Kamala Harris Busts Another Norm

Michael Kinsley once defined a gaffe as when a politician accidentally tells the truth. If this has come to be known as a “Kinsley gaffe,” perhaps it should be called a “Harris gaffe” when a stage-managed politician accidentally reveals her plans.

In one of her rare unscripted media appearances, Kamala Harris told Wisconsin Public Radio that she supports ending the Senate filibuster in order to pass federal abortion legislation. “I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe,” she said, so that “51 votes would be what we need to actually put back in law the protections for reproductive freedom.”

This is not the first time that Harris has backed ending the filibuster, having done so in 2019 (to pass the “Green New Deal” she was endorsing as a presidential candidate) and in 2022 (when she joined Joe Biden in claiming that it was necessary because Democrats needed to pass a voting and elections bill). Harris had defended the filibuster in 2017, but that was different because Democrats were in the minority then in both houses of Congress, and Republicans held the White House.