Vice President Kamala Harris’s claimed experience working at McDonald’s has become a point of contention, as she attempts to use it to connect with American voters. The story has evolved, with her initially presenting it as evidence of her familiarity with middle-class struggles, but now downplaying the job as one she held when she was “a kid.
Harris discussed her time at McDonald’s during an MSNBC interview, mentioning that people working there are trying to raise families and pay rent. The summer job has been a recurring theme in Harris’s campaign, with ads claiming that it helped her understand the challenges faced by middle-class Americans.
The pro-Harris super PAC emphasized that she worked “her way through school at McDonald’s.” However, Politico reported that an ad was released claiming that Harris worked there to “pay her way” through college, but had to be corrected since she only held the job for a bit of extra spending money.
Harris’s running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), also highlighted her alleged work ethic as demonstrated by the McDonald’s job. Despite these claims, it is unclear why Harris did not choose to work at a McDonald’s in Oakland, California, which was closer to a home her mother bought and may have been where she lived during the summers.
Although Vice President Kamala Harris comes from a privileged background, with both her parents being professors at prestigious universities, she has sought to use her alleged summer job to suggest that she will fight for the middle class and contrast herself with former President Donald Trump, who has called her story “a fake story.