Harris owned Biden

The five long minutes when Harris owned Biden

The California senator jumped into a conversation about race and took on the front-runner in a moment that could change the 2020 race.

By ELENA SCHNEIDER

Sen. Kamala Harris started carefully, working the edges of a policy difference to set herself apart from Joe Biden. Gesturing to the former vice president during Thursday’s Democratic presidential debate, Harris noted that deportations were “one of the very few issues with which I disagreed” with the Obama administration.

But not 15 minutes later, Harris lit into Biden on the issue of race, delivering a personal, political and generational critique that left Biden stumbling to explain his record on busing and defend previous comments about working with segregationist senators. Eventually, Biden simply cut himself off and offered to move the debate along.

“Anyway, my time is up,” Biden said, letting his hands fall. “I’m sorry.”

The exchange between Harris and Biden demonstrated the California senator’s sheer political skill, which could refocus attention on her this summer as the Democratic primary begins to heat up. Harris has been among the top-five polling Democratic presidential candidates for most of the year, but after making a splash at the beginning of her campaign, she has had a quieter spring. All at once, Harris put herself at the center of the presidential race while driving home the turn-the-page argument a few other candidates had briefly pressed against Biden earlier in the evening.

Harris seized her starring moment out of nothing about halfway through Thursday’s debate, validating supporters who believe her debating prowess would be a powerful weapon against President Donald Trump in a general election. As questions to other Democrats about race and policing devolved into cross-talk, Harris raised her voice over the crowd: “As the only black person on this stage, I’d like to speak on the issue of race.”

Taken aback, the moderators granted Harris 30 seconds after cheers and applause from the audience died down. Then, after a few words of introduction, she turned that time on Biden.

“I do not believe you are a racist,” Harris said, referring to Biden’s recent comments about his ability to work across the aisle, including with segregationist senators. “And I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground. But I also believe, and it’s personal — it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country.”

Harris said it was personal as she started her soundbite; then, she made it personal by hearkening back to her youth.

“And it was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing,” Harris continued, the debate hall quiet. “And you know, there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me.”

With Harris’ plan now in motion, her campaign shared on social media a picture of Harris as a girl with the caption “that little girl was me.” The photo is now emblazoned on black t-shirts for sale on the senator’s campaign website.

Biden rejected Harris’ criticism, casting her attack as a “mischaracterization” and touting his own civil rights record with an implicit punch at Harris’ resume as a district attorney and state attorney general, which has come under criticism from criminal justice reformers.

“If we want to have this campaign litigated on who supports civil rights and whether I did or not, I'm happy to do that,” Biden said. “I was a public defender. I did not become a prosecutor.”

But Biden’s defense of his position on busing opened him back up to Harris. A young Harris, Biden said, “would have been able to go to school the same exact way because it was a local decision made by your City Council. That’s fine,” Biden said. He continued: “That's one of the things I argued for, that we should be breaking down these lines.”

But Harris pressed Biden: “Do you agree today that you were wrong to oppose busing in America then? Do you agree?”

The former vice president, appearing exasperated, insisted that he didn’t oppose busing throughout America, rather opposing “busing ordered by the Department of Education.” Biden wanted to keep it a local decision, he said.

But Harris reminded viewers that her hometown of Berkeley, Calif. didn’t fully integrate until “almost two decades after Brown v. Board of Education.”

“And that’s where the federal government must step in,” Harris said, pressing home a broader civil rights argument. “That’s why we have the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. That’s why we need to pass the Equality Act. That’s why we need to pass the ERA. There are moments in history where states fail to preserve the civil rights of all people.”

Biden began a frustrated rebuttal, before cutting himself off and letting the debate move on.

After the debate, Biden shook hands and smiled at supporters from the stage. When asked about the exchange with Harris, Biden repeated that she mischaracterized his record, declaring that he broke “down barriers that exist in institutional racism” when he was in public office.

Pivoting to a litany of policy ideas, including major criminal justice reforms, Biden tried to turn the page. “It should be about the future,” Biden said.

But for five long minutes, Harris pinned Biden to his past.