Kamala Harris, amid a furious battle for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, embraced a ban on fracking and offshore drilling. She supported Medicare-for-all. At one point, she advocated abolishing private health insurance. And she signaled an openness to a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Now, the vice president’s campaign says she would not pursue the fracking and offshore drilling ban — it’s a highly unpopular position in states like Pennsylvania where natural gas drives the economy — if she becomes president. She does not support a single-payer health-care system, instead focusing on what she and President Joe Biden call “corporate price-gouging” by pharmaceutical companies. And she is taking a much harder line on illegal immigration, arguing that Republicans are to blame for blocking a tough border-control measure this year.
Since Harris catapulted to the top of the Democratic ticket less than a month ago, she has been forced to reiterate that she rejects a wide array of positions she embraced five years ago, a dynamic likely to become even more evident as she rolls out pillars of her agenda in coming days. On Friday in North Carolina, she is set to outline her economic plan, which is expected to largely mirror Biden’s efforts to lower costs for middle-class families, including by curtailing late fees, hidden costs and junk fees. But Harris’s aides stress that she will roll out myriad policies that are unique to her.
In 2019, Harris articulated a series of liberal positions as she sought to distinguish herself among a crowded group of Democratic contenders, many of them tacking to the left to court voters in the primaries. Now her singular focus is taking on Republican nominee Donald Trump, with a big emphasis on winning over swing voters.
But Harris’s critics say her dramatic shifts on so many issues point to a deeper issue — that Harris has few core political beliefs and only a vague governing philosophy. That lack of a clear political identity, Republicans contend, gives them an opening to frame her image for voters.
“It’s clear the Kamala Harris who wanted to ban fracking, who supported Medicare-for-all … couldn’t win Pennsylvania or a single swing state,” said Corry Bliss, a Republican campaign consultant. “The average voter does not have a well-defined vision of her, so we have a great opportunity to define her simply on her record.”
John Anzalone, a Democratic pollster who worked for Biden, said a broad message is far more important than gritty policy details.
“What is driving the contrast is Harris talks about that she’s going to be for everyone and for the middle class, while Trump is going to be for himself and corporations,” Anzalone said. “That’s the big umbrella message, and all the policies are underneath it.”
Harris ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket after Biden’s abrupt decision to drop out of the presidential race on July 21, which followed weeks of nervous Democrats calling for a new candidate after the president’s rocky debate performance against Trump. The party quickly coalesced around Harris, who is running on a tightly compressed schedule and has skipped many of the rituals of a presidential race — including a drawn-out primary contest and months of campaigning across the country — that usually force candidates to specify their views on a range of issues.
The Democratic Party platform was locked in before Harris became the nominee, limiting her ability to put her stamp on the document. Since Harris’s emergence, many Democrats have felt relief and even euphoria after weeks of worrying that Biden would lose decisively, and they have shown little appetite to press her even on such contentious issues as immigration and the war in Gaza.
Harris, meanwhile, has inherited Biden’s campaign apparatus and kept on many of his senior campaign advisers, while adding some of her own. So far she has largely adopted the policies Biden pushed or implemented as president, in some cases adding her own touch, such as an emphasis on lower-income Americans. One Harris adviser said many of the policies the administration ultimately pursued — including the child tax credit, student debt cancellation for those who attended Corinthian Colleges, and solving the problem of lead pipes — were ones that Harris pushed the White House to execute.
“On day one, I will take on price-gouging and bring down costs,” Harris said at a rally in Atlanta last month. “We will ban more of those hidden fees and surprise late charges that banks and other companies use to pad their profits. We will take on corporate landlords and cap unfair rent increases. And we will take on Big Pharma to cap prescription drug costs for all Americans.”
When she has deviated from Biden, it is often a matter of tone rather than substance. Most notably, Harris often speaks forcefully about reproductive rights, while Biden, a lifelong Catholic, can appear uncomfortable talking about abortion.
Biden has devoted a half-century of his life to national politics and developed strong, well-known positions on many subjects. He spent 36 years in the U.S. Senate, chairing the Judiciary and Foreign Relations committees, while Harris spent four.
