WASHINGTON – The campaign for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has denied claims made by a conservative activist that she copied parts of a 2009 book she helped write, calling the allegations a politically motivated act by right-wing figures aiming to sway the election.

Christopher Rufo, a conservative commentator and activist, brought the plagiarism allegations to light earlier this week in a Substack article, asserting that there are at least five “serious” instances of copied material in Harris’ book, “Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make us Safer.” Rufo’s claims stem from a broader investigation led by an Austrian plagiarism expert named Stefan Weber.

In his post, Rufo indicated that some of the passages identified by Weber exhibit minor issues—like reproducing brief text segments and insufficient paraphrasing—while others seem to demonstrate more significant violations.

Weber’s report initially reported 18 examples of plagiarism in the 200-page book, which was released around the time when Harris was launching her successful campaign for California Attorney General in 2010. The cited portions in Rufo’s article account for approximately 500 words out of the book’s total 65,000 words.

The sections under scrutiny often include sentences that describe data and processes. The authors referenced their sources in the book’s footnotes, yet there were several instances where direct quotes were used without quotation marks.

One specific passage that Weber highlighted discussed a New York court program and apparently referenced content from a 2008 Wikipedia entry. He also accused the book’s contributors of lifting phrases from a newspaper article, suggesting that the wording could have originated from a press release written by Harris or a staff member, especially considering the favorable portrayal in the media.

Harris’ campaign characterized the plagiarism claims as a desperate tactic by Republicans to hinder her campaign just three weeks before the election.

“Republican operatives are getting anxious as Vice President Harris gains support from a bipartisan coalition ahead of the election,” stated James Singer, a spokesperson for Harris’ campaign.

“This book has been available for 15 years, and the Vice President has clearly cited her sources throughout the footnotes and endnotes,” he continued.

Jonathan Bailey, the creator of the website Plagiarism Today, mentioned in a blog post that the cases of supposed plagiarism in Harris’ book reflect “lax writing practices, not intentional deceit.”

“Is there an issue? Yes. But it is not the widespread deception that many have asserted,” Bailey remarked.

He noted that citing references and including direct quotations in earlier years, especially before the 2010s, was common and somewhat accepted, which contributed to these misunderstandings.

“Inefficient writing practices and a lack of effective plagiarism detection tools made this a recurring issue, particularly before 2010,” he stated.

Other notable public figures have also faced allegations of plagiarism, including Melania Trump, President Joe Biden, and Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

Melania Trump was criticized for copying sections of a speech given by former first lady Michelle Obama during the 2016 Republican National Convention, while Biden encountered scrutiny during his 1988 presidential campaign for admitting to plagiarizing in law school. Gorsuch was accused in 2017 of using passages from a law journal in his book.

Rufo was also involved in efforts to compel former Harvard University President Claudine Gay to resign, claiming she had plagiarized. This criticism arose amidst her management of protests on campus relating to the Gaza conflict and allegations of antisemitism.

(This article has been updated with a new title.)