The recent deletion of a 2019 web page ranking Kamala Harris as the “most liberal” U.S. senator by GovTrack, a government transparency website, has ignited controversy among critics.
The webpage’s unexplained removal, which occurred sometime between July 10 and July 23, 2024, coincided with President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race and his endorsement of Harris as the Democratic nominee.
GovTrack founder Joshua Tauberer confirmed to Fox News Digital that the page was removed, and claimed a policy change was made “several years ago” to discontinue single-year ratings in favor of two-year Congressional session ratings.
“We determined that the limited data available in a single year was not sufficient to create a reliable portrait of the activity of legislators, particularly given the ebbs and flows of the legislative calendar,” Tauberer claimed.
The timing of the removal has raised eyebrows, coming just as Harris secured enough delegates to lock up the Democratic nomination.
Critics argue that this move appears to be part of a broader effort to rebrand Harris as she transitions from vice president to presidential candidate.
The 2019 rating, which placed Harris as more liberal than far-Left Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, had been widely cited during the 2020 election campaign.
The Trump campaign had used this rating to push back against descriptions of Harris as a “pragmatic moderate,” arguing instead that she was a “radical left-wing liberal.”
Adding fuel to the controversy, other recent media incidents have been perceived as attempts to soften Harris’s image.
Axios, for instance, recently published an article claiming Harris never held the title of “border czar,” despite previously using the term themselves. The outlet was forced to issue a correction, admitting they had “incorrectly labeled Harris a ‘border czar’ in 2021.”
CBS News pointed out that in 2020, Harris was considered the most liberal senator in the United States.
CBS: "You're considered the most liberal United States senator."
KAMALA: "I— somebody said that, and it was actually Mike Pence on the debate stage…"
CBS: "Actually, nonpartisan GovTrack has rated you as the most liberal senator."
KAMALA: *blank stare* pic.twitter.com/rmcz43aNNb
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) July 24, 2024
Critics on social media have been quick to frame these incidents as part of a coordinated effort to obscure Harris’s past positions.
Mike Berg, a Republican strategist, tweeted —
It’s not just Axios. Now GovTrack went back and erased Kamala’s ranking as the most liberal United States Senator.
The cover up is on! https://t.co/fV5scYUrVm pic.twitter.com/T9f0DUdB7K
— Mike Berg (@MikeKBerg) July 24, 2024
Despite the controversy, GovTrack maintains that Harris’s current ratings are still available. Her 2020 page, which covers the 116th Congress, ranks her as the “most politically left compared to Senate Democrats” and the second most liberal in the entire Senate, behind only the socialist Sanders.
Tauberer noted that at some point in October 2020, GovTrack changed its ranking language from “most liberal” to “most politically left.”
Harris has recently secured her place as the presumptive Democratic nominee, having received endorsements from high-profile liberal Democrats including Bill and Hillary Clinton, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. — and now faces the challenge of appealing to moderate Independent voters in the general election.