Former President Obama, one of the most respected voices in the modern Democratic Party, and former First Lady Michelle Obama officially He endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday to be his party's candidate for the White House 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 endorsements that she was best qualified to take President Biden’s place following his announcement that he was ending his reelection campaign.
“Kamala has more than a resume. She has the vision, the character, and the strength that this critical moment demands. We have no doubt 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 have hope.”
The former president had initially been noncommittal following Biden’s announcement Sunday that he was dropping out of the race. Obama had said he believed it was important for Democratic delegates to chart their path to selecting a new nominee, but he was also in regular contact with Harris, as he has been for the more than two decades they have known each other, according to a source familiar with their conversations.
Obama was impressed by Harris' performance in the days after Biden decided not to seek reelection, this person said.
The Obamas' acceptance is not surprising given their long relationship with Harris (dating back to before they all became household names) and considering Harris' success in consolidating Democratic support this week.
Harris and Barack Obama met in 2004, when he was a state senator in Illinois and she was a district attorney in San Francisco.
Before the 2008 election, when the odds appeared to favor Hillary Clinton to win the Democratic nomination, Harris attended his 2007 presidential campaign announcement in Springfield, Illinois, and later trudged through the snow campaigning for him in Iowa before his surprise victory in the state's caucuses in January 2008.
A few months later, Obama's campaign chose Harris to speak on its behalf at the California Democratic Convention ahead of the state's primary. She replaced former President Clinton, who spoke on behalf of his wife, then a senator from New York.
“Can you say ‘Gulp’?” he said at the meeting in San Jose.
Harris argued that Obama could unite the nation and compared her own appearance before state delegates to Obama's candidacy.
“Hasn’t it been a matter of audacity to do unimaginable things?” he said, prompting his supporters to chant: “Obama! Obama!”
(Hillary Clinton eventually defeated him in the California primary, but Obama won the nomination and the White House.)
Harris continued to maintain a close relationship with the then-president, having been elected attorney general of California and nicknamed “the female Obama” in political circles.
The relationship sparked some controversial headlines when the president described Harris at a fundraiser in 2013 as “brilliant,” “dedicated,” and “tough,” later adding that Harris was also, “by far, the “The most handsome attorney general.”
He immediately I called her to apologize, saying that he had not intended to belittle his achievements.
In the 2020 presidential campaign, near the end of his second term, Obama sat out a competitive primary as Harris, Biden and other Democrats fought. He would endorse Biden, his vice president, that April, a day after Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders gave him his own endorsement after dropping out of the race.
The former president and Harris have many collaborators in common. His first attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., is reportedly helping Harris evaluate potential vice presidential candidates, and Jen O’Malley Dillon, Obama’s deputy White House chief of staff and deputy campaign manager in 2012, is running Harris’s campaign.
In their endorsement statement, the Obamas pledged that Harris had their “full support” and that they would work hard to get her elected to the White House.
“We look forward to seeing her unite our party and our country around a vision of a brighter, fairer, and more prosperous future,” they said. “We will do everything in our power to elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States. And we hope you will join us.”
In a nearly minute-long video of the Obamas' call with Harris on Wednesday to announce their endorsement, she said their support was significant and she looked forward to campaigning with them.
After Michelle Obama called her “my girl Kamala” and her campaign “historic,” Harris responded: “The words you’ve said and the friendship you’ve given me over all these years mean more than I can express. So thank you both!”
He added: “And we're going to have fun with this too, right?”
