DENVER — Even before she ran for president, Vice President Kamala Harris was clear on her stance on social issues: same-sex marriage, abortion and gun control.
For the most part, it seems her positions have not wavered, though on gun issues, it is a little more difficult to know, particularly since she hasn’t presented her policy positions since taking over as the Democratic candidate for president.
Abortion
There have been several statements made by speakers at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) that leave out a key caveat. One of those speakers was former President Obama.
“…and sign a law to guarantee every woman’s right to make her own health care decisions,” Obama said on the second night of the DNC.
To sign a law to guarantee every woman’s right to make her own health care decisions, Harris, as president, would need Congress to send her a bill to sign. Right now, the Republicans control the House. Unless Democrats control both the House and the Senate, getting a bill expanding abortion rights seems unlikely.
“She will need a party of the willing along with her,” Cobalt President Karen Middleton, said. “She could sign into law bills that would repeal both the Hyde Amendment, which is a federal ban on abortion funds, and the Helms Amendment, which has global reach for people who might be in crisis in other parts of the country.”
As head of Cobalt, Middleton advocates for abortion access and helps oversee a financial assistance fund for people seeking abortions from states that restrict access.
“It should not be the case in the United States in 2024 that where you live dictates how you can access health care,” Middleton said. “Abortion should be considered part of health care. It is health care, and there are too many restrictions.”
Middleton also led an effort to get an abortion rights ballot issue on Colorado’s November ballot. If 55% or more of voters approve, abortion rights will be put in the state’s constitution.
Those rights are already in state law after the state legislature passed a bill, signed by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis in 2022.
“I really see her presidency both protecting reproductive rights, expanding reproductive rights and actually understanding the depth of the policy,” Middleton said.
Unless Democrats get control of Congress, this next hope seems out of reach.
“Expanding the Supreme Court or reforming the Supreme Court as President Biden has suggested," Middleton said. "That could include term limits. That could include a temporary expansion, and that could include real pressure from the public and the administration to do better."
As long as the issue remains state-by-state, Cobalt will feel an extra responsibility.
“If you think about other states, if they have a ban on abortion, and we're able to remove those bans one way or the other, it means that people can access health care in their own backyards,” Middleton said.
LGBTQ+ Issues
When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the court should consider reviewing previous decisions, including same-sex marriage.
When she was California's attorney general, Harris refused to defend Proposition 8, a ban on same-sex marriage that was passed by voters. When it was overturned by the courts in 2013, she was on the phone with county clerks to make sure the marriages took place.
“You must start the marriages immediately,” she said to the L.A. County Clerk while recorded by news media.
The LGBTQ+ community has been targeted by conservative-pushed book bans.
At a campaign stop at a teacher’s convention in Houston last month, Harris said, “We want to ban assault weapons, and they want to ban books.”
Guns
On the topic of guns, Harris was clear about her goals while running for president in 2020. Everytown, a left-leaning gun violence prevention organization, hosted the Democratic candidates for president at a forum in Las Vegas one year after the Vegas Route 91 Harvest Music Festival mass shooting that killed 60 and injured hundreds.
"I am prepared to take executive action when elected and give the United States Congress 100 days to pull their act together on this, and if they do not, I will take executive action and put a comprehensive background check requirement in place, and by executive action, ban the importation of assault weapons into our country,” Harris said.
“I would hope that one of the first things, we would have a national background check,” State Sen. Tom Sullivan, D-Centennial, said.
Sullivan ran for the state legislature to keep gun control policies in the conversation following the murder of his son, Alex, one of 12 victims of the 2012 Aurora theater shooting.
“As I've found out, you know, in these past 628 Fridays, legislators don't fully understand the impact on victims and survivors, but she has a very good understanding of what it does and how we can begin to change that narrative,” Sullivan said.
He attended that 2020 forum in Las Vegas where Harris also said, "We have to have a buyback program, and I support a mandatory buyback program.”
“We know that presidents in recent years, of both parties, have really seemed to enjoy circumventing Congress and really starting to use that executive action, so-called, ‘authority’ more,” Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) Executive Director Ian Escalante, said.
Just like the abortion conversation, there is only so much a president can do by executive order versus needing a law passed by Congress.
“I think if she had the opportunity to pass a full-scale nationwide assault weapons ban, she probably would, but the fact of the matter is that it's looking like Congress is not going to be in her favor,” Escalante said.
And that split Congress is on the side of RMGO, which would limit the power of Harris to restrict gun ownership.
RMGO and Sullivan are on polar opposites of the gun issue, but they see a similarity in the power of a Harris presidency. A voice.
Harris currently heads the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which Sullivan thinks she should be using to advance gun control policies.
“She should be pulling out that Office of Gun Violence Prevention, and they should be having press conferences, they should be having press releases, they should be visible to everybody,” Sullivan said. “The conversation is something that is imperative towards moving us towards change, and that's what I believe Kamala Harris will be able to do.”
“I could see Kamala Harris using her bully pulpit to pressure more moderate individuals, which [Gov.] Jared Polis is moderate compared to most Democrats, but still definitely no friend of the Second Amendment, but to use that bully pulpit to pressure governors, specifically Gov. Polis, to start supporting more extreme gun control measures,” Escalante said.
Since she has no policy positions released ahead of her nomination, Escalante, like the rest of us, is still making assumptions.
“A lot of what I'm saying here is based off of the policy she laid out when she wanted to be president all the way back in 2020,” Escalante said. “Running for office and holding the office is very different.”