Let's talk about Kamala Harris!

Kamala Harris:

• Served as Vice President since 2020, giving her extensive experience in the White House and ensuring she is steeped in the policy work of this administration. 

• Elected to be San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and U.S. Senator, giving her direct legislative experience and deep background knowledge of criminal justice reform.

• Served on the powerful Judiciary, Intelligence and Homeland Security Committees in the Senate.

• Sponsored 164 pieces of legislation and co-sponsored 1,197 pieces of legislation while in the Senate. GovTrack notes that she was "one of the busier Senators in terms of introducing legislation. Her 54 bills introduced in 2019 tied for 19th-most among all 100 senators, while her 52 bills introduced in 2017–18 put her in the top third among Senators."

• Consistently supported abortion rights during her time as Vice President and in the Senate, including cosponsoring legislation that would have banned common state-level restrictions, like requiring doctors to perform specific tests or have hospital admitting privileges in order to provide abortions. She made made what is believed to be the first official visit to an abortion clinic by a sitting president or vice president in March.  

• Helped secure the Biden-Harris administration’s political victory over the pharmaceutical industry that gave the government authority to negotiate drug prices in Medicare for the first time, including capping insulin copays at $35 per month. 

• Announced rules as Vice President that will improve access to long-term care, as well as the quality of caregiving jobs. 

• Oversees the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, responsible for implementing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun violence prevention legislation in nearly 30 years, and launching the Safer States Initiative.  

• Played a leading role in developing U.S. policy toward artificial intelligence (AI).

• Supported legislation signed by Biden that authorized trillions of dollars in new public spending. In 2021, the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the largest infrastructure spending bill in decades, authorized $1.2 trillion in spending toward U.S. roads, railways, airports, and other infrastructure. Additional subsidies for semiconductor and climate investments have surpassed $800 billion. 

• Lead the Biden administration’s efforts to secure voting rights legislation. The legislation — which went through several iterations but was ultimately blocked in the Senate — would have countered voting restrictions in Republican-led states, limited gerrymandering and regulated campaign finance more strictly. 

• Chairs the National Space Council, the White House policy council responsible for ensuring the United States bolsters the health and vitality of our space sectors – civil, commercial, and national security – for the benefit of the American people and leverages that strength to lead the international community in preserving the benefits of space for future generations. 

• Launched and leads Central America Forward initiative, which 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.

• Introduced Senate legislation that would have provided a tax credit of up to $6,000 for middle- and low-income families .

• Introduced legislation as a Senator to evaluate environmental rules and laws by how they affected low-income communities, establish an independent Office of Climate and Environmental Justice Accountability and create a “senior adviser on climate justice” within several federal agencies.  

• Helped enact the Biden administration’s climate efforts as Vice President, including legislation that provided hundreds of billions of dollars in tax credits and rebates for renewable energy and electric vehicles.

Sources (many bullets are direct quotes): Fortune, The New York Times, SF Chronicle, Vox, The Week