“The Research on Her Record: Why Kamala’s Time As a Prosecutor and Attorney General Are a Damn Good Thing.”
by Courtney Swanson

After watching Kamala Harris’s stellar performance in the debates last night, all I wanted to do at first was bask in the afterglow. But I should have predicted the various camps that would be against her in her breakout moment.

The spin was in for Kamala Harris before she even launched her campaign, with handfuls of Washington Examiner and The Intercept articles churned out to push the narrative that a woman of color in the criminal justice system is somehow a bad thing. One can hardly share the several viral moments from last night’s debate without their mentions exploding with cries to “look at her record!”. I already have. And I’m happy to do it again.

In the earlier stages of Kamala’s long career in public service, she worked as a prosecutor — a career that is 90% white, and 80% male. Kamala knew that going into the job, and it was precisely why she wanted it:

“There are those who have questioned my motivations, my beliefs, and what I’ve done as a prosecutor. But I knew that it mattered who is in the rooms making the decisions, so I had to be in those rooms. We have to be in those rooms even when there aren’t many like us there.”

It is not being a “vagina voter” to want a woman in those rooms, nor is it “identity politics”. It matters that a woman is there, especially a black woman, and this is proven by her focus; reducing sexual violence, decreasing recidivism, lowering convictions pursued for low-level offenses, and protecting children.