On the second night of the second round of Democratic presidential debates, Tulsi Gabbard tore into Kamala Harris about her record as a public servant.
“Senator 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 said.
Background
Tulsi Gabbard, Hawaii Army National Guard officer and current representative for Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district since 2012, was the first Hindu member of Congress and the first Samoan-American voting member of Congress.
Kamala Harris is a lawyer, former District Attorney of San Francisco, and former Attorney General of California, who has served as the junior senator for California since 2017.
Harris’ Record
Gabbard hit Harris hard with her record as a prosecutor, recalling the time that Harris blocked DNA evidence from being used to free an innocent man on death row until she was forced to allow it by the court.
Gabbard also brought up Harris’ hypocrisy in an interview where she laughed about and admitted to smoking marijuana, revealing that Harris had put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations.
“She kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California, and she fought to keep the cash bail system in place that impacts poor people in the worst kind of way,” Gabbard stated, while the crowd applauded.
While Gabbard was attacking Harris’ record, Harris was shaking her head and staring at her notes, but she never came up with a response or justification for the issues brought up by Gabbard.
The American People’s Response to Gabbard
Gabbard, a relatively unknown political figure prior to the debate, became an overnight sensation. Following the debate, social media was flooded with people praising her criticisms of Harris.
‘Gabbard’ began trending on Twitter in sixth place, while ‘Harris’ was the fourth most trending topic. Even people who openly supported Harris praised Gabbard and criticized Harris’ lack of a response to the attacks on her record.