After two decades of crossing paths, Obama will deliver a ‘forceful affirmation’ for Harris at the DNC | CNN Politics (2024)

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If there was one lesson Kamala Harris took from the 2004 Democratic National Convention, it was to fuel up for some long days.

“You definitely have to eat your Wheaties,” thethen-39-year-old San Francisco district attorney told a crowd in Boston before heading off to what had become the week’s hottest ticket: a party celebrating the breakout keynote speaker,US Senatecandidate Barack Obamaof Illinois.

Now, 20 years later, Obama – who went from star of that conventionto the nation’s first Black president in a short four years – will speak on behalf of Harris, the party’s newly minted standard-bearer,delivering a “forceful affirmation that Harris is the right leader for the moment,” an adviser said.

Arriving at this moment was indirect, painstaking and awkward for so many Democrats, considering the 2024 convention was long intended to be a celebration of President Joe Biden, Obama’s onetime vice president. Obama is among the party elders whose quiet maneuvering helped Biden realize that Democrats were headed to almost certain defeat if he stayed on the ticket.

Harris’s quick ascension to the top of the Democratic Party wouldhave beenunlikely withoutthe swift endorsem*nt ofBiden– whose own presidency was made possible in no small part by Obama.

“She served him, and now he’s serving herand supporting her to be the president,” said Illinois Rep. Jonathan Jackson, who represents much of Chicago’s South Side. “He’s an honorable man, and history will be his best friend.”

Yetin many ways, Harris’rise topresidential nomineeamounts to a continuation of the arc that began with Obama on that summer evening in Boston two decades ago.

She is the first woman of color to become the nominee of a major American political party.Andin only four weeks of rallying Democrats behind her, the energy fueling her candidacy and thunderous crowds chanting her name have drawn comparisons to Obama’s history-making 2008 run.

“This is a candidate who’s energized the party in a way that I haven’t seen, certainly since ’08,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told CNN. “I’ve not felt this kind of energy and electricity at any convention other than the one for Barack Obama.”

Decades in the making

For two barrier-breaking politicians – Obama, 63 and Harris, 59 –this year’sconvention is a bookend 20 years in the making. As both climbed the Democratic ranks, they have intersected at various moments, each coming to represent, and embrace, an image of the party’s next generation, following in the footsteps of civil rights giants who came before them.

It was 2009 whenjournalistGwen Ifill drew this connection between the two, saying on the “Late Show with David Letterman”: “They call her the female Barack Obama.”

They have never formally worked together, either in the Senate or in Obama’s administration, although Harris has written that Eric Holder, Obama’s first attorney general, asked if she’d be interested in replacing him when he stepped down.

Kamala Harris speaks during an economic forum in Las Vegas in April 2019. The US senator from California is now the vice president of the United States.

A young Harris is seen with her mother, Shyamala, in this photo that was posted on Harris' Facebook page in March 2017. "My mother was born in India and came to the United States to study at UC Berkeley, where she eventually became an endocrinologist and breast-cancer researcher," Harris wrote. "She, and so many other strong women in my life, showed me the importance of community involvement and public service."

Harris and her younger sister, Maya, pose for a Christmas photo in 1968.

Harris rides a carousel in this old photo she posted to social media in 2015. Her name, Kamala, comes from the Sanskrit word for the lotus flower. Harris is the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants and grew up attending both a Baptist church and a Hindu temple.

Harris tweeted this photo of her as a child after referencing it during a Democratic debate in June 2019. During the debate, she confronted Joe Biden over his opposition many years ago to the federal government mandating busing to integrate schools. "There was a little girl in California who was bussed to school," she tweeted. "That little girl was me."

Harris got her bachelor's degree from Howard University in Washington, DC.

Harris graduates from law school in 1989. "My first grade teacher, Mrs. Wilson (left), came to cheer me on," Harris said. "My mom was pretty proud, too."

Harris is joined by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, left, and the Rev. Cecil Williams, center, for a San Francisco march celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. in January 2004. Harris was the city's district attorney from 2004 to 2011.

Harris speaks to supporters before a "No on K" news conference in October 2008. The San Francisco ballot measure Proposition K sought to stop enforcing laws against prostitution. It was voted down on election day.

Harris looks over seized guns following a news conference in Sacramento, California, in June 2011. Harris became California's attorney general in January 2011 and held that office until 2017. She was the first African American, the first woman and the first Asian American to become California's attorney general.

