FLASHBACK: Kamala supports getting rid of Columbus Day, celebrating Indigenous People's Day instead

While on the 2020 campaign trail, then-Democratic primary candidate Kamala Harris said she supported renaming Columbus Day to "Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The resurfaced clip comes as the Democratic candidate has tried to paint herself as a moderate in the 2024 election cycle. 

At a town hall event in Portsmouth, NH in 2019, a voter asked whether Harris would support an initiative to change the name of the holiday at the federal level. "Count me in on support," Harris responded.

Citing then-recently passed legislation making lynching a federal crime, Harris said, "People did not want to deal and accept and most importantly admit that we are the scene of a crime when it comes to what we did with slavery and Jim Crow and institutionalized racism in this country, and we have to be honest about that. If we are not honest, we are not going to deal with the vestiges of all of that harm, and we are not going to correct course, and we are not going to be true to our values and morals." 

"Similarly, when it comes to indigenous Americans, the indigenous people, there is a lot of work that we still have to do, and I appreciate and applaud your point and your effort, and count me in on support," she said.

At the federal level, the second Monday of October is called Columbus Day, celebrating the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Americas in 1492. According to Axios, Maine, New Mexico, Vermont, and DC have all changed the name of the holiday to Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

As Harris’ 2019 comments resurfaced, Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News, "Kamala Harris is your stereotypical leftist. Not only does she want to raise taxes and defund the police – she also wants to cancel American traditions like Columbus Day."

"President Trump will make sure Christopher Columbus’ great legacy is honored and protect this holiday from radical leftists who want to erase our nation’s history like Kamala Harris."

In a 2021 address to the nation as Vice President, Harris said, "Since 1934, every October the United States has recognized the voyage of the European explorers who first landed on the shores of the Americas," she said. "But that is not the whole story. That has never been the whole story. Those explorers ushered in a wave of devastation for tribal nations – perpetrating violence, stealing land, and spreading disease."

"We must not shy away from this shameful past, and we must shed light on it and do everything we can to address the impact of the past on native communities today."