Chris duMond/Getty Images
Chris duMond/Getty Images
With Kamala Harris entering the race to be president, we wanted to revisit some of our own coverage of her from back in 2020. Back then, Harris found herself in a tricky political spot: she had spent much of her career as a prosecutor, making it a prominent part of her political identity. But voters in the Democratic party moved to the left on issues of race and criminal justice, which complicated things for Harris during her first presidential campaign. And then she had to navigate 2020, a time when millions of people were giving fresh attention to racism in America’s criminal legal system.
Now, that moment has largely passed, and Harris is up against Donald Trump for president. Many people, including Harris, are framing this race as the prosecutor taking on the man with dozens of felony convictions.
So as her next campaign kicks off, we’re revisiting two Code Switch episodes from 2020: