Kamala Harris won't say how she voted on California's crime measure

Harris addressed a question about the ballot initiative in comments to reporters during his campaign in the battleground state of Michigan. She also confirmed two days before Election Day that she had “just filled out her mail-in ballot” and it was “on its way to California.”

“I’m not going to talk about the vote on this. Because frankly, it's the Sunday before the election and I have no plans to build support for it one way or another,” said Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and U.S. senator, before running for office in 2020 Vice President was elected.

The Democratic presidential candidate's decision not to comment publicly on the high-profile initiative could leave her open to criticism from Republican Donald Trump that she is soft on crime and from some left-leaning voters who would like to see her speak out forcefully against what they perceive as draconian anti-crime efforts.

If passed, the initiative would make the crime of shoplifting a felony for repeat offenders and increase penalties for some drug crimes, including those involving the synthetic opioid fentanyl. It would also give judges the power to order treatment for people with multiple drug offenses.

Supporters said the initiative was necessary to close loopholes in existing laws that made it difficult for law enforcement to punish shoplifters and drug dealers.

Opponents, including Democratic leaders and social justice groups, said the proposal would disproportionately incarcerate poor people and people with drug problems rather than targeting ringleaders who hire large groups of people to steal goods to resell online.

California's handling of crime is a central issue in this election cycle.

Beyond the ballot measure, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, a Democrat, is in a difficult re-election campaign against challengers who say she has allowed the city to spiral out of control.

The moderate Democratic mayor faces four primary opponents in the Nov. 5 vote, all Democratic colleagues who say Breed has wasted her six years in office. She is said to have allowed San Francisco to descend into chaos and blamed others for her inability to curb homelessness and erratic behavior on the streets while failing businesses begged for help.

Meanwhile, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price faces a recall election, and Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón is running against a rival who has criticized the incumbent's progressive approach to crime and punishment.

Crime data shows the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles saw a steady increase in shoplifting between 2021 and 2022, according to a study by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.

Statewide, shoplifting rates increased over the same period but were still below pre-pandemic levels in 2019, while commercial burglaries and robberies have become more common in urban counties, the study said.

Harris, in the final days of the 2024 campaign, 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, until her comments on Sunday, avoided talking in detail about when she would cast her vote and dodged questions about how she would vote on the California measure.

Last month, she suggested reporters reveal her position on the ballot measure.

“I haven’t voted yet and I actually 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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