During a 2017 television appearance, then-Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), eyeing a long-shot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination three years on, declared, “Everybody needs to be woke.” In his three serious runs at the White House, former President Donald Trump has campaigned as an anti-woke, tough-on-crime candidate. At a Sept. 29 rally, for instance, the Republican presidential nominee called for “one really violent day” of policing to restore order. And that’s about par for the course.
So, Harris, the current vice president and Democratic presidential nominee, thus might be expected to be more sympathetic to civil assets forfeiture reforms than GOP nominee Trump. This loophole in American law allows police to seize money or property on suspicion of criminal activity. These takings often help prop up local law enforcement budgets. Republican-leaning police unions usually lobby against reforms.
