Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday declined to say how she voted important ballot measure In her home state of California, that would reverse criminal justice reforms approved in recent years.
Harris questioned the ballot initiative in comments to reporters while campaigning in the battleground state of Michigan. She also confirmed, two days before Election Day, that she “just filled out” her mail-in ballot and that it was “on its way to California.”
“I won’t talk about the vote on that issue. Because frankly it’s the Sunday before the election and I have no intention of creating an endorsement one way or another around it,” said Harris, former San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and U.S. senator before she was elected vice president in 2020, said. .
The Democratic nominee for president’s decision not to publicly take a stand on this high-profile initiative could leave her open to criticism from Republican Donald Trump that she is being soft. thin on crime and from some left-leaning voters who want to see her speak out forcefully against what they see as draconian anti-crime efforts.
The initiative, if passed, would make shoplifting a felony for repeat offenders and increase penalties for certain drug-related crimes, including those involving related to the synthetic opiate fentanyl. It would also give judges the power to order treatment for people convicted of a variety of drug-related crimes.
Supporters say the initiative is needed to close loopholes in current laws that make it difficult for law enforcement to punish thieves and drug traffickers.
Opponents, including Democratic state leaders and social justice groups, said the proposal would imprison the poor and those with substance use problems instead of targeting them. the leaders. Hire a large group of people to steal goods for them to resell online.
California’s approach to crime is a central issue this election cycle.
Get out ballot measure, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a Democrat, is participating a tough re-election fight against challengers who say she has allowed the city to spiral out of control.
The moderate Democratic mayor faces four primary challengers on the Nov. 5 ballot, all from Democrats who say Breed has wasted her six years in office. They said she gave San Francisco permission fall into chaos and blamed others for her inability to control her homelessness and mood swings street behaviorwhile burglarized businesses plead for help.
Meanwhile, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price faces a recall election, and Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon is running against an opponent who has criticized the incumbent’s progressive approach to crime and punishment.
Crime data shows the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles saw a steady increase in shoplifting from 2021 to 2022, according to a study by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.
Statewide, shoplifting rates increased over the same time period but remained below pre-pandemic levels in 2019, the study said, while commercial burglaries and robberies became more common in urban district.
Harris, in the final days of her 2024 campaign, urged Americans in battleground states to make voting plans to get themselves, friends and loved ones to the polls.
But the vice president and her campaign team, until Sunday’s comments, had avoided details about when she would vote and dodged questions about how she would vote on the measure of California.
Last month, she suggested to reporters that she will reveal her position on the ballot measure.
“I haven’t voted yet and I actually haven’t read it,” Harris told reporters at the end of an Oct. 16 campaign stop in Detroit. “But I’ll let you know.”
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