Vice President Kamala Harris has been the target of misinformation since President Joe Biden stepped down and nominated her to become the next commander in chief. While false accusations initially emerged during her bid to become the first Black woman and first East Asian to serve as vice president, a new wave of claims have surfaced calling into question her racial background and whether she is eligible to run for office. Although Harris has repeatedly denied some of these claims, some conservative voters continue to push forward false narratives. Take a look at some of the most popular accusations made against the vice president.
1. The claim: Vice President Kamala Harris is not an American citizen
Our rating: False
Harris is a natural born U.S. citizen who was born on Oct. 20, 1964, in Oakland, California to immigrant parents.
Pursuant to the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, any person who is born on U.S. soil is a natural born U.S. citizen.
Our sources: AP News and Cornell Law
2. The claim: Vice President Kamala Harris is not Black
Our rating: False
Harris was born to her immigrant parents, Donald J. Harris who is a Black Jamaican and Dr. Shyamala Gopalan who was Indian. Donald and Gopalan both migrated from their home countries to California and studied at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1962, the couple met during a Black students’ study group and shared a common interest in participating in the civil rights movement. They married a year later and in 1964, Harris was born.
Source: PEOPLE Magazine
3. The claim: Vice President Kamala Harris put thousands of Black men in jail for marijuana offenses
Our rating: False
Harris served as San Francisco district attorney and was accused of sending thousands of Black men to jail for marijuana offenses.
Harris’ office oversaw roughly 1,960 marijuana convictions from 2004-2010 and only 45 individuals were sentenced to state prison.
The vice president told Charlamagne tha God in a recent interview with “The Breakfast Club” that the accusations are “simply not true.”
“One of the biggest challenges that I face is mis and disinformation,” said Harris. “And it’s purposeful. Because it is meant to convince people that they somehow should not believe that the work I have done has occurred and has meaning.”
Source: BET
4. The claim: Vice President Kamala Harris was television host Montel Williams’ side piece
Our rating: False
In a viral 2019 “Inside Edition” clip, Montel is seen holding hands with Harris and his daughter Ashley Williams, while the trio arrived at the 2001 Eighth Annual Race to Erase MS in Los Angeles.
Social media users falsely claimed that Ashley and Harris were both dating Montel and that Harris was a side piece and unfit to serve in the U.S. government.
In 2019, Williams took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to set the record straight. He identified the second woman as his daughter, Ashley, and he acknowledged that he and Harris dated.
“@KamalaHarris and I briefly dated about 20 years ago when we were both single,” wrote Williams.
“So what? I have great respect for Sen. Harris. I have to wonder if the same stories about her dating history would have been written if she were a male candidate,” Williams inquired.
Source: TIME
5. The claim: Vice President Kamala Harris had an affair with a married man
Our rating: False
Harris is accused of having an affair with Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco while he served as speaker of the California State Assembly in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
Brown admitted that he and Harris had a relationship, however he says the relationship took place after he separated from his wife in 1981.
In 2020, Brown wrote an article titled, “Sure, I dated Kamala Harris. So What?” in the San Francisco Chronicle.
“Yes, we dated. It was more than 20 years ago,” wrote Brown.
Source: San Francisco Chronicle and Reuters