Here’s why anyone is even asking if Kamala Harris really worked at McDonald’s

Vice President Kamala Harris has referenced working at McDonald’s during her college years in campaign speeches. It has become a noteworthy part of her political narrative in her attempt to connect with working-class voters. Still, conservatives are already in the water looking for signs of blood.

Harris said she worked at McDonald’s between her freshman and sophomore years at Howard University in the ’80s. The first known instance of her publicly claiming to work at McDonald’s was at a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) rally in 2019, where that portion was subsequently tweeted out. “I worked at @McDonalds when I was a student, doing french fries and ice cream,” she said then.

She discussed her McDonald’s experience on the Drew Barrymore Show in April. The presidential campaign recently released a new video advertisement mentioning her work at Mickey D’s “while she got her degree.” Of course, the narrative serves several purposes, including relatability with working-class voters and a stark contrast with former president Donald Trump, who was raised with a silver spoon.

Where the sharks are swimming is in verifying the claim, as it is entirely based on Harris’s word. There is no physical evidence of her employment, including employment records or other tangible proof. There are also no public statements from friends or former coworkers. In conservatives’ desire to play “gotcha,” the right-wing Washington Free Beacon wrote many words while salivating at hopes to catch Harris in a lie, obtaining copies of her applications for other contextually unrelated jobs, for example, where she didn’t list the experience.

At this point, most people understand that placing the relevant experience and work is the norm unless specific circumstances call for more. It appears, for example, that they expected her stint salting fries to be front and center in her University of California law school application. Still, it’s unlikely the conservative media figures spreading the doubt even really believe she lied about it. They just know it’s unlikely she’ll bother jumping through hoops to prove it’s true, and it’s easy to spread the rumor that something not easily verifiable is false, just by raising the question.

The scrutiny of every single point is to be expected in a presidential campaign. While the lack of independent verification poses a challenge, the claim to work at a McDonald’s, even briefly, aligns Harris with ordinary American experiences—one in eight has worked for McDonald’s. As the campaign progresses, voters and media outlets will continue to needle this and numerous other aspects of both candidates’ records for accuracy.