WASHINGTON, D.C.—In a move that has sparked allegations of a cover-up, political ranking service GovTrack has quietly removed its 2019 scorecard that labeled Sen. Kamala Harris as the most left-leaning senator, surpassing even Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described socialist.
GovTrack, known for its ideological analysis of lawmakers, had originally ranked Harris as the most left-leaning senator on its list of all 100 senators in terms of political ideology for the 2019 session of Congress, more so than Sanders, who placed just behind her.
This ranking drew significant attention at the time, with CBS News anchor Nora O’Donnell questioning Harris about the assessment during a televised interview.
However, shortly after Harris clinched the Democratic Party’s nomination for vice president by winning over the majority of Joe Biden’s delegates, GovTrack amended its assessment, adding a disclaimer suggesting that a broader analysis of her Senate tenure told a different story.
“Once the 2019-2020 session of Congress was complete, the statistics for the entire session and for Harris’s entire tenure in the senate showed a different story,” GovTrack said in the statement.
“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,” Mike K. Berg, Communications Director at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, posted on X.
Berg’s sentiments echoed others shared widely on the social media platform.
Following the disclaimer, GovTrack took the additional step of removing the page entirely, prompting further criticism from Harris’ detractors and conservatives who viewed the move as an attempt to shield her from scrutiny.
Simultaneously, leftist news source Axios published an article asserting that conservatives and the Trump campaign team falsely labeled Harris as Biden’s “border czar” to harm her reputation, a lethal contradiction to an article they themselves had created three years ago announcing Biden’s appointment of Harris as his border czar.
A popular X poster promptly called Axios out on their dishonesty.
This you?” the user asked in a post that has received viral recognition.
Jonathan Levine of the New York Post weighed in, accusing Axios and GovTrack of engaging in actions reminiscent of censorship.
“Axios committed to making it worse. This is literally Soviet,” Levine wrote on X on July 24.
The removal of the ranking page has reignited debate over transparency and accountability within political ranking services, with critics alleging bias and selective editing to favor Harris’s political image as she campaigns for the vice presidency.
Neither GovTrack nor representatives for Harris have publicly commented on the controversy surrounding the removal of the scorecard.
This represents the media’s ongoing attempt to reshape Harris’ record, aiming to portray her as more centrist and accomplished to American voters with roughly 100 days remaining until the 2024 election.