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Salon
Salon
Politics
Griffin Eckstein

Harris' McDonald's tenure questioned

Republican media figures have a new conspiracy-laden line of attack on Kamala Harris: that she lied about holding a summer job at McDonald’s while she was in school.

While the fast food titan claims that around one in every eight Americans has worked for McDonald’s, Harris would likely be the first president to boast Golden Arches tenure if elected, though reporters at the conservative Washington Free Beacon news site doubt her history.

The Beacon, which obtained a one-page law-school-era resume of Harris’ which leaves out her summer-long stint where she “did fries,” as she put it in an interview with Drew Barrymore, suggested Harris may have fabricated the work experience in an attempt to make herself more relatable to working-class voters.

The attack isn’t playing well with some voters, though. Social media users were quick to note that it wouldn’t be unusual for Harris to leave the part-time food service line off of a resume when applying for legal work, especially when she boasted experience as a law clerk and a Senate intern by the time she applied to work with the Alameda County District Attorney’s office. 

Harris, who has proudly spoken about the experience publicly since at least 2019, even joined the picket line to support striking workers at McDonald’s during her first presidential bid.

The attack isn’t the first time the right has picked apart the Harris-Walz campaign’s work experience. Vice presidential nominee JD Vance previously called into question Minnesota Gov. and 25-year-tenured National Guardsman Walz’s service record.

Harris, who grew up in Oakland, California in a single-parent household, has marketed herself as more down-to-earth than her billionaire opponent and his venture-capital running mate, alongside Walz, who holds a lower net worth than the average American.

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