I’m among the vast majority of political observers who expect the Democrats to win control of the Senate this November. Arithmetic is part of the reason. The Republicans have to defend 24 seats while the Democrats only have to defend ten to maintain the status quo which leaves the Democrats plenty of room to pick up five seats (six if by some quirk they fail to retain the White House). The least vulnerable seat is in California. Longtime Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer is retiring but because of California’s unique primary system the only two contenders are both Democrats. From a partisan standpoint the Democrats literally can’t lose. Nonetheless tellthetruthonthem.com has decided to endorse Kamala Harris for the United States Senate in California.
Harris is a progressive with many conservative qualities in her background. She should represent the people of California well, keep progressive Democrats happy and still be able to work with the moderate Republicans in the Senate who are actually open to discussion and compromise. Interestingly more often than not that means working with another female Senator. Almost without exception the female Senators (most of whom are Democrats) have been able to maintain much more cordial relationships and open communications than their male counterparts and their part of the Senate looks more like the good old days than the body as a whole.
Harris has been the Attorney General of California since 2011 and was reelected to the post in 2014. Before that she was the District Attorney of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011 and before that San Francisco’s City Attorney from 2000 to 2003. So in the 21st century she has spent her entire career in public service and mostly in prosecutorial type jobs.
In 2009 she published a book entitled, Smart on Crime. In it she looks at crime, punishment and law enforcement from an economic standpoint. That is where you find conservatives like Tea Party/Republican Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and liberals like Democratic New Jersey Senator Cory Booker working together on criminal reform legislation. Harris can be that reach across the aisle type of Senator. One of her big goals (which ties into the theory) is to reduce recidivism.
Harris’ undergraduate degree was earned at Howard University and she holds a J.D. from the University of California Hastings Law School. Most of California’s Democratic establishment has endorsed her and this is not the first election they have supported her in. Despite her relative youth she is held in such high national regard that her name was prominently mentioned as a replacement for Eric Holder as United States Attorney General.
Harris is in favor of reasonable gun regulations, a proponent and protector of consumer rights, protecting the environment and was in favor of same-sex civil marriage before it became the law of the land. Personally she is against capital punishment. Yet when a federal judge ruled against California’s death penalty she took the case to court and won on appeal.
One part of her history that particularly impressed me was her taking for-profit colleges to court and winning a $1.1 billion dollar judgment. While the money will probably never materialize Harris succeeded in shutting down an operation that was simply swindling its student who in many cases were veterans.
It is without any reservations that tellthetruthonthem.com endorses Kamala Harris for the United States Senate in California.
This article is the property of tellthetruthonthem.com and its content may not be used without citing the source. It may not be reproduced without the permission of Larry Marciniak