Vice President Harris, whom Democrats have quickly endorsed to replace President Biden in this year’s election, has been a loyal Democratic foot soldier, rarely straying from party orthodoxy. But at times she has also struggled to articulate what policy positions drive her, a vagueness that helped doom her 2020 presidential campaign.
Harris has also been in the public eye a long time, and especially since becoming vice president she has become increasingly vocal – and effective, Democrats say – when it comes to campaigning against Republicans. They argue she is carving out a profile on issues that could grow the Democratic Party’s appeal, such as embracing abortion rights and distancing herself ever so slightly from supporting Israel’s war in Gaza. And if she is the Democrats’ nominee, she can carry the mantle of the popular accomplishments under Biden.
“She has been the most effective voice when it comes to abortion justice … health-care justice, student debt cancellation, the racial wealth gap,” Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said Sunday on MSNBC. “I am confident that Kamala Harris can unite this party and build the coalition necessary for us to win in November.”
Here’s what we know about her policy positions on five major issues.
1. Abortion
By far, Harris’s best-known policy position is that women should have access to abortion care.
It is one of Democrats’ strongest issues, but Biden, an 81-year-old Catholic man, has been somewhat of an awkward messenger on it. By contrast, Harris has shined, from the perspective of the Democrats’ base, by forcefully and unapologetically championing abortion rights as reproductive rights – and framing Republicans’ attempts to limit abortion as an attack on Americans’ freedoms.
“This is a fight for freedom – the fundamental freedom to make decisions about one’s own body and not have their government tell them what they’re supposed to do,” she said at an event in Florida this spring.
Democrats have yet to win a presidential election by championing abortion rights. But abortion rights allies have won several major battles at the ballot box since the Supreme Court eliminated national abortion protections by overturning Roe v. Wade two years ago.
Democrats say this is where Harris has the opportunity to draw the sharpest contrast against Donald Trump.
“In a post-Dobbs world,” said Democratic strategist Rebecca Kirszner Katz, “it could be remarkable to have a national candidate who unequivocally understands reproductive justice.” She referred to the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
2. The border
Early in Biden’s presidency, Biden asked Harris to try to address the root problems of migration at the border by focusing on countries in Central and South America.
“Do not come. You will be turned back,” Harris told potential migrants heading to the U.S.-Mexican border during a Latin American trip in June 2021.
It is not clear what she accomplished. She came under criticism from border Democrats for not visiting the border sooner, and migrant crossings, until recently, have been at record highs under the Biden administration, though administration officials have emphasized that her purview was those underlying causes, not what to do with people once they arrived in the United States.
There’s a hot debate about why border crossings have been so high and whether Biden or Harris could do much about it. But polls and voter groups show voters blame Biden rather than Republicans, even though Biden has cast Republicans as unhelpful when they scuttled a bipartisan border security bill because Trump wanted to run on the issue.
“We will skewer her for her border performance,” said Stephen Moore, a Trump adviser.
3. Israel and Gaza
A large part of a president’s job is dealing with foreign policy, and Harris is remarkably undefined on this front. But that could be to Democrats’ benefit, said Democratic strategist Matt Duss, because Biden’s low points in polling have come from issues largely tied to foreign policy. Biden’s staunch support for Israel, especially at the start of the war in Gaza, has been a particular wedge in the Democratic Party coalition.
In foreign policy circles, Harris is believed to have a more critical view of the Israeli government’s handling of the war in Gaza than Biden, even pushing to get lines about the need for humanitarian aid to Gaza in key speeches.
“We have also been clear that far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed, that Israel must do better to protect innocent civilians,” she said at an address earlier this year.
Harris has been “pushing for a more sympathetic policy toward Palestinians,” Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said after Biden’s announcement Sunday, adding that she can “build a broad coalition around the issue.”
“Even if she doesn’t announce an intention to dramatically shift foreign policy, I think she’s going to have an easier time than Biden, because she hasn’t been the one driving it,” Duss said.
4. The economy
When Harris was running for president in 2020 against Biden, she campaigned on major tax cuts for the working class, tax credits for renters and a major expansion of Medicare.
But for now, many observers expect Harris’s campaign to largely pick up where Biden left off on the economy. The United States has the world’s best economic recovery from the pandemic: consumer spending has been high; more Americans are employed than in half a century; and wages have grown to help keep up with inflation. Two senior Democrats, speaking on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly, said that Harris has been supportive of Biden’s agenda even in private conversations, rarely objecting on controversial ideas among Democrats such as rent caps or mass student debt relief.
Some policy experts who have worked closely with her office expect her to emphasize her commitment to improving “the care economy” through federal investments to improve child care, elder care and home care for people with disabilities.
But to beat Trump, Harris will probably need to communicate the administration’s economic wins better than many Democrats think Biden did. A majority of Americans – including Democrats – incorrectly said inflation is rising, an April Washington Post-Schar School poll found. Price increases are easing compared to inflation’s height in 2022.
“The challenge now is she needs to present a policy vision that has to be in line with the administration she served in, while also being unique to her,” said Kenneth Baer, who served as a budget official during the Obama administration.
5. Climate
Harris has long focused on fighting climate change in her political career.
She created an environmental justice office as the district attorney in San Francisco. As California attorney general, she sued oil companies to curb pollution. And in the Senate, she signed on to the Green New Deal, the ambitious plan to speed up the transition to a clean-energy economy.
When Harris ran against Biden for the Democratic nomination in 2020, she positioned herself to the left of him on climate. She advocated for banning fracking, while Biden did not go that far.
As Biden’s running mate, however, Harris synced up with him on the issue, asserting during the 2020 vice-presidential debate: “Joe Biden will not end fracking. He has been very clear about that.”
While the Biden administration has not lived up to some of Harris’s campaign promises, environmental groups have nonetheless been pleased with its record. They cite as the biggest achievement the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, a sweeping spending package that included $370 billion to curb greenhouse gas emissions and promote clean-energy initiatives.