Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
US vice president Kamala Harris releases a campaign ad after US president Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race for the November elections.
Fact
Viral ad dates back to November 2019, when Harris contested for the Democratic party’s 2020 presidential nomination.
In a dramatic development, US president Joe Biden on Sunday (July 21) withdrew from the presidential race for the upcoming November election after growing calls for the exit from his own Democratic party. Biden, along with dozens of Democratic Congress members, governors and officials, have also announced their support for vice president Kamala Harris to be the party’s nominee for the polls.
Amid the reports, several social media users are claiming that Harris has already released her first presidential campaign ad, in which she directly takes on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, calling him a sex predator who ran for-profit scam colleges and is tearing the country apart, while she is the “anti-Trump” who will bring the nation together.
The archived version of the tweet can be seen here.
Fact Check
Newschecker noticed that although Kamala Harris is the front-runner to be the Democratic presidential nominee, it is not a done deal, according to reports. “Delegates will vote next month at the Democratic National Convention to officially confirm who will replace Mr Biden, and the candidate for vice-president,” read a BBC report, dated July 22, 2024, throwing in the names of Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer, California governor Gavin Newsom, transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania governor, and JB Pritzker, Illinois governor, among others.
Newschecker also noticed that several users pointed out that it was Harris’ old ad when she contested the Democratic primaries in 2019-2020. A further search led us to Harris’ tweet, dated November 21, 2019, sharing the same video.
We then came across this Newsweek report, dated November 20, 2019, stating that then senator Kamala Harris of California, one of the Democrats vying for her party’s 2020 presidential nomination, released a campaign advertisement, calling then President Donald Trump a “sex predator”.
“The candidate shared the 53-second ad in a tweet published at 3pm Wednesday. It compared Harris to Trump, citing a laundry list of the president’s alleged immoral conduct and supposed shortcomings—which, in Harris’s view, make him unqualified for a second term,” read the report.
Newschecker also came across this Rolling Stones article, acknowledging the vice president’s 2019 attack advertisement against the former president, stating that it is just as relevant now as it was five years ago.
“Harris, a former senator and California attorney general, made a bid for the presidency once before in 2020, but lost to Biden in the Democratic primary. In the aftermath of Biden’s resignation from the race, one of Harris’ 2019 ads attacking Trump has gone viral, with commentators pointing to it as an example of what voters may be getting as she goes head-to-head with the former president. Democratic delegates who will decide the nomination are taking notice. The ad, written more than five years ago, still feels like a fresh, timely attack against Trump,” read the report, dated July 21, 2024, confirming that the viral video is from 2019. Similar reports can be seen here and here.
Conclusion
US vice president Kamala Harris’ campaign ad released in 2019, ahead of the Democratic primaries, shared as her presidential pitch that was released following Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race.
Result: Missing Context
Sources
Tweet, Kamala Harris, November 21, 2019
Newsweek report, November 21, 2019
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
