Gender Gap and Diversity

Think a Harris Agenda Will Be the Same as Biden's? Think Again

Vice President Kamala Harris has quickly ascended as the expected Democratic presidential nominee after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race Sunday afternoon.

While she isn't officially the nominee just yet (she would have to officially claim that title during the Democratic National Convention in mid-August), the nationwide enthusiasm that's sprung up in the last 24 hours is telling: Harris raised $81 million within 24 hours of announcing her candidacy -- a new record for any presidential candidate within a day, according to the Harris campaign.


There are a lot of questions swirling, namely, who will become Harris's running mate and what's her official platform? Her career in politics -- from serving as a California senator to being second-in-command over the last few years -- might help inform that second question. An even more applicable question for you: How would Harris support America's small businesses if she gets a shot at the Oval Office? Here are three predictions:

1. Women Will Be a Cornerstone

Harris made history in 2020 when she became the first female vice president in the country's history. She's also bulldozed racial barriers, becoming the first person with Black and South Asian heritage to hold the office of the vice presidency. And if she's successful in her bid, she'd be the country's first female president.

Even before the Dobbs decision -- which reversed a woman's right to an abortion by throwing that decision to state governments -- Harris staunchly fought to preserve access to reproductive health care. While in the Senate, she co-sponsored a bill to protect women's health which, among other things, sought to bar states from limiting abortion access. She also toured an abortion clinic this past March, a first for any president or vice president, according to the White House.

As vice president, she's announced funding initiatives for female entrepreneurs like new funding tranches from the State Small Business Credit Initiative. In November, she shepherded the $900-million Women in the Sustainable Economy Initiative, which works to boost economic opportunities for women in clean energy and environmental conservation. Female economic empowerment has long been a focus for the vice president -- and not just in the U.S. When Harris paid a visit to Ghana in March 2023, she met with a cluster of female founders in the country to discuss inclusion and business.

2. The Boom Will Continue

The Biden-Harris administration has regularly celebrated what it calls the small-business boom, or the record number of new business applications that have been submitted since President Biden took office. As of May, the White House shared that more than 18 million people submitted an application to start a new business since Biden assumed office in 2021.

Harris has notably voiced her support for small businesses, especially in calling to expand access to capital for underserved companies. In an exclusive interview with Inc. in March, Harris advocated for the so-called Ban the Box initiative, a rule change from the U.S. Small Business Administration aiming to expand access to capital for entrepreneurs who may have criminal records. Two months later, she unveiled a $100-million funding announcement for small auto parts firms.

In July, the White House teased an update on the Economic Opportunity Coalition -- a partnership between the public and private sectors and the federal government to expand capital and spur funding to underserved businesses. The update the White House shared in July showcased a $3-billion commitment into community development financial initiatives and minority depository institutions, which follows a 2023 call to action from the vice president to focus investments on the underserved.

3. The Middle-Class Could See Tax Breaks

As vice president, Harris has helped champion some of the landmark economic initiatives passed under the Biden-Harris administration like the sprawling climate bill known as the Inflation Reduction Act, passed in 2022, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, a landmark 2021 measure that invests in rebuilding the country's roads, bridges, public transit, and other national infrastructure.

Taxes are sure to be a central issue that Democrats and Republicans will duel over, especially as the Trump tax cuts, passed under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, hurtle toward a sunset date by the end of 2025. While Harris has yet to lay out specific tax policies she'd look to implement as president, she's advocated for tax credits in the past -- including the child care tax credit, a tax incentive that helps working parents cope with the high costs of child care. As a senator, she introduced a bill that proposed to dole out tax credits worth $3,000 for the American middle class as well.

Harris reportedly backs returning the corporate income tax rate to 35 percent, from 21 percent. The rate was cut to the current 21 percent rate during Donald Trump's presidency.

An hour after seismic and precedent-shattering news broke of Joe Biden's departure from the 2024 presidential race, the President endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his would-be successor. 

It's a canny move that speaks to a glimmer of unity in a fractured Democratic party. For the previous three weeks, Democrats had been frantically soul-searching, if not waging an outright battle with themselves: Biden resisted calls from prominent party leaders to step down after his fitful performance in June's debate. Turmoil spread throughout Democratic party ranks as his opponent Donald Trump celebrated clinching the Republican nomination at a convention in Milwaukee that seemed like a premature victory lap. 

