Kamala Harris retracts on another progressive promise as she drops support for plastic straw ban

WASHINGTON, DC: When Kamala Harris ran for president in 2020, she strongly advocated for banning plastic straws as part of her environmental policy. However, her campaign now says that this is no longer her position.

This is not the first time Harris has either avoided commenting on or shifted her stance on key progressive issues.

It's worth noting that many parts of the country have already banned plastic straws in response to growing concerns about the impact of plastic waste on the environment. Seattle was the first major US city to implement such a ban in the summer of 2018.

Kamala Harris flip-flops on plastic straws

Kamala Harris' past support for a plastic straw ban was aligned with progressive environmental policies. During a CNN Town Hall in 2019, she was asked directly whether plastic straws should be banned.

"I think we should. We do need to ban the plastic," she responded at the time. “I think we could do a little bit better than some of those flimsy [paper] straws, but we do need to ban the plastic.”

“Innovation is a process. Let’s encourage innovation," she added.

Interestingly, former President Donald Trump also weighed in on the issue of plastic straws around the same time. When asked if he believed plastic straws should be banned, Trump offered a rather vague response.

“I do think we have bigger problems than plastic straws,” he said. “You have a little straw, but what about the plates, the wrappers, and everything else that are much bigger and they’re made of the same material? The straws are interesting. Everybody focuses on the straws. There’s a lot of other things to focus [on], but it’s an interesting question.”

But fast forward to the present— the Harris campaign has shifted its stance on the issue. When asked by Axios if Harris still supports a plastic straw ban, a campaign official said she "doesn't support banning plastic straws."

"She cast the tie-breaking vote on the most consequential legislation to combat climate change and create clean energy jobs in history, and as President, she is going to be focused on expanding on that progress," the official explained, adding, "She joked even then about how crappy paper straws are and the need to come up with better eco-friendly alternatives."

The brazen change in Harris' position has not gone unnoticed by her political opponents. Trump's campaign has used her past support for a plastic straw ban to paint her as an out-of-touch "San Francisco liberal."

Trump campaign's senior adviser Jason Miller told NBC News in July, "I mean, heck, she wants to get rid of plastic straws, for goodness sake."

Kamala Harris' broader pattern of policy shifts

Kamala Harris's flip-flopping on the plastic straw ban is part of a broader trend where she has offered few details about her progressive agenda while moving toward the center as the election approaches.

In the lead-up to the November 5 election, her campaign has quietly distanced itself from several progressive positions she once championed.

For example, Harris no longer supports Medicare for All or mandatory gun buyback programs—both of which she endorsed during the 2020 Democratic primary. At that time, she and other candidates were eager to embrace progressive proposals to appeal to the party's base.

However, her recent moves suggest she is seeking to broaden her appeal to a wider electorate.

Another major policy reversal came in late August when Harris told CNN that she no longer advocates for a ban on fracking—a stance she had strongly endorsed during the 2020 primary. She justified her shift by stating, "We can grow and we can increase a thriving clean energy economy without banning fracking."

This did not go unnoticed by Trump, who mocked Harris during a recent rally in Pennsylvania. "She said, ‘No, no, I’m in favor of fracking,’" Trump remarked. "The people of Pennsylvania are smart. They’re not going to fall for it."

Harris also appears to have adjusted her position on the southern border and the construction of a border wall, a project initiated by Trump. Harris had been a vocal critic of the wall, calling it "un-American" and vowing not to "vote for a wall under any circumstances."

During her first presidential run in 2019, she referred to the wall as Trump's "medieval vanity project" and argued that it would not prevent transnational gangs from entering the United States. As recently as February 2020, she described the wall as "a complete waste of taxpayer money" that "won't make us any safer."

What's more? In April 2017, shortly after joining the Senate, Harris said the wall was a "stupid use of money. I will block any funding for it."

However, she has now pledged to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the construction of a wall along the southern border if she's elected president.