DETROIT — When Vice President Kamala Harris sought the presidency five years ago, she supported overhauling the nation’s health care system and endorsed “accelerating the spread” of electric vehicles — two past policy stances that illuminate her attempt to shift toward the middle of the country’s political divide.
Democrats nominated Harris, a 59-year-old former U.S. senator and state attorney general from California, in August after current President Joe Biden dropped his bid for a second term.
As Harris seeks the country’s top political office, The Detroit News reviewed Harris’ past positions by examining her public remarks, including during five Democratic presidential primary debates, in 2019. The News also compared the proposals on her website, kamalaharris.org, from her previous presidential campaign with what’s featured there now, about 40 days before the Nov. 5 election, in which she’s competing for votes with Republican Donald Trump.
On some subjects, such as climate change, Harris’ overarching stances have remained somewhat consistent. During both campaigns, she described access to affordable health care as “a right” and climate change as a “crisis.”
However, her ideas for confronting a handful of major topics, like immigration and access to health care, have moved significantly toward the political center. In other instances, it was unclear whether her past position still held, and the Harris campaign didn’t provide definitive answers to The News.
Keith Williams, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party Black Caucus, was one of the first prominent Michigan political figures to endorse Harris in 2019. Williams argued that it’s normal for a person’s stances to evolve as they elevate in the political world.
“I saw a spirit in her, a kindness, a professionalism and a vision for the future,” Williams said of why he backed Harris for president five years ago and still supports her.
“Donald Trump has not evolved,” Williams said. “He’s the same old skunk.”
During her first run for the presidency in 2019, Harris supported a Medicare for All plan for health care and promoted plans to fine companies in which there were pay gaps between men and women and to boost the adoption of electric vehicles.
Asked if Harris still stood by eight past policy statements she made in 2019, the Harris campaign shared direct answers on three of the questions. For instance, the Harris campaign pointed to a Politico article from mid-August that cited an anonymous campaign official saying Harris was no longer “pushing” for Medicare for All, which is taxpayer-funded universal health insurance coverage that critics argued would end private insurance.
But the Harris campaign didn’t specifically provide replies on other questions, such as identifying whether she still believes the government should accelerate the use of electric vehicles or fine companies over gender-based pay gaps.
“Republicans, Democrats and independents are coming together to support Vice President Harris because she will bring people together and turn the page on the chaos and divisiveness of Donald Trump once and for all,” said Alyssa Bradley, communications director for the Harris campaign in Michigan.
Asked about the changes in Harris’ platform from 2019 to 2024, Matt Grossmann, a political science professor at Michigan State University, said politicians speak differently in primary races — like Harris was with Democrats in 2019 — and general election contests — like she’s in now with Trump. The political cost of flip-flopping usually is less than people assume it to be, Grossmann said.
Still, the professor and co-author of the new book “Polarized By Degrees” said Harris’ being viewed as too liberal was the main risk for Democrats in moving away from Biden as the party’s nominee.
“Democrats concluded that it was worth that risk,” Grossmann said.
‘It is amoral’
But Victoria LaCivita, spokeswoman for the Trump campaign in Michigan, had a more critical analysis of Harris’ policy shifts.
LaCivita referenced that Harris said, during an interview with CNN that aired on Aug. 29, her “values” hadn’t changed.
“Michiganders should look past the recent non-committals to her past actions — or, inactions — for proof that Kamala Harris is dangerously liberal and too extreme for Michigan,” LaCivita said.
In 2019, Harris supported providing access to Medicare, a federal health care program that currently benefits those 65 or older, for everyone, and eliminating “premiums and out-of-pocket costs,” according to her past campaign website.
“Employers are not going to be able to dictate the kind of health care that their employees get,” Harris said during a July 31, 2019, Democratic primary debate in Detroit.
The idea would have marked a dramatic overhaul of how health insurance works in the U.S., shifting coverage for millions of Americans from private plans offered by employers to a government-centered program. During the debate in Detroit in 2019, Harris acknowledged that, under her proposal, the level of health care coverage a person gets would “not be a function of where you work.”
Biden, who was then one of Harris’ primary opponents, said the Harris plan would cost $30 trillion, eliminate “employer-based insurance” and require “middle class taxes to go up.” But Harris countered that the cost of “doing nothing” was too expensive.
“In America today, a diabetes patient, one in four, cannot afford their insulin,” Harris said in 2019. “In America today, for those people who have overdosed from an opioid, there is a syringe that costs $4,000 that will save their life.
“It is amoral. It is untenable. And it must change with Medicare for All.”
Both her 2019 campaign website and her current site describe “affordable health care” as “a right, not a privilege.” But the new version of the site doesn’t mention Medicare for All and instead talks about lowering health care costs.
Asked about Medicare for All, the Harris campaign pointed to an Aug. 19, 2024, article by the national news site Politico entitled, in part, “Harris isn’t pushing Medicare for All anymore.”
‘Future of transportation’
In Michigan, Trump’s campaign has focused on criticizing the auto industry’s movement toward electric vehicles.
During a town hall in Flint last week, Trump said because of electric vehicles, China will take over Michigan’s auto manufacturing business. The state, which is home to the world headquarters of Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co., has about 162,000 jobs in automobile and parts manufacturing.
“Why are we making a product that they dominate?” Trump said. “They are going to dominate.”
Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris administration has spent taxpayer dollars on aiding the transition to electric vehicles, contending that simply allowing China’s government-subsidized automakers to lead in producing EVs, by not attempting to compete, would ultimately harm the auto industry’s future in the U.S.
The administration “is showing how America can meet the moment and build the industries of the future while creating high-quality union jobs in the electric vehicle and battery supply chains,” Harris’ current campaign website says.
Her past comments on the subject went further and revealed a greater split from Trump. For example, in December 2021, as vice president, she tweeted that the future of transportation “is electric.”
“Our nation’s ability to manufacture, charge and repair electric vehicles will help determine the health of our communities, the strength of our economy and the sustainability of our planet,” Harris tweeted.
During an April 2019 town hall with CNN, Harris said the country needs to invest in electric vehicles. And her campaign website in 2019 supported forging “a Green New Deal to tackle the climate crisis.”
“That means modernizing our transportation, energy and water infrastructure, Harris said. “It means accelerating the spread of electric vehicles, solar panels and wind turbines.
“And it means making bold investments in innovative technologies to build a carbon free future.”
On whether Harris still believes the spread of electric vehicles needs to be accelerated, a spokeswoman pointed only to a current campaign policy page that said, in part, “She will unite Americans to tackle the climate crisis.”
Immigration
During the 2024 campaign, Harris has called for the adoption of a bipartisan border security proposal to add more than 1,500 new Customs and Border Protection personnel and an additional 4,300 asylum officers to make the asylum process “faster and fairer,” according to the White House.
A push for that legislation stalled in February after Trump voiced opposition to the reforms.
During a Sept. 19 town hall event with Oprah Winfrey inside a Farmington Hills television studio, Harris said more border patrol agents would have helped stem the flow of the addictive synthetic opioid fentanyl into the country.
“Donald Trump called up those (Republicans in Congress) and said, ‘Don’t put that bill on the floor for a vote,’” Harris said. “He blocked the bill. And you know why? Because he’d prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem.”
Harris has said she would sign the bipartisan border security bill into law.
Her 2019 campaign website said Harris “understands that for many immigrant families, leaving home and arriving at our Southern border is not a choice.”
“Kamala will focus our border enforcement resources on true public safety threats through investments in technology and ports of entry to address the flow of illegal drugs, illegal weapons and human trafficking,” the 2019 version of the site said.
While Trump has called for launching the “largest deportation program in American history,” Harris said, during a debate in June 2019, that someone in the U.S. without proper documents shouldn’t be deported.
Law enforcement should make decisions based on the best interest of public safety, Harris said in 2019.
“I want a rape victim to be able to run in the middle of the street and wave down a police officer and report the crime against her,” Harris said at the debate in 2019. “I want anybody who has been the victim of any real crime to be able to do that and not be afraid if they do that, they will be deported.”
But during the August interview with CNN, Harris said there should be “consequences” for people who cross into the U.S. without proper documentation.
“We have laws that have to be followed and enforced that address and deal with people who cross our border illegally,” Harris said.
Fines over equal pay
One of proposals that Harris championed during her 2019 campaign focused on mandating equal pay for women in similar jobs as men.
Under the plan, companies with more than 100 employees would be required to obtain an “equal pay certification” and prove they’re not paying women less than men for work of equal value, according to her past website.
Companies would be fined 1% of their profits for every 1% wage gap they allow to persist for work of equal value, the plan said.
“That will get everybody’s attention,” Harris added at the July 2019 debate in Detroit. “Time for action.”
The equal pay plan doesn’t appear on Harris’ current campaign “issues” website.
In 2022, according to the U.S. Census, the median income for a woman in the U.S. was $51,400, about 82% of the median income for a man.
This week, the Harris campaign didn’t provide a direct answer on whether she still supports fining companies that don’t ensure men and women in similar positions are paid similarly. Instead, the campaign pointed to Harris’ efforts to promote equal pay.
Expanding voting rights?
During her April 2019 town hall with CNN, Harris said the country should have a “conversation” about both allowing 16-year-olds and people in prison to vote.
The wide majority of U.S. states, including Michigan, currently bar people who are incarcerated from voting.
Then CNN host Don Lemon asked Harris in April 2019 about whether people “in prison,” like Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev or those on “death row,” should have the right to vote.
“I think that we should have that conversation,” Harris said.
“The right to vote is one of the very important components of citizenship and it is something that people should not be stripped of needlessly,” she said at another point.
In a separate question, someone asked if people should have the right to vote at 16.
“I’m really interested in having that conversation,” Harris replied, saying the “larger number of people that we can involve in the electoral process, I think, the more robust it would be.”
The current Harris campaign didn’t directly respond to a question this week of whether she is still interested in discussing letting 16-year-olds vote. In Michigan, 16 and 17-year-olds are allowed to work as election workers but can’t legally vote until they’re 18.
Legalizing sex work?
Also during the CNN town hall in 2019, Harris was asked about legalizing sex work.
Harris replied that she doesn’t support “criminalizing these women.”
“We should not be criminalizing women who are engaged in consensual opportunities for employment, but we should definitely be careful and be sure that they are not being trafficked or abused in any way,” Harris said five years ago.
The current Harris campaign didn’t respond to a question of whether she believes consensual sex work should be decriminalized nationally.
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