Dems hype Harris as Trump 'prosecutor' in election, but critics slam her legal career

Vice President Kamala Harris' extensive 27-year career in criminal prosecution in California may pose challenges in appealing to moderate voters, reminiscent of obstacles she faced during her unsuccessful 2020 presidential bid. Now, both Republicans and Democrats are preparing to scrutinize her political history, which has drawn criticism from both sides of the aisle.

As the spotlight has shifted to Harris after President Biden unexpectedly forfeited his Democratic nomination bid for a second presidential term on Sunday, Republican strategists are now gearing up to intensify their offensive against her.

Despite calls from many Republicans for Biden to immediately resign, a House Republican strategist told Fox News Digital that "what is more important over the next week or so is defining Kamala as this far-left San Francisco liberal."

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"During the Kenosha riots, she defended the rioters, and that's in the swing state of Wisconsin, where that was very unpopular, we have to make sure voters remember all of these crazy things that she's said, and she's wanted to do," the strategist said. 

Likewise, Harris' tenure as the attorney general of California has been the subject of criticism from left-wing critics as well, primarily related to her approach to tough-on-crime prosecution and other criminal justice policies she championed. 

During her 2020 presidential campaign, which she launched in January 2019, Harris faced significant criticism over her prosecution record. Opponents of tough-on-crime prosecution argue it disproportionately affects low-income families and minorities, further entrenching them in the prison system.

One of the most criticized aspects of Harris' record was her handling of truancy cases. Harris supported a truancy law, passed in 2011, allowing district attorneys to charge parents with a misdemeanor if their children were chronically absent during the school year without a valid reason.

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In 2019, Molly Redden of HuffPost reported how the truancy program affected some families in her article, "The Human Costs Of Kamala Harris’ War On Truancy." Among those impacted was Cheree Peoples, an African American mother arrested in April 2013 after her child had missed 20 days of school.

Harris later walked back her crackdown on truancies in a 2019 podcast, saying it "never was the intention" to criminalize parents and describing the California law as one with "unintended consequences," Politico reported at the time.

The new Democratic presidential candidate also faced scrutiny for mixed positions on the death penalty. She defended the death penalty in California, which was controversial among some progressive groups that opposed capital punishment. 

Later in her career, she shifted her position and publicly opposed the death penalty. In the 2020 Democratic presidential debates, Harris fired back at primary opponent Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, when she accused Harris of omitting key evidence that would have "freed an innocent man from death row" during her time as attorney general. 

During the debate, Gabbard said she was "deeply concerned" about Harris' record.

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"Sen. Harris says she's proud of her record as a prosecutor and that she'll be a prosecutor president, but I'm deeply concerned about this record," Gabbard, now an independent, said at the time. "There are too many examples to cite, but she put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana."

"My entire career I have been opposed, personally opposed, to the death penalty," Harris responded. "And that has never changed."

She also faced accusations of being too harsh on low-level drug offenders during her time as San Francisco's district attorney and later as the state's top cop. Liberal critics argued that her policies contributed to mass incarceration of Black men rather than focusing on rehabilitation and criminal justice reform.

Meanwhile, some Democrats are framing a potential Harris-Trump matchup as the "Prosecutor vs. the Felon," in light of Trump's recent court cases.

Democratic Congressman Dan Goldman of New York wrote on X Sunday, "November 5: the Prosecutor vs. the Felon."

The anti-Trump group known as the Lincoln Project also chimed in with a new ad endorsing Harris.

"As a tough prosecutor, Kamala Harris dealt with men like Trump all the time: Rapists, con men, frauds, criminals – she's used to guys like Trump, used to putting them in their place," the narrator says in the ad.

Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Ariz., also threw his support to Harris on X.

"The contrast in this race could not be clearer – a prosecutor versus a convicted felon. A champion for American’s fundamental freedoms versus a man who has tried to rip them away at every turn. Let’s get to work," he wrote. 

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Democrats will officially nominate candidates for president and vice president at next month's Democratic National Convention, which is slated to take place in Chicago from Aug. 19-22.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Fox News Digital's Kyle Morris contributed to this report.