What has Kamala Harris done as vice president?
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During their first (and so far only) presidential debate, former President Donald Trump took aim at many aspects of Vice President Kamala Harris' history, including her reputation as second-in-command. "She's gonna do all these wonderful things," he said at one point. "Why hasn't she done it?" Biden and Harris had "three-and-a-half years" to "fix the border" and to "create jobs and all the things we talked about," he said. He asked again: "Why hasn't she done it?"
Trump isn't the only one to question how Harris has handled her current role. It is not uncommon for the vice president to struggle to prove themselves in a role largely defined by behind-the-scenes work. Harris' "critics and detractors alike acknowledge that the vice presidency is intended to be a supporting role," The New York Times said, and "many of her predecessors have labored to make themselves relevant, as well." As she pushes forward toward the election, her track record will continue to be heavily scrutinized by her opponents and undecided voters. And yet over the last four years, Harris has taken the lead on several critical issues while Biden focused his efforts elsewhere.
What has Biden done as president? Is Kamala Harris an asset or liability for Democrats in 2024? Is a Biden-Harris ticket what Democrats want?
Abortion rights
Abortion has become a central issue for Democrats following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn federal abortion rights. Harris spent much of the 2022 midterms appealing to voters with promises to prioritize and protect reproductive rights. Since Roe fell, she has "been subtly making herself the voice with a megaphone no one can ignore," said Philip Elliott at Time, adding that Harris has met with lawmakers from at least 18 states to discuss the issue. As Biden announced his 2024 candidacy, Harris gave a fiery speech at a reproductive freedom rally at her alma mater, Howard University. She blasted "extremist so-called leaders" for passing restrictive abortion bans.
She needed a serious reputation boost, "which explains why Harris has made abortion rights a central piece of her political identity," Elliott continued. After all, outrage over Roe v. Wade "powered Democratic candidates to unexpectedly strong showings in the midterm elections," and many believe Harris "played no small role in that accomplishment," Elliott said.
This year, Harris continued to put abortion at the forefront of her work. In March 2024, she toured a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota that provides abortion services. The White House said it was the first time in U.S. history that a president or vice president has visited a clinic that provides abortion services. The tour was the sixth stop on her "Fight for Reproductive Freedoms" tour, which she started in January to "push for more abortion access in the wake of the overruling of Roe v. Wade," said NBC News.
Immigration and the southern border
Biden tapped Harris in the early months of their term to spearhead efforts to address the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. It took her months to make her first and only visit to the area, and the delay elicited backlash from lawmakers on both sides. Her trip to Guatemala and Mexico was ultimately overshadowed by an interview with Lester Holt of NBC News where she "awkwardly downplayed the urgency" of the visit, The Washington Post said. Since then, Harris has borne the brunt of the criticism from Republicans as the border crisis worsens; Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) sent multiple buses of asylum seekers from the border to the VP's home in protest.
After withstanding the intense backlash of her perceived inaction, Harris is still attempting to address the root causes of the immigration problem. Her Central America Forward initiative has "yielded more than $4.2 billion in private sector commitments" to support creating local jobs and other measures to slow the flow of mass migration, CNN said last year. Some experts have lauded Harris' ability to secure the investments "as her most visible action in the region to date but have cautioned about the durability of those investments over the long term," CNN said.
Harris still has an uphill battle ahead of her to reverse public opinion about her work, or lack thereof, on the border. In January 2023, the Border Patrol union lambasted her lack of progress. "If you were given a job two years ago with the explicit goal of reducing illegal immigration, and then you sit around and do nothing while illegal immigration explodes to levels never seen before, you should be fired and replaced," the union said on X.
Voting rights
Harris was also at the forefront of the administration's pursuit to codify voting rights protections. She pushed for Congress to pass the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act, which would have extended the protections of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and required federal approval for some local election law changes. The VP "dove into" the "chance to make her mark on a hugely important issue," Eugene Daniels said in Politico. To further that goal, Harris "helped craft political coalitions with civil rights leaders, built outside pressure on Congress, and engaged privately with lawmakers." Ultimately, her work "hit a brick wall" when Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and now-independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) rejected proposed changes to Senate procedures to stop a Republican filibuster.
Harris' work leading up to the stalled legislation became "a microcosm of her stint as vice president: one defined by sharp moments, mishaps, public drama, private work and a touch of bad political luck," Daniels said.
What's next for Harris?
In terms of the recent presidential debate, Harris was overwhelmingly believed to be the victor. When she and Trump faced off, her opponent "lost his composure, often appearing on the defensive, angry or inflammatory," as Harris "managed to get under [his] skin early on," said Douglas E. Schoen at The Hill. However, pre- and post-debate polls show that while most voters agree Harris won, "it has not translated into commensurate boosts in the vice president's polling numbers, and thus, is unlikely to have any noticeable impact." For example, Morning Consult's tracking poll showed Harris in the lead by 5 points, which is only two points higher than her 3-point pre-debate lead. The post-debate polls showed that the "candidates did not do much to change their fortunes in either direction or shake up what figures to be an extremely close race."
With the race's final stretch ahead, Harris' campaign aims to keep up the early momentum from when her candidacy was first announced. While some top Democrats worry that the hype is waning, "that is not the feeling in Harris campaign headquarters," said CNN. Many of their current conversations focus on undecided voters in battleground states. Her top aides tend to talk about "eyeballs" and "moments," and "however many different plays they can come up with," the outlet added. Harris will continue to appear at large rallies, with smaller events in between, "building out the affinity groups and leaning into targeted appeals like playing up the endorsement from former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney."
"There's a quiet confidence and security in what we're doing and the mission, but no one thinks we have this in the bag," said a Harris campaign aide, per CNN. It will be a "grind until Election Day, and after."
