Kamala Harris’ record is no different to Joe Biden’s

Vice president Kamala Harris (Picture: Wikicommons/ Gage Skidmore)

The Democratic Party establishment is piling in behind vice president Kamala Harris after Joe Biden was forced to bow out of the United States presidential race last weekend.

Harris presents herself as a progressive choice to take on Donald Trump. But she’s backed up all of Biden’s corporate handouts, defended Israel’s genocide and enforced anti-migrant laws. She stands for all the failed policies that paved the way for Trump’s return. Biden made the decision to step down after his closest aides presented polling data that showed Trump would win in November.

Minutes after, Biden posted on social media, “I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year.” Endorsements from the rest of the Democratic establishment rolled in. Notable ones include former president Bill Clinton and failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and Senator Elizabeth Warren.

And big players sent support, including leaders of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and Congressional Progressive Caucus. Some of the wealthiest donors to the Democrats have also swung behind Harris, with donors giving more than £30 million to her in the 12 hours after the announcement.

Harris will try and drum up support by painting herself as a defender of abortion rights. Yet the overturning of Roe v Wade in 2022, which recognised the constitutional right to abortion, happened under Biden and Harris’ watch.

It was the Biden-Harris administration that failed to pass a nationwide law protecting Roe v Wade—something they promised in their 2020 election campaign. As vice president, Harris has attacked migrants coming across the US-Mexico border, saying, “Do not come. Do not come.”

And she’s enforced a number of anti-migrant laws such as strengthening border police. She’s complicit with Israel’s genocide, unwaveringly defending Israel’s “right to defend itself”. Previously Harris went as far as likening the creation of Israel “as the same commitment to justice” as those who marched in the US civil rights movement.

Harris presents herself as a “progressive prosecutor” after her time as attorney general of California. But in office she opposed criminal justice reforms and fought tooth and nail to uphold wrongful convictions that had been secured through official misconduct.

She blocked payouts to the wrongfully-convicted and argued for keeping non-violent offenders in jail as a source of cheap labour. And she denied gender reassignment surgery to trans+ prisoners. Biden’s presidency has failed to improve the lives of ordinary people.

Harris is simply a continuation of Biden’s politics. She will do all she can to channel social movements away from the streets and into boosting her election campaign. Those movements, whether over abortion rights or Palestine, should keep mobilising from below to win change—not look to the Democratic Party.