Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday he declined to say how he voted key ballot measure would roll back criminal justice reforms passed in recent years in his home state of California.
Harris asked a question about the ballot initiative in comments to reporters while campaigning in the battleground state of Michigan. He also confirmed two days before Election Day that he had “just filled out” his mail-in ballot and was “on his way to California.”
“I will not talk about the vote on that. Because it’s honestly the Sunday before the election and I have no intention of creating an endorsement one way or the other,” said Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and U.S. senator before being elected vice president in 2020.
The Democratic presidential nominee’s decision not to publicly express a position on the high-profile initiative could draw criticism from Republican Donald Trump from some voters on the left who would like to see him go soft on crime. speaks out strongly against what they perceive as draconian crime-fighting efforts.
The initiative, if passed, would make shoplifting a felony for repeat offenders and increase penalties for some drug charges, including the synthetic opioid fentanyl. It would also give judges the power to order people with multiple drug charges to receive treatment.
According to the promoters, the initiative is necessary to close the loopholes in the existing laws, to punish the thieves and drug dealers who have made law enforcement a challenge.
Opponents, including Democratic state leaders and social justice groups, said the proposal would disproportionately incarcerate poor people and people with substance use problems instead of targeting drivers. hire large groups of people to steal to sell goods online.
California’s approach to crime is a hot topic this election cycle.
beyond on the ballot measure is San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a Democrat difficult re-election battle against opponents who say it is leaving the city out of control.
The moderate Democratic mayor faces four primary challengers on the Nov. 5 ballot, all Democrats who say Breed has wasted six years in office. They say he authorized it in San Francisco descend into chaos and blamed others for their inability to contain homelessness and irregularity street behaviorall while the stolen businesses called for help.
Meanwhile, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price faces a recall election, and Los Angeles District Attorney. George Gascon he is running against a rival who has criticized the progressive approach to crime and punishment against authority.
Crime data shows that burglaries in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles rose steadily between 2021 and 2022, according to a study by the Public Policy Institute of California.
Statewide, shoplifting rates rose over the same period, but were still lower than pre-pandemic levels in 2019, and commercial burglaries and robberies have become more prevalent in urban areas, the study said.
Harris, in the final days of the 2024 campaign, has urged Americans in battleground states to make a get-out-the-vote plan to get themselves, their friends and family to the polls.
But the vice president and his campaign team, until his comments on Sunday, avoided discussing the details of when he would vote and deflected questions about how he would vote on the California measure.
Last month, he suggested that to reporters would make it known his position on the ballot measure.
“I haven’t voted yet and I honestly 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.”
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