Now, Biden has five months to finish his term and solidify his legacy. The electoral calculus has been flipped on its head. Endorsements for Harris keep pouring in from Democratic politicians. Buzz is growing among a chorus of online fans who cannot stop talking about coconuts -- an internet-born symbol of the former prosecutor. 

Ultimately though, this is about politics and not memes. How would a Harris administration differ from Biden's White House, if at all? 

Early sentiment says the answer is unclear. "She has been a loyal Biden supporter in public these past three-and-a-half years, so whether her own agenda might veer into different directions is unclear," Jeffrey Jenkins, a professor of political science and law at the University of Southern California explains to Inc. "We should learn more about Kamala Harris's policy agenda in the upcoming weeks."

Until then, here's what we know: 

Where Harris has publicly differed from Biden 

It might seem like ancient history, but the 2020 Democratic Primary Campaign pitted Harris and Biden against each other. In the second Democratic debate, Harris hammered Biden for voting against desegregation bussing, which saw students of color integrated into white schools in the immediate aftermath of the civil rights movement in the 1970s. Harris rebuked Biden, the dialogue became a flashpoint in the campaign, and Biden momentarily suffered from it. 

Harris's career in public life is well-documented, beginning as San Francisco District Attorney in 2004. She has long been a centrist, though she veered into more progressive territory during the 2020 campaign, endorsing Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, a comprehensive policy measure devised by progressive leaders aimed at tackling the climate crisis. Biden's campaign wouldn't align with the progressive movement on those issues, but offered robust climate proposals as part of his marquee policy agenda, the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed by Congress in 2022. 

On health care, Biden often speaks proudly of the Affordable Care Act, passed when he was Vice President under Barack Obama. Throughout his first term as President, Biden has talked about improving access to Medicare but stopped well short of endorsing anything close to a single-payer healthcare system. 

On foreign policy, Biden is an adherent of 20th century America's often self-imposed role of global mediator. Since October 7, 2023, he's been unflinching in his support for Israel's military operations in Gaza, despite widespread outcry over the death toll of Palestinian civilians in the region. Biden has often reinforced the importance of strengthening international alliances, namely the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which Trump disparages as a so-called globalist money pit. Harris is pro-NATO, like the vast majority of mainstream politicians. 

Harris is something of a cybersecurity hawk when it comes to foreign policy. Her use of wired headphones at work often drew laughs from bemused observers, but there's a reason for her old-school approach. Bluetooth is highly susceptible to hacks and cyberattacks, whereas antiquated earbuds that use wires are not. Concerns over Russian hacking and election interference will undoubtedly inform much of her diplomatic agenda. "Russia can't hack a piece of paper," she said in 2019, supporting the use of paper ballots in elections. 

On trade, Harris opposed the Trans Pacific Partnership over environmental concerns. The controversial free-trade agreement between 12 countries, including the United States, Vietnam, Chile, Canada, and Australia, drew support from Obama and Biden, but was ultimately scrapped when Trump removed the United States from participation in 2017. 

How different could a Harris administration be, really

There are far more questions than answers, of course. You wouldn't be remiss to assume that there won't be that much of a difference between a Harris or Biden White House. "I expect the differences to be relatively small -- they both are pretty close to the median of the party -- and driven more by circumstance, [such as] do Democrats have majorities in Congress or not, than by differences in their policy or political views," Paul Pierson, a political science at the University of California, Berkeley, tells Inc. 

In any case, analysts and political operatives are insisting that Harris articulate her campaign platform soon. "She would be wise to make her moves to the center," Sarah Bianchi, senior managing director and chief strategist of international political affairs and public policy at the investment bank Evercore ISI, told CNBC Monday. 

Biden's handling of immigration is a lightning rod issue for Republicans. Harris would be smart to adopt a more moderate stance on U.S. border policy, Bianchi said. 

Harris has served as the White House's main authority on border enforcement, which poses a vulnerability electorally. 

"Her main policy role during the Biden administration was to serve as Border Czar. This will likely be an attack point for the Trump campaign, as immigration has been viewed as a profound policy failure by those on the right," Jenkins explains.

“Oh, so you are the diversity hire,” he said as he shook my hand. 

