Vice President Kamala Harris’s refusal to comment on a popular anti-crime referendum in California is an important sign of how she would govern as president, signaling to voters that she will put her party first, even when it is wrong.
Proposition 36, placed on the November ballot by anti-crime activists — over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), would amend 2014’s Proposition 2014, which is widely blamed for setting off a retail crime spree in California.
Harris, who was California Attorney General at the time Proposition 2014 was passed, did not support or oppose it personally, but oversaw the approval of the text of the referendum, which reduced many felonies to misdemeanors.
Today, Proposition 2014 is widely viewed as a disaster — as is Proposition 57, which offered early release from prison for “non-violent” offenders, and included many violent crimes as “non-violent.” (Harris approved that text as well.)
Democrats, who championed Proposition 2014, have tried to defend it. Newsom and his party tried to strike a deal under which they would pass a set of crime bills through the state legislature if Proposition 26 stayed off the ballot.
The deal fell through, and Proposition 36 is on the California ballot. It earned the support of 73% of voters in one recent poll — in deep-blue, liberal California. With that kind of support, Newsom decided not to campaign against it.
It would seem both politically wise and expedient for Harris to back Proposition 36 as a way to signal to voters across the nation that she, too, is on board with revising some of the “criminal justice reform” measures of recent years.
After all, her own district attorney in Los Angeles County, George Gascón, whom she endorsed in 2020, appears headed for defeat as voters in L.A. have decided they have had enough “reform” and want more law enforcement.
Notably, Gascón was backed by left-wing billionaire George Soros, whose son Alex has taken over his role as party kingmaker. It was Alex Soros who demanded that Democrats stick with an ailing President Joe Biden; then it was Soros who told them to line up behind Kamala Harris, who had not won a single vote in a single primary, neither in 2024 nor in 2020. The Soros billions have funded Democrats’ lurch to the left on criminal justice in recent years.
Thus Harris has refused, for months, to say how she would vote on Proposition 36. Last week, her campaign said she had not studied it yet. This week, her campaign said it was too close to the election for her to make any comment.
The obvious conclusion is that Harris will not oppose the Democratic Party, or Soros, on crime — not even when her own voters in California are clearly on the side of law and order. It is a sign about how she would govern as president.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
