Tulsi Gabbard slams Kamala Harris' prosecutorial record

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) was having a good night — until now.

Harris started out dominating Wednesday night's Democratic primary debates, drilling Joe Biden on health care and leading other candidates to rally against the former vice president. But things turned sour when race and criminal justice came up — a surprising turn of events considering race was Harris' winning topic in the June debates.

Harris said Wednesday she was proud of her time as California's attorney general and as a federal prosecutor, touting how she's always opposed the death penalty. But Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) said there were "too many reasons" why she had concerns with Harris' record, and went on to brutally spell out one of them.

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Criminal justice arrived unexpectedly early during Wednesday night's debates as protesters interrupted New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's opening statement, calling on him to fire the NYPD officer allegedly involved in the death of killed Eric Garner. Several candidates indicated they'd defy de Blasio's course of action and fire the officer.

While he wasn't on the debate stage, 2020 candidate and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel — or at least his teen campaigners — liked Gabbard's attack. Kathryn Krawczyk