her ballot and that it was “on its way to California.”
“I’m not going to talk about the vote on that. Because, frankly, it’s the Sunday before the election and I’m not going to create an endorsement around it one way or another,” said Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and U.S. senator before being elected vice president in 2020. .
The Democratic presidential nominee’s decision not to take a public position on the high-profile initiative could open her up to criticism from Republican Donald Trump that she is soft on crime and from some left-wing voters who would like to see her speak are speaking out strongly against what they see as draconian anti-crime efforts.
If passed, the initiative would make shoplifting a misdemeanor for repeat offenders and increase penalties for some drug charges, including those involving the synthetic opioid fentanyl. It would also give judges the power to order people with multiple drug offenses to seek treatment.
Supporters said the initiative is necessary to close loopholes in existing laws that have made it challenging for law enforcement agencies to punish shoplifters and drug dealers.
Opponents, including Democratic state leaders and social justice groups, said the proposal would disproportionately jail poor people and those with substance abuse problems rather than targeting leaders who hire large groups of people to steal goods that they can resell online.
California’s approach to crime is a central issue in this election cycle.
After the vote, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a Democrat, will be present a difficult re-election battle against challengers who say she let the city spiral out of control.
The moderate Democratic mayor faces four major challengers on the Nov. 5 ballot, all fellow Democrats, who say Breed has wasted her six years in office. They say they let San Francisco do that descend into chaos and blamed others for her inability to rein in homelessness and erraticism behavior on the streetas breached businesses begged for help.
Meanwhile, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price is facing a recall election, and the Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon is taking on a rival who has criticized the incumbent’s progressive approach to crime and punishment.
Crime data shows that the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles saw steady increases in shoplifting from 2021 to 2022, according to a study by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.
Across the state, shoplifting rates rose over the same period but were still lower than pre-pandemic levels in 2019, while commercial burglaries and robberies are more common in urban counties, the study said.
Harris, in the final days of the 2024 campaign, has urged Americans in battleground states to make a voting plan to get themselves, friends and loved ones to the polls.
But the vice president and her campaign team had avoided speaking in detail about when she would cast her vote until her comments Sunday and had sidestepped questions about how she would vote on the California measure.
She suggested this to reporters last month she would reveal her position on the ballot measure.
“I haven’t voted yet and I actually haven’t read it yet,” Harris said at the end of an Oct. 16 campaign stop in Detroit. “But I’ll let you know.”
Madhani reported from Washington.
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