Kamala Harris calls for federal moratorium on executions

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris says there should be a federal moratorium on executions.

The senator from California discussed the matter on National Public Radio on Thursday, a day after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California granted reprieves to 737 death row inmates and signed an executive order placing a moratorium on executions.

Harris was asked if there should be “a federal equivalent” to Newsom’s order.

She said, “Yes, I think that there should be.”

Asked if no one would be executed if Harris was president of the United States, she responded, “Correct, correct.”

As California’s attorney general, Harris defended the state’s use of the death penalty. But in a statement Wednesday, she said it is “immoral, discriminatory, ineffective, and a gross misuse of taxpayer dollars.”