Most American presidents were lawyers before seeking elected office, but the number of presidents with prosecutorial experience is vastly smaller. Vice President Kamala Harris would join this tiny club.
The New York Times reported on the Democratic candidate’s professional background:
In 1987, she returned to California for law school, earning her degree at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco. She then stayed in her home state, where she built a career as a prosecutor, first in the Bay Area and then statewide, ascending to increasingly influential offices. In her first role, she joined the Alameda County prosecutor’s office in Oakland in 1990, where she specialized in prosecuting child sexual assault cases. Over the next several years, she rose first in that office and then in San Francisco.
A Time magazine report added that Harris, who campaigned in the Golden State as California’s “top cop,” also “developed a tough-on-crime reputation as district attorney.”
This wasn’t a principal part of Harris’ pitch during her 2020 campaign, but that’s apparently about to change. In fact, it was just a couple of hours ago when the vice president’s political operation issued a press statement with a headline that read in part, “Donald Trump Won’t Be the First Felon Kamala Harris Holds Accountable.”
For Republicans, this creates a challenge.
At last week’s Republican National Convention, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird boasted about her party’s approach to law enforcement: “We put criminals where they belong: in jail.” Montana Senate hopeful Tim Sheehy added, “Cops are good, criminals are bad.”
My personal favorite was a speech from House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, who said with a straight face, “Donald Trump stands with the people and the police — our men and women in blue — not with the criminals and rioters.” It was around this time when convention attendees waved pre-printed “Back the Blue” signs.
As we discussed soon after, there was a glaring problem with the rhetoric: A jury recently found Trump guilty of 34 felonies — which came on the heels of a different jury holding Trump liable for sexual assault — and the Republican happens to be running on a platform rooted in his support for rioters.
But after President Joe Biden announced his decision to withdraw from the 2024 race, the dynamic took on a greater significance. This isn’t just a situation in which Republicans have nominated a criminal for the nation’s highest office, it’s also a situation in which the GOP candidate will likely face someone with a record of putting criminals behind bars.
The New York Times reported a few months ago on the “complicated relationship” between Trump and law enforcement, which touched on an underappreciated story.
Emmer’s rhetoric about the former president “standing with the police” notwithstanding, Trump has repeatedly lashed out at those he’s described as “dirty cops,” as part of a larger offensive against law enforcement. He’s also condemned law enforcement officials as “fascists” and expressed support for prosecuting members of the Capitol police.
Just as notably, Trump has promised pardons for insurrectionists, many of whom violently clashed with police officers.
And that was before he prepared to take on a former prosecutor.
Complicating matters, some of the top contenders for the Democratic vice presidential nomination — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — are also former prosecutors, raising the prospect of two former prosecutors taking on the first presidential candidate in American history to be convicted of a crime.
The Republican’s crimes and condemnations of law enforcement haven’t stopped multiple police unions from endorsing his 2024 candidacy — the first time in modern American history in which police unions have backed a criminal for national elected office — though it’s an open question as to whether they might reconsider.
As for Trump, the former president said at a rally on Saturday: “You’re not going to teach a criminal not to be a criminal.”
Don’t be surprised if Team Harris puts that quote to use in the coming weeks and months.