I was stunned as I processed what my new coworker had just said.

That comment from a new colleague made me feel the opposite of welcome. I wondered if he dared to say out loud what he was thinking about me. He thought I was less qualified to do the job because of the color of my skin.

I had just joined this company to lead a portfolio of products that was in decline. Within a few days of leading this new team, I found out that no one internally wanted the position. The organization had trouble finding someone to fill the role. The moment I started the job, I was branded a “diversity hire.”

After a few years in that role, I was able to put the business back on a path to achieve double-digit growth. But years later that comment still stings. And that wouldn’t be the last time someone would question my qualifications to do a job I was hired to do.

Unfortunately, it has become common for some conservatives to attempt to discredit, demoralize, and disrespect leaders of color by labeling them “diversity hires”—or otherwise misappropriating the language of diversity, equity, and inclusion as thinly veiled racist insults. Perhaps most poignantly, this is currently happening to Vice President Kamala Harris, who recently received President Joe Biden’s endorsement to be the next Democratic presidential candidate. 

THE ANTI-DEI MOVEMENT

As the backlash against DEI intensifies, the anti-DEI movement has blamed diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts for a number of things. Conservatives blamed DEI for the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. They also said DEI was to blame for Boeing’s safety crisis, and for the collapse of the Baltimore Bridge. Some even blamed DEI for the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.

Now the term DEI is again being weaponized loudly and boldly to insult, demean, and devalue people and their credentials. One recent example: a New York Post op-ed stated, “America may soon be subjected to the country’s first DEI president: Kamala Harris.” The author, Fox Business Network senior correspondent Charles Gasparino, suggests that Harris became vice president because of DEI and not because of her political track record—which includes being a U.S. senator from 2017 to 2021, and the attorney general of California from 2011 to 2017, where she oversaw the largest state justice department in the country. 

In contrast, JD Vance spent 18 months as a senator before Trump picked him to be his vice-presidential running mate.

“You have to look pretty far into history to find a vice-presidential nominee with a slimmer résumé than Vance,” writes Lydia Polgreen in a New York Times article titled “If Kamala Harris Is a D.E.I. Candidate, So Is JD Vance.” 

What’s happening to Vice President Harris in the headlines is happening every day in our workplaces. Here’s what you need to know about how the term DEI is being weaponized—and how to interrupt your own bias and stop the term from being used in a harmful way:

EDUCATE YOURSELF ON HOW DEI IS BEING WEAPONIZED

By labeling Vice President Harris “the country’s first DEI president,” conservatives like Gasparino attempt to erase her credentials, her experience, and her track record. By using “DEI” to describe her, the implication is that she got where she is only because of her race and gender, not because she earned it. “DEI” is increasingly being used as a harmful, hurtful, and hateful descriptor. 

For instance, Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado called White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre a “DEI hire.” And Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott was labeled a “DEI mayor” following the collapse of the bridge in his city. “We know what these folks really want to say when they say DEI mayor,” Scott said in response. “But there is nothing they can do and say to me that is worse than the treatment of my ancestors. I am proud of who I am and where I come from.” Scott has suggested that the term is now being positioned as a racial slur

You can watch out for how “DEI” is being used in your workplace. Is it used to describe the efforts to make our workplaces more fair and equitable for everyone? Or is it used as a descriptor for an individual, like “the DEI VP” or “the DEI director”? Do you hear colleagues using terms like DEI hirediversity hire, or token hire in public or private settings? And if you’re honest with yourself, have you also used these labels or had those thoughts in your head?

INTERROGATE YOUR OWN BIASES

According to the Pew Research Center, 61% of employees say their organizations have policies that ensure fairness in hiring, promotions, and pay. And yet we know many pay gaps still exist. 

I continue to hear leaders make statements such as, “Well, we all know she got that job because she’s a woman.” Or “They needed a DEI hire in that role.” And “I’m all for diverse talent, as long as they are good.”

As I discuss in my book, Reimagine Inclusion, we must challenge the underlying assumption that we lower the bar for “diverse talent” or any talent that doesn’t identify as white. Statements like “I’m all for diverse talent, as long as they are good” reveal that we have limited access to people who don’t act, think, or look like we do. When we see someone we perceive as “different” in a position of power, do we think they got the role because of DEI efforts? Or do we think they got the role because of their credentials, experience, and track record of success?

That statement—“I’m all for diverse talent, as long as they are good”—implies that diverse talent is worse than nondiverse talent. For instance, would you say “I’m all for nondiverse talent, as long as they are good?” Have you ever thought that hiring white people is lowering the bar?

As leaders, we must spend the time to reflect and interrogate our own biases. We can then start to understand how “DEI” is being weaponized in the headlines, and also in our workplaces. We will then be in a better position to interrupt bias when we see it in action.

INTERRUPT BIAS WHEN YOU SEE IT IN ACTION

When we hear colleagues weaponizing the term DEI in the workplace, we should speak up. Here are some examples of responses you can use to intervene:

  • “Using words like diversity hire or DEI hire is hurtful and harmful. I know I would be hurt if someone referred to me that way. Can we address her by her name please?”
  • “How would you feel if someone said you only got that job because you are a man?”
  • “Why would we assume that he is less qualified? Is there something in his background, experience, or credentials that leads you to believe that?”

There may be some cases where junior colleagues model the behavior of senior colleagues and use anti-DEI language without understanding the implications. This is an important opportunity for you to help educate them. 

There may also be cases where you know someone is using this language intentionally to hurt someone, and does so repeatedly, even after you have tried to intervene. In this case, it may be best to get both their manager and human resources involved.

We have the power and responsibility to stop the backlash we are seeing against DEI in our workplaces because diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts are about creating fair and equitable workplaces for everyone—and ensuring that we all have the opportunity to unlock our potential. 

If I could go back in time and speak to that colleague who called me a “diversity hire,” I would correct him. And going forward, I hope no one else—in the White House or otherwise—will be called a “DEI candidate” again. 

On Sunday possibly the most consequential event of the 2024 presidential race happened. No, not President Joe Biden dropping out. I’m talking about “Kamala IS brat.”

These words, tweeted by Charli XCX, have catapulted Vice President Kamala Harris’s nascent campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination into rarified air, potentially sending thousands of fans and voters her way and catapulting her straight into the White House as our first woman president.

Okay, maybe I’m being hyperbolic, but I actually think that the way Harris has been embraced in pop culture could be significant in her presidential campaign and is changing the way she’s viewed among a large swath of voters, especially young people.

If you’re one of the many people now googling “what does ‘kamala is brat’ mean” or “what is ‘brat’” or even (it’s okay) “who is charli xcx,” we’re here for you. Here’s everything you need to know, in this edition of TL;DR.

Give me the TL;DR.

Kamala Harris is leaning into “brat summer,” the social media trend surrounding singer-songwriter Charli XCX’s recent album Brat, after Charli herself declared on X.com that she was supporting Harris, writing, “kamala IS brat.”

Wait, I need more. What’s the background here?

An interesting thing has been happening since President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance in June made Harris a serious contender for the presidency: People have decided she is cool.

Well, deciding she is cool lacks the nuance of what is really happening, but it perhaps best describes it. People—and the collective internet culture—have become obsessed with Harris as a meme. They love her funny anecdotes (like the now infamous coconut tree), her uproarious cackle, her sometimes wacky persona, the way she dances, and even the way she walks.

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So, the “brat” of it all. If you’re lost, a brief explainer. Last month Charli XCX released an album called Brat that has basically taken over the internet and pop culture. From its lime green album cover to its several catchy singles to its normcore aesthetics and overall vibe, all anyone is talking about right now is Brat. People have also declared it a brat summer, which means we’re embracing Charli’s brand of unapologetic, messy, brash, internet It-girl womanhood which some describe as the antidote to the perfectionism of the clean-girl aesthetic.

Since Brat is the main pop culture touchstone in the zeitgeist right now, it’s not surprising that it has infiltrated the Harris discourse. One of the first things to go mega-viral about Harris, in fact, was this perfect Kamala x “Von Dutch” mash-up.

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And in the way the internet does, the two forces began to combine.

https://www.tiktok.com/@olvsens/video/7388356704360090923

This brings us to Sunday night. Biden had dropped out of the presidential race, endorsing Harris to be the next Democratic nominee, and prominent party members had begun to fall in line. And then Charli tweeted simply “kamala IS brat.”

