In a boisterous homecoming after becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris returned to California on Sunday and reveled in being surrounded by supporters she has known for decades, while also warning of a bleak future for the nation if Democrats do not win in November.
“It’s good to be home,” Harris told about 700 people who roared and leaped to their feet as she walked on stage in a hotel ballroom in San Francisco. “This is a room full of dear, dear friends and longstanding supporters — folks I have known for my entire career. … We’ve been through a lot together. I want to thank everyone in here for your love and longstanding support and friendship and for your dedication to this country.”
The mood at the fundraiser was warm and optimistic — one woman in the front row waved a sign that said “Make America Joyful Again.” But Harris turned serious when she argued that fundamental rights such as healthcare, same-sex marriage and abortion are at stake in the race against former President Trump.
“We know what we need to do — we need to knock on doors, we need to register folks to vote, we need to get people to the polls. And every day matters,” she said. “That’s why we’re going to win, but let’s not take anything for granted.”
The event, which drew House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi, Gov. Gavin Newsom, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Rep. Barbara Lee, San Francisco Giants Chief Executive Larry Baer and a slew of other elected officials and donors, raised more than $12 million in the city that laid the foundation for Harris’ political career. Tickets cost between $3,300 and $500,000.
Harris worked as a prosecutor and a City Hall attorney in San Francisco before being elected district attorney in 2002, which served as a springboard to her later roles as state attorney general and then U.S. senator.
“This is a good day when we welcome Kamala Harris back home to California,” said Pelosi, who introduced the vice president. “She makes us all so proud, she brings us so much joy, she gives us so much hope.”
The event had the feel of a family reunion. Harris’ niece’s young children posed for pictures in front of a large Harris/Walz campaign sign on the stage. She called out several attendees from the stage, showering the most attention on Newsom. She reminisced about the day in 2004 when they took their oath of office in San Francisco, she as district attorney and he as mayor, and also their work marrying gay couples that year.
“I have known Gavin as a friend and colleague for so, so many years,” she said. “I want to thank you in front of all of our friends who are here for being an extraordinary leader of California and the nation.”
The event capped a whirlwind three weeks in the presidential campaign, with President Biden announcing he would not seek reelection, Democrats quickly coalescing around the vice president as their nominee and Harris selecting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
In Biden’s first interview since he announced he would not seek another term, he said his decision was driven by the importance of beating Trump, the concerns among some members of the House and the Senate that he could harm their chances and that his candidacy could “be a real distraction.”
“The critical issue for me still, it’s not a joke, maintaining this democracy,” he said on an interview that aired on CBS on Sunday. While “it’s a great honor being president, I think I have an obligation to the country to do what I — the most important thing you can do — and that is, we must — we must — we must defeat Trump.”
Harris and Walz spent last week barnstorming battleground states — events that have drawn large crowds.
“Folks are coming to these events and they’re bringing with them so much joy. People are singing and they’re dancing in the aisles long before we get there,” Harris said. “They’re showing up not only because we must beat Donald Trump, they’re showing up because they believe in our country and our freedom.”
On Saturday, the Democrats collected the endorsement of the powerful Culinary Workers Union in Las Vegas, and Harris announced she supported not taxing tips — an immensely popular proposal among service industry workers and one Trump backed in June.
“Copy Cat Kamala directly plagiarized President Trump’s No Tax on Tips policy proposal to let hard-working service workers keep more of their own hard-earned money,” the Republican’s campaign said in a statement.
Sunday’s fundraiser also took place four years from the day Biden selected her to be his running mate, months after Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign sputtered out.
“It’s been the best decision I’ve made,” Biden wrote in a fundraising appeal. “Kamala’s sharp. She’s tough. She’s going to make one hell of a president.”
California Republicans chose the location of Sunday’s fundraiser to cast doubt on Democratic leadership and point out dysfunction in San Francisco.
“For anyone unsure of what a Harris presidency would look like, take some time to tour her hometown where crime is running rampant, homelessness is visible on seemingly every street corner, and storefronts and office spaces sit empty as businesses close and people move away with no plans to return,” said state GOP chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson in a statement.
Given California’s deep blue tilt, it will not be contested in November. But it is home to so many wealthy donors that it provides the most campaign cash to candidates on both sides of the aisle. The GOP’s vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, recently headlined two fundraisers in the state. On Tuesday, Walz is expected to attend a fundraiser in Newport Beach, the same day Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff raises money at an event in Los Angeles.
Attendee Susie Tompkins Buell, the co-founder of Esprit and The North Face who has known Harris since the 1990s, said she could not recall the last time she had seen this much energy among Democrats, which she attributed to Harris’ candidacy as well as the “danger to our country from within” posed by the prospect of Trump winning another term.
“Kamala’s youth and positive energy is like a fresh gust of a cool breeze on a sweltering, humid day. So refreshing and hopeful,” said Tompkins Buell, whose husband served as Harris’ finance chair during her district attorney and attorney general campaigns.
“She has been an important part of our community for years,” added. “I am so impressed by her consistency. She is very confident in who she is and her style has always been the same, just improved. It’s all impressive.”