Former President Obama, one of the most well-respected voices in the modern Democratic Party, and former First Lady Michelle Obama officially endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday to be their party’s White House nominee in the fall.
Citing Harris’ work as a prosecutor, California attorney general, U.S. senator and vice president, the Obamas said in a statement and video announcing their endorsement that she was the best qualified to take President Biden’s place in the wake of his announcement that he would not seek reelection.
“Kamala has more than a resume. She has the vision, the character, and the strength that this critical moment demands. There is no doubt in our mind that Kamala Harris has exactly what it takes to win this election and deliver for the American people,” the Obamas said in their statement. “At a time when the stakes have never been higher, she gives us all reason to hope.”
Though Obama was initially coy in the aftermath of Biden announcing he would not seek reelection because he believed it was important for Democratic delegates to chart their path for selecting a new nominee, he was also in regular contact with Harris as he has been over the more than two decades they have known each other, according to a source familiar with their conversations.
The former president was impressed by Harris’ performance in the days after Biden decided to not seek reelection, this person said.
The Obamas’ nod is unsurprising given their longtime relationship with Harris, which predates Obama or Harris being household names, as well as Harris’ success in consolidating Democratic support this week.
Harris and Obama met in 2004, when he was a state senator in Illinois and she was the district attorney of San Francisco. In the 2008 presidential campaign, when odds favored Hillary Clinton to win the Democratic nomination, Harris attended the announcement of his presidential campaign in Springfield, Ill., in 2007 and trudged through the snow stumping for him in Iowa before his surprise victory in the state’s caucuses in January of 2008.
A few months later, Harris was tapped by Obama’s campaign to speak on his behalf at the California Democratic Convention before the state’s primary, and after former President Clinton spoke on behalf of his wife, Democratic presidential candidate and then-Sen. Hillary Clinton.
“Can you say ‘gulp’?” she said at the gathering in San Jose.
Harris argued that Obama could unite the nation and likened her appearance before the delegates to Obama’s candidacy.
“Hasn’t it been about the audacity to do things unimaginable?” she said, prompting his supporters to chant: “Obama, Obama.”
(Clinton ultimately bested Obama in the state’s primary, but he won the nomination and the White House.)
Harris remained close with the then-president as she was elected California’s attorney general and was nicknamed “the female Obama” in political circles.
Their relationship caused some controversial headlines when the president described Harris at a 2013 fundraiser as “brilliant,” “dedicated” and “tough,” and then added that Harris was also “by far, the best-looking attorney general.”
He immediately called her to apologize, saying he did not mean to diminish her accomplishments.
In the 2020 presidential campaign, Obama did not take a position while Harris, Biden and other Democrats were in a competitive primary. He endorsed Biden, his former vice president, in April of that year, one day after Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders endorsed Biden.
But the former president and Harris have many aides in common. Obama’s former attorney general Eric Holder is reportedly helping Harris vet potential vice presidential picks, and Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, who served as Obama’s deputy campaign manager in 2012, is Harris’ campaign manager.
In their endorsement statement, the Obamas pledged that Harris had their “full support” and they would work hard to get her elected to the White House.
“We look forward to watching her unite our party and our country around a vision for a brighter, fairer, more prosperous future,” they said. “We’re going to do everything we can to elect Kamala Harris the next President of the United States. And we hope you’ll join us.”
In a nearly minute-long video of the Obamas’ call to Harris announcing their support filmed Wednesday, the vice president said that their support was meaningful to her and that she looked forward to campaigning with them.
“But most of all, I just wanna tell you that the words you have spoken and the friendship that you have given over all these years mean more than I can express,” Harris said, after Michelle Obama called her “my girl Kamala” and said the campaign would be historic. “So thank you both! It means so much. And, and we’re gonna have some fun with this, too, aren’t we?”