That could give her advisers more input as she shapes her agenda, according to people familiar with her emerging policy agenda who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private and sensitive conversations.
Republicans have not waited for Harris to issue new policy proposals before seizing on her past statements to attack her as dangerously liberal. Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick, for instance, highlighted a series of Harris’s past positions in a widely shared ad he released last month.
A page on the Republican National Committee website calls the vice president “Flip-Flopping Kamala Harris” and lists several current policies that contradict past statements, such as her opposition to banning fracking, her embrace of fixing the “broken” immigration system and her dismissal of a single-payer health-care system.
Anzalone said that it is not unusual for candidates’ positions to evolve and change over time, and that running a primary campaign is distinct from running a general-election campaign. Biden himself has taken a tougher position on immigration as president than he did as a candidate, and Trump no longer talks about repealing the Affordable Care Act.
Under Biden, Harris has taken part in critical White House policy meetings, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal dynamics. In those sessions, she regularly raised the prospect of unintended effects on individuals she felt were not being discussed or were being overlooked, including people of color, rural residents and low-income workers, the people said.
Harris is likely to adopt a similar approach as she shapes her policy agenda in coming weeks, allies say. On economic policy, for example, she has brought on one of Biden’s senior advisers, Gene Sperling, suggesting an intent to continue the general thrust of Biden’s policies. But there is likely to be an additional emphasis on areas Harris cares about, such as the child tax credit and eliminating medical debt, according to a person familiar with the planning who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal plans.
Harris also hopes to focus on policies aimed at helping working- and middle-class people build wealth, such as making it easier for people to purchase homes and boosting small businesses, the person said.
The vice president has also turned to a number of informal outside advisers, including Brian Deese, Bharat Ramamurti and Joelle Gamble, all of whom held senior positions on Biden’s National Economic Council. Harris has also brought on some of her former staffers, including Brian Nelson, a former Treasury Department official who once worked for Harris in California, and Deanne Millison, the vice president’s former chief economic adviser.
A campaign official noted that Harris promoted many of the same economic principles when she served as California attorney general from 2011 to 2017, before being elected to the U.S. Senate. The official cited investigations she led or joined into pharmacies and drug companies for overcharging for prescription medications, and pointed to a probe of high gas prices charged by oil companies.
While foreign policy may attract less attention in a political campaign, it can be crucial to a president’s tenure. Harris has been consulting with some of Biden’s former foreign policy advisers, as well as those of former president Barack Obama.
Tom Donilon, who was national security adviser under Obama, is helping organize outside experts as Harris’s foreign policy takes shape. They include Wendy Sherman, Biden’s former deputy secretary of state; Colin Kahl, a former Biden undersecretary of defense; Susan Rice, who was head of the Domestic Policy Council under Biden and national security adviser under Obama; and Sasha Baker, a top Biden national security aide.
Harris’s current national security adviser, Phil Gordon, works at the White House and therefore is limited in what he can do for her campaign. But he is widely expected to hold a top position if she is elected president.
Biden spent much of his career steeped in foreign policy and came into office with clear, defined views on the world. When advisers tried to move him on certain issues — such as allowing Ukraine to strike deeper inside Russia or rethinking unconditional U.S. support for Israel during the war in Gaza — they have found it extraordinarily difficult, according to several senior administration officials and outside advisers.
While Harris’s foreign policy platform is still somewhat embryonic, she is expected to largely continue Biden’s efforts on Russia’s war in Ukraine and on countering China. Less clear, and of great interest to many Democrats, is whether she will craft her own policy on Israel.
Biden is a staunch supporter of the Jewish state whose views were shaped in the 1970s when he first became a senator. Many Democrats believe that Harris is more in line with the outlook of younger voters and people of color, who often see Israel as a military powerhouse that has oppressed Palestinians.
One ally of Harris said the myriad factors that have made this presidential race so unusual — the tight timeline, the relief within the party, and many Democrats’ view of Trump as an existential threat — favor her and make her specific policy positions less important than they were five years ago.
“Running in 2019 against other Democrats was dicey. Running in 2024 against Trump again is different — it’s clear where he is,” the ally said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss strategy. “The policy task for the next three months is infinitely easier than first round.”