Was Kamala Harris a Progressive Prosecutor? A Look at Her Time as a DA & California Attorney General

As Senator Kamala Harris makes history as the first woman of color on a major party ticket, Democracy Now! hosts a debate on her record as California attorney general and San Francisco district attorney, when she proudly billed herself as “top cop” and called for more cops on the street.

San Francisco Deputy Public Defender Niki Solis says Harris was the state’s most progressive DA and advocated for “so many policies and so many alternatives to incarceration.”

Law professor Lara Bazelon says Harris was on the wrong side of history for often opposing criminal justice reform, though her record did change as a senator. “Her office fought tooth and nail to uphold wrongful convictions that in some cases kept innocent people in prison,” Bazelon says.

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