Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) addressed in South Carolina Saturday criticisms she's faced since entering the 2020 race about her record as a district attorney and state attorney general who was tough on crime, AP reports.
Details: Harris told the NAACP state conference her prosecutorial background makes her uniquely qualified to hold President Trump accountable, per AP. She also outlined her vision for a criminal justice system in which "safety is a civil right," according to the Los Angeles Times, which noted she said it's a "myth that black people don’t want public safety."
Why it matters: Harris was criticized by some previously for stances including defending the death penalty despite being personally against it, opposing a bill that would've required her office to investigate police shootings and for remaining silent on several criminal justice reforms championed by progressives.
The big picture: In her speech, Harris sought to justify previous policy decisions, rather than apologize for them, according to Politico. And she spoke of her experience as a biracial woman involved in making decisions on how criminal cases were prosecuted, per the LA Times: "We always have to be in those rooms, especially and even when there aren’t many like us there," she said.
.@KamalaHarris to a standing ovation 🔥🔥🔥
— Jerusalem Demsas (@JeruDemsas) June 9, 2019
“What we do want is a justice system where no one is above the law, not even the President of the United States.” pic.twitter.com/DVNQ9z4Dbc
