In a resurfaced radio interview from June 9, 2020, Kamala Harris, then a U.S. Senator, expressed strong support for the Defund the Police movement, which emerged in response to police violence and systemic issues following George Floyd’s death. In her discussion with Ebro in the Morning, Harris criticized the “militarization” of police and the allocation of significant budgets to law enforcement while education and social programs faced cuts. She described the movement as a necessary conversation to reevaluate budget priorities and public safety approaches, emphasizing the need for reimagining how safety is achieved.
Harris’s comments included a call to critically examine police budgets and suggested that cities with substantial portions of their budgets allocated to policing should consider alternative approaches. She stated that significant progress comes from both conversation and action, supporting the idea of reallocating resources from police to social programs.
However, by October 2020, after joining Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, Harris began to distance herself from the Defund the Police movement. The Biden-Harris campaign issued statements clarifying that they did not support defunding police departments. Instead, they emphasized their commitment to increasing funding for police and community policing while addressing concerns through other means.
Ammar Moussa, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, highlighted Harris’s record of leading efforts to combat violent crime and her support for community safety measures throughout her career, including as a district attorney, attorney general, and Senator. Moussa underscored Harris’s contributions to reducing violent crime to a historic low while maintaining support for law enforcement and community safety initiatives.