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And so, since you are now educated, you now understand what she meant. Charli is telling her fans—and the collective adherents of Brat Summer—that to be a brat, you have to be on board with Harris. It’s that simple.

What does the internet think?

Obsessed, of course. Kamala has never been so brat.

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People are even replacing the “I’m so Julia,” line in the Brat song “360” with “I’m so Kamala,” which is a campaign slogan if I’ve ever heard one.

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Why should I care?

Earlier I wrote when discussing the coconut-tree meme: “Not to be hyperbolic, but I actually think this is changing Harris’s public perception—for the better.*” But now, like, I really don’t think I’m exaggerating.

Pop culture is culture, and culture really is just the collective output of society. As Harris would (maybe) say, elections exist in the context of all that came before it, or rather exist in the context of larger American society. We don’t vote in a vacuum. If people are now seeing Harris as a funny and, dare I say, cool, Coconut Queen of Brat Summer, it may actually make them want to vote for her. It could have an impact.

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It’s especially interesting because out of all the image-building her team did and has done of Harris as a politician, prosecutor, aunt, wife, and “Momala,” this version and perception of her is what seems to be breaking through to people. Before Biden’s debate performance, people online seemed to be either indifferent to Harris or derided her as cringe. Some didn’t like her prosecution record as a district attorney and later attorney general in California, calling her a “cop.”

But for various reasons the tide has turned. I’m no pollster, but I’ve become convinced that the memeification of Harris is making a lot of young potential voters actually excited about the possibility of her becoming president, creating enthusiasm that the Democratic party really needs right now.

*I still have no actual evidence of this.

Has Harris responded to all this?

I’ve become further convinced that this whole thing is good for Harris’s campaign by the way those running her strategy have responded to it: They’ve embraced it. Yes, a presidential campaign that understands internet culture and can engage with it, what a concept! (Sorry, Dark Brandon, but no.)

Almost immediately after Charli’s tweet, the Twitter (okay, X.com) account formerly known as @BidenHQ rebranded to @KamalaHQ and included a Brat meme in the rebrand.

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And they even nodded to the coconut tree, with the description “providing context.”

A lot of other Democratic politicians are leaning into the memes as well. Hawaii senator Brian Schatz climbed a coconut tree for content.

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And Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker responded to rumors he would challenge Harris with this.

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Wow, am I laughing about politics for the first time since like 2015? Is that…joy? Fun?

Nature is…healing?

Am I going to care about or remember this in two weeks?

Yes, and I’m manifesting a Charli x Kamala appearance before November.

Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday held her first campaign rally since becoming the likely Democratic presidential candidate to face Donald Trump in this year's election.
Harris' event, two days after President Joe Biden bowed out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed her, showed how the Democrats' campaign is changing rapidly.

ABORTION RIGHTS

Harris got the biggest reaction from the crowd with remarks about abortion and women's rights, an early indication of how important it will be to her campaign and the election overall.
Many U.S. states have passed restrictive abortion laws in the two years since the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe vs. Wade ruling that had made abortion a constitutional right.
Democrats already saw abortion rights as a winning issue in this campaign and Harris had led the charge from her position as Biden's running mate. Now that she is likely to be the Democratic presidential candidate, it becomes even more central to the campaign.
"We will stop Donald Trump's extreme abortion ban because we trust women to make decisions about their own bodies and not have the government tell them what to do," Harris said to a roar from the crowd. "When Congress passes the law to restore reproductive freedoms as President of the United States, I will sign it."

'LOCK HIM UP'

Harris framed the Democratic argument against Trump around his character and his legal convictions, indicating that this would be a major campaign message.
She noted her past as a prosecutor and attorney general in her home state of California and encountered convicted felons, people who assaulted women, and those who committed fraud.
"Hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump's type," Harris said as the crowd chanted "Lock him up."

AFFORDABLE CHILDCARE, UNIONS

Harris indicated that she would embrace, and maybe expand on, Biden's economic priorities and she ran through a progressive's wishlist of policies, including affordable healthcare and childcare, paid family leave, union membership protections and retirement benefits.
"We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by but to get ahead," she said.
To deliver on many of those, Harris would need the support of Congress, meaning Democratic control of one or both houses.

BEYONCE REPLACES TOM PETTY

With the Harris campaign comes a new energy level, crowd size, and a new soundtrack. Gone was Tom Petty's "Won't Back Down," which Biden adopted in his last weeks as Democrats pressured him to get out of the race. Instead, Harris walked on to Beyonce's "Freedom."
Unlike the tiny, intimate Biden events that were carefully curated, Harris drew a crowd of thousands who danced, cheered, and waived "Kamala" signs.
A campaign source said Harris's team had been inundated with RSVPs so they switched to a larger venue late in the day on Monday.

THANKS TO BIDEN AND UNITY

Harris began by expressing thanks to Biden to hearty applause and vowed to unite the party, which has been divided most recently over Biden's refusal for weeks to step aside as concerns mounted over his health and ability to beat Trump.
"It has truly been one of the greatest honors of my life to serve as vice president to our president, Joe Biden," she said, lauding Biden's "legacy of accomplishment over his entire career.
 U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Joe Biden has endorsed to replace him on the Democratic presidential ticket, started her political career as a California prosecutor who blended criminal justice reforms with a tough stance on some crimes.
Over more than a dozen years as San Francisco's district attorney and then as California's attorney general, Harris took some stances welcomed by the party's left flank, including opposition to the death penalty and staking out a hard line during negotiations with big banks over home foreclosure abuses.
But she rankled progressive critics with other moves, including a policy of criminally prosecuting parents of children who skipped school and rejecting a request for DNA testing from a Black man on death row who says he was wrongfully convicted of murder.
Her mixed record will likely provide fodder, opens new tab for Republican nominee Donald Trump to paint her as soft on crime. Harris has characterized her approach, opens new tab as being "smart on crime," and has spoken of the importance of preventing and punishing crime while also protecting the rights of defendants and curbing excesses.
"My vision of a progressive prosecutor was someone who used the power of the office with a sense of fairness, perspective and experience, someone who was clear about the need to hold serious criminals accountable and who understood that the best way to create safe communities was to prevent crime," Harris wrote in her 2019 memoir.
James Singer, a spokesperson for Harris' campaign, said her record stands in contrast to Trump's, who was convicted in May on criminal charges of covering up hush money paid to a porn star.
"Kamala Harris has spent her career taking on and beating the big banks, for-profit colleges, and criminals in service of our country," Singer said.
A spokesman for Trump's campaign did not respond to requests for comment. Trump has vowed to appeal his conviction.

ANTI-DEATH PENALTY

Harris, 59, in 2003 became the first woman elected as San Francisco's top prosecutor after campaigning in part on a pledge not to seek the death penalty.
Her stance was tested almost immediately, when police officer Isaac Espinoza was killed in 2004. Despite pressure from several California Democrats, including the state's two U.S. Senators, to bring the death penalty against the gang member who killed Espinoza, Harris held firm and secured a sentence of life without parole.
His widow Renata Espinoza told CNN in 2019 that Harris did not call her before announcing in a press conference she would not seek the death penalty.
"She had just taken justice from us, from Isaac," Renata Espinoza said.
As district attorney, Harris drew praise from progressives for implementing a program to help young people arrested on non-violent offenses get job training, substance abuse treatment, and housing. As attorney general, she launched bias training for state police officers.
But she attracted criticism from the left for a plan to discourage truancy by prosecuting the parents of chronically absent children - though none went to jail while she was district attorney, and Harris said in 2010, opens new tab that elementary school truancy had fallen 33% over the prior two years.

'A FAIR DEAL'

After being elected attorney general in 2010, Harris' office opposed DNA testing requested by lawyers of Kevin Cooper, a man sitting on death row for a 1985 quadruple murder he says he did not commit. As a Senator in 2018, Harris reversed course and urged California to allow such testing.
A 2023 independent report, opens new tab found "extensive and conclusive" evidence of Cooper's guilt.
One of Harris' signature achievements as attorney general was obtaining a $1.1 billion judgment against for-profit Corinthian Colleges for misleading students.
She also secured an $18 billion settlement, opens a new tab in 2012 from banks over foreclosure misconduct. California had initially been in line to receive around $4 billion as part of the multi-state litigation, but Harris said that was too little and threatened to walk away from negotiations.
"This outcome is the result of an insistence that California receives a fair deal," Harris said at the time.