Is Kamala Harris a Socialist?

Summary and Key Points: Vice President Kamala Harris faces significant criticism, often more intense than her predecessors. While some of it is based on her verbal gaffes, prosecutorial record, and electoral history, a portion is unearned, such as the right-wing claim that she is a socialist.

-Critics like Justin Haskins argue that Harris’s policies align with democratic socialism, citing her support for the Green New Deal and Medicare for All.

-However, her prosecutorial actions and moderate stances suggest otherwise. Labeling Harris a socialist is hyperbolic and obscures her true political views, which are more nuanced and do not aim to dismantle capitalism.

Kamala Harris: Socialist? 

Vice President Kamala Harris has always been a magnet for criticism. Criticism comes with the territory, after all, of being the Vice President. But Harris does seem to warrant a touch more criticism than her predecessors, like Mike Pence or Joe Biden or Al Gore. Harris’s defenders will tell you the extra criticism is a result of Harris’s race and gender, an idea that I dismiss. Rather, Harris’s criticism seems to stem more from earned sources, like her verbal gaffes, prosecutorial record, and history of running bad elections. Much of the criticism is indeed earned.

Still, like any politician of Harris’s prominence, Harris attracts some unearned criticism. Consider the ongoing right wing claim that Harris is essentially a socialist. The right likes to call political opponents socialists. It’s a quick dismissal, without nuance, or usually, basis in reality. Actually, the right calls people a socialist so often you’d think the charge would lose all meaning, and perhaps, to an extent, it has. But let’s take a look at the socialism charges being leveled against Harris, if for no other reason than dismissing them out of hand.

Dabbling in Socialism

If Harris succeeds in becoming president, Justin Haskins mused in a Fox News opinion piece, “her administration would likely be the most socialist and destructive in our country’s history.” Haskins proceeds, stating that Biden was one of America’s most progressive presidents.

(Fact check: Biden is most certainly not a progressive, despite paying occasional lip service to progressive cultural values. Biden is a Catholic with personal reservations about abortion, who helped craft Delaware into the most pro-business state in the country and has supported Israel’s ongoing campaign against Hamas.)

But, per Haskins, Harris would be even further to the left of Biden. It’s standard conservative fare. 

“In fact,” Haskins wrote, “if Harris were to become president, it’s fair to say that she would be the first democratic socialist candidate to fill the position in the 248-year history of the United States.”

I’m not sure Harris, who once prosecuted truants and minor drug offenders heavily while letting monopolists slip past unprosecuted, qualifies as a democratic socialist. I suspect if we were to ask Bernie Sanders, who worked alongside Harris in the Senate, and who describes himself, unapologetically,  as a democratic socialist, if Harris were also a democratic socialist, Sanders would tell you no.

Harris has supported items that democratic socialists also support, as Haskins points out, namely the Green New Deal and Medicare for All, but Harris hardly seems willing to dismantle capitalism, as any true socialist inherently aspires.

“Americans simply cannot afford Harris’s radical vision for the country,” Haskins wrote. “And even if it could, putting the dysfunctional, inefficient, corrupt federal government in charge of virtually every part of our lives, from health care to the kinds of cars we can drive, should be avoided at all costs.”

Harris has her flaws, which I’m happy to explore. But labeling Harris a socialist is rote hyperbole, which obscures Harris’s true world view – a world view we would do well to understand should she become the next president of the United States.  

About the Author: Harrison Kass 

Harrison Kass is a defense and national security writer with over 1,000 total pieces on issues involving global affairs. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.