Vice President Kamala Harris She declined on Sunday to say how she voted on A Key ballot measure In her home state of California, it would reverse criminal justice reforms approved in recent years.
Harris responded to a question about 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 had “just filled out” her mail-in ballot and that it was “on her way to California.”
I’m not going to talk about voting on that. “Because frankly it’s the Sunday before the election and I don’t intend to build a endorsement around it one way or another,” said Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and U.S. senator before she was elected vice president in 2020. .
The Democratic presidential nominee’s decision not to publicly state her position on the high-profile initiative could leave her vulnerable to criticism from Republican Donald Trump that she is going soft on crime and from some left-leaning voters who would like to see that happen. She speaks out forcefully against what they see as tough anti-crime efforts.
This initiative, if passed, would make shoplifting a felony for repeat offenders and increase penalties for certain drug charges, including those involving the synthetic opioid fentanyl. It would also give judges the power to order people facing multiple drug charges to get treatment.
Supporters said the initiative was needed to close loopholes in current laws that made it difficult for law enforcement to punish shoplifters and drug dealers.
Opponents, including Democratic state leaders and social justice groups, said the proposal would disproportionately imprison the poor and those with drug abuse problems rather than target gang leaders who Hire large groups of people to rob Goods to them for resale online.
California’s approach to crime is a central issue this election cycle.
Aside from making the ballot, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a Democrat, is there Tough re-election battle Against rivals who say it has allowed the city to spiral out of control.
The moderate Democratic mayor faces four main challengers in the Nov. 5 election, all of her fellow Democrats, who say Breed wasted her six years in office. They say it allowed San Francisco to do so Descend into chaos She blamed others for her inability to curb her vagrancy and irregularity Street behaviorall while robbed businesses were asking for help.
Meanwhile, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price is facing a recall election and the Los Angeles County district attorney George Gascón He is running against a challenger 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 between 2021 and 2022, according to a study by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.
Shoplifting rates across the state rose over the same time period but remained below pre-pandemic levels in 2019, while commercial robberies and burglaries became more prevalent in urban counties, the study says.
In the final days of the 2024 campaign, Harris urged Americans in battleground states to create a voting plan to get themselves, their friends and loved ones to the polls.
But the vice president and her campaign team, until her comments on Sunday, had avoided speaking in detail about when she would cast her vote and sidestepped questions about how she would vote on the California measure.
Last month, I suggested this to journalists will reveal Her position on the ballot procedure.
“I haven’t voted yet and I haven’t read it yet,” Harris told reporters at the end of a campaign rally in Detroit on October 16. “But I’ll tell you.”
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