DETROIT — Vice President Kamala Harris declined Sunday to say how she voted on a key ballot measure in her home state of California that would roll back criminal justice reforms approved in recent years.
Harris asked 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 “just filled out” her absentee ballot and that it was “on its way to California.”
“I’m not going to talk about the vote on this. Because honestly, it’s the Sunday before the election and I have no intention of building support one way or another,” said Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney, prosecutor General of California and U.S. Senator before being elected vice president in 2020. .
The Democratic presidential candidate’s decision not to take a public position on the high-profile initiative could expose her to criticism from Republican Donald Trump, who accuses her of being soft on crime, and from the from some left-wing voters who would like to see her speak out forcefully against what she perceives as draconian anti-crime efforts.
The initiative, if passed, would make shoplifting a misdemeanor for repeat offenders and increase penalties for certain drug charges, including those involving fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. It would also give judges the power to order people accused of multiple drug charges to undergo treatment.
Supporters said the initiative is needed to close loopholes in existing laws that make 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 poor people and those with substance abuse problems rather than targeting ringleaders who hire large groups of people to steal goods to resell online.
California’s approach to crime is a central issue this election cycle.
Beyond the ballot measure, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a Democrat, is engaged in a tough re-election fight against challengers who say she has allowed the city to spiral out of control.
The moderate Democratic mayor will face four primary challengers in the Nov. 5 election, all fellow Democrats, who say Breed squandered his six years in office. They say she let San Francisco descend into chaos and blamed others for her failure to rein in homelessness and erratic behavior on the streets, while burglarized businesses begged for help.
Meanwhile, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price faces a recall election, and Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón is running against a rival who has criticized the incumbent president’s progressive approach in matters of crime and punishment.
Crime data shows that 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.
Statewide, shoplifting rates increased during the same period but were still below pre-pandemic levels in 2019, while burglaries and commercial thefts became more prevalent in urban counties, according to the study.
Harris, in the final days of the 2024 campaign, urged Americans in battleground states to make a voting plan to get to the polls, along with their friends and loved ones.
But the vice president and her campaign team, until her comments Sunday, had avoided talking in detail about when she would vote and had evaded questions about how she would vote on the California measure.
Last month, she suggested to reporters that she would disclose her position on the ballot measure.
“I haven’t voted yet and I haven’t read it yet,” Harris told reporters 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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