Vice President Kamala Harris declined Sunday to say how she voted on a major ballot measure in her home state of California that would undo criminal justice reforms passed in recent years.
Harris responded to a question about the ballot initiative in comments to reporters while campaigning in battleground Michigan. She also confirmed, two days before Election Day, that she had “just filled out” her ballot and that it was “on its way to California.”
“I’m not going to talk about the vote on that. Because honestly, it’s the Sunday before the election and I’m not going to create an endorsement around it one way or another,” said Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney, Attorney General of California and U.S. senator before being elected vice president in 2020.
The Democratic presidential nominee’s decision not to take a public position on the high-profile initiative could open her up to criticism from Republican Donald Trump that she is soft on crime and from some left-wing voters who would like to see her speak are speaking out strongly against what they see as draconian anti-crime efforts.
Proposal 36If passed, the bill would make shoplifting a misdemeanor for repeat offenders and increase penalties for some drug charges, including those involving the synthetic opioid fentanyl. It would also give judges the power to order people with multiple drug offenses to seek treatment.
Supporters say the initiative is necessary to close loopholes in existing laws that make it challenging for law enforcement agencies to punish shoplifters and drug dealers.
Opponents, including Democratic state leaders and social justice groups, said the proposal would disproportionately jail poor people and those with substance abuse problems rather than targeting leaders who hire large groups of people to steal goods that they can then sell online resell.
California’s approach to crime is a central issue in this election cycle.
Off the ballot, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a Democrat, is locked in a tough reelection battle against challengers who say she has allowed the city to spin out of control.
The moderate Democratic mayor faces four major challengers on the Nov. 5 ballot, all fellow Democrats, who say Breed has wasted her six years in office. They say she allowed San Francisco to descend into chaos and blamed others for her failure to rein in homelessness and erratic street behavior, while burglarized businesses begged for help.
In the meantime, Pamela Price, Alameda County District Attorney is facing a recall election, and Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón is taking on a rival who has criticized the incumbent’s progressive approach to crime and punishment.
Crime data shows that the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles saw steady increases in shoplifting from 2021 to 2022, according to a study by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.
Across the state, shoplifting rates rose over the same period but were still lower than pre-pandemic levels in 2019, while commercial burglaries and robberies are more common in urban counties, the study said.
Harris, in the final days of the 2024 campaign, has urged Americans in battleground states to make a voting plan to get themselves, friends and loved ones to the polls.
But the vice president and her campaign team had avoided speaking in detail about when she would cast her vote until her comments Sunday and had sidestepped questions about how she would vote on the California measure.
Last month, she suggested to reporters her position on the ballot measure.
“I haven’t voted yet and I actually haven’t read it yet,” Harris said at the end of an Oct. 16 campaign stop in Detroit. “But I’ll let you know.”