Harris attends the Democratic Party's state convention in February 2012.

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Harris watches California Gov. Jerry Brown sign copies of the California Homeowner Bill of Rights in July 2012.

Harris speaks on the second night of the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

In May 2013, Harris and California Highway Patrol Commissioner Joe Farrow place a wreath honoring Highway Patrol officers who were killed in the line of duty.

Harris officiates the wedding of Kris Perry, left, and Sandy Stier in June 2013. Perry and Stier were married after a federal appeals court cleared the way for California to immediately resume issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Harris is flanked by her husband, Douglas Emhoff, and her sister, Maya. Next to Maya Harris is Maya's daughter, Meena, and Maya's husband, Tony West.

Harris receives a gift from supporters in January 2015 after she announced plans to run for the US Senate.

Harris speaks during a news conference in February 2015.

Harris, as a new member of the Senate, participates in a re-enacted swearing-in with Vice President Joe Biden in January 2017. She is the first Indian American and the second African American woman to serve as a US senator.

Harris talks with former US Sen. Bob Dole on Capitol Hill in January 2017.

Harris attends the Women's March on Washington in January 2017.

Harris speaks to Fatima and Yuleni Avelica, whose father was deported, before a news conference on Capitol Hill in March 2017.

Harris greets a crowd at an event in Richmond, Virginia, in October 2017.

In November 2017, Harris was among the lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee grilling Silicon Valley giants over the role that their platforms inadvertently played in Russia's meddling in US politics.

Harris and her husband attend a Golden State Warriors basketball game in May 2018.

Harris attends a rally with, from left, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom, and Newsom's wife, Jennifer, in May 2018. Newsom won the election in November.

Harris speaks with US Sen. Cory Booker during the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in September 2018.

Harris presses Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing.

Harris arrives with staff for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in September 2018.

Harris reads from her children's book "Superheroes Are Everywhere" during a book signing in Los Angeles in January 2019. She also released a memoir, "The Truths We Hold: An American Journey."

A person holds a Harris poster during the Women's March in Los Angeles in January 2019.

Harris holds her first presidential campaign rally in January 2019. She had announced her presidential bid a week earlier on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Her campaign signs carried the theme "Kamala Harris for the people" — the words that she spoke each time she rose in the courtroom as a prosecutor.

Harris speaks during her CNN town-hall event, which was moderated by Jake Tapper in Iowa in January 2019.

Media members photograph Harris and the Rev. Al Sharpton as they have lunch at Sylvia's Restaurant in New York in February 2019.

Harris confronts former Vice President Joe Biden, left, during the first Democratic debates in June 2019. Harris went after Biden over his early career opposition to federally mandated busing.

Harris rides her campaign bus in Iowa in August 2019.

Harris and Biden greet each other at a Detroit high school as they attend a "Get Out the Vote" event in March 2020. Harris had dropped out of the presidential race a few months earlier, telling her supporters that the campaign didn't have the financial resources to continue.

Harris joins fellow Democrats from the House and Senate as they kneel in silence to honor George Floyd at the US Capitol in June 2020.

Biden calls Harris from his Delaware home to inform her that she was his choice for vice president.

Harris and Biden sign paperwork to officially get on the ballot in all 50 states.

Harris delivers a speech as she formally accepts the nomination at the Democratic National Convention. "Let's fight with conviction," Harris said in her speech. "Let's fight with hope. Let's fight with confidence in ourselves and a commitment to each other. To the America we know is possible. The America we love."

Biden and Harris appear before supporters at the end of the Democratic National Convention.

Harris addresses Vice President Mike Pence during the vice presidential debate in October 2020.

Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, tweeted this photo of him and Harris that was taken in November 2020, just after she and Biden were projected to win the election. "So proud of you," Emhoff wrote.

Harris arrives on stage to give a victory speech in Wilmington, Delaware.

Biden and Harris greet each other on the stage where they delivered their victory speeches.

Harris is sworn in as vice president as her husband holds the Bible in January 2021. Harris was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She wore the color purple as a nod to Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman to run for president.

Harris walks with her family to the White House on the final stretch of an abbreviated inaugural parade.

Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks alongside Biden and Harris at a White House event celebrating Jackson's historic confirmation to the Supreme Court in April 2022. Jackson is the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

Harris is given a tour near the demarcation line as she visited the Demilitarized Zone dividing North and South Korea in September 2022. It was the last stop on her four-day trip to Asia, and it came a day after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles into the waters off its east coast.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses Congress at the US Capitol in December 2022 as Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hold up a Ukrainian national flag signed by troops from the besieged area of Bakhmut.

Biden and Harris pose with the Golden State Warriors as the NBA champions visited the White House in January 2023. Harris said she had been a Warriors fan her "entire life."

Biden and Harris meet with congressional leaders in the White House Oval Office in May 2023 to talk about a deal to raise the nation's borrowing limit and avoid a historic default. Joining Biden and Harris, from left, are Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

US Sen. Laphonza Butler is sworn in by Harris at the US Capitol in October 2023. Harris and Butler are two of only three Black women to have served as a US senator.

Harris embraces Biden after a speech in Raleigh, North Carolina, in March 2024. The rare joint appearance highlighted the emphasis that the duo planned to place on health care for the upcoming election.

Harris and Emhoff arrive to greet staff at her campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, in July 2024. It was the day after Biden announced that he would be dropping out of the presidential race and supporting her to be the nominee.

Harris speaks in Milwaukee in her first campaign rally, two days after Biden dropped out of the presidential race. She told supporters that she would spend the coming weeks "continuing to unite our party" ahead of August's Democratic National Convention and this fall's showdown with Donald Trump.

Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, hold their first joint campaign rally in Philadelphia in August 2024.

In pictures: Vice President Kamala Harris

Obama played a key role in her election as California attorney general in 2010, endorsing her candidacy and arriving in Los Angeles for an October rally that helped boost her campaign. To a crowd of thousands, he described Harris as “a dear, dear friend of mine, so I want everybody to do right by her.”

Two years later, Harris delivered a brief speech at the Democratic conventionin Charlotte, as Obama was fighting forreelection against Mitt Romney.

“We need to give him another four years. We need to move forward,” Harris told the crowd on the second night of the convention. “President Obama will fight for working families. He will fight to level the economic playing field and fight to give every American the same fair shot my family had.”

Near the end of his second term, Obama took the rare step of weighing in on California’s all-Democratic Senate race. He not only endorsed Harris, but filmed television ads with the message: “Kamala Harris will be a fearless fighter for the people of California every single day.”

Along the way, there have been moments of awkwardness. At a fundraiser in 2013, Obama deemed Harris the “best looking attorney general” in the country – an aside for whichhe would later call to apologize.

Door-knocking for Obama

While Harris recalls seeing Obama at the Boston convention, aides to the former president say his first memory of meeting Harris came a few months later during a California fundraising event for his 2004 Senate race.

Four years later, as Obama was mounting a long-shot bid for the White House, Harris bucked many in her party to endorse him overthen-Sen.Hillary Clinton, who had the early support of much of the Democratic establishment and many Black leaders.

Harris flew to Springfield, Illinois, to watch him announce his candidacy; a photo from that February day in 2007 shows a windswept Harris – then the district attorney in San Francisco – not onstage or in a VIP room, but among the crowd, waiting for Obama to walk past and shake her hand.

In the lead-up to the Iowa caucuses, she packed her black down jacket and boots and trekked to Des Moines right after Christmas to join the ranks of Obama’s army of volunteers.

“No job was too small for any of us,” Harris would later recall, “and we spent hours in freezing temperatures knocking on doors.”

Behind one of those doors at a senior-living facility was a well-dressed Black woman who – when Harris asked whether she planned to caucus for Obama – told her flatly: “They not gonna let him win.”

It was a moment Harris would later recall that changed her perspective.

“Her response suggested to me that, because she had seen and experienced significant disappointments in her life, she didn’t want to have hope about electing the first black President, only to suffer disappointment when he didn’t win,” she wrote years later.

On the evening of the caucuses, Harris was tasked with handing out pizza in the cold – and ran into the same woman, waiting in linewearinga fox stole.

Obama won Iowa, but the battle against Clinton was far from over. A few months later, Harris was dispatched to San Jose to pitch Obama to California activists and superdelegates at the party’s state convention in March.

She was virtually unknown on the national stage. The Clinton campaign’s surrogateat that gathering– the candidate’s husband, former President Bill Clinton – was decidedly not.

“Can you say ‘gulp’?” Harris joked before the crowd.

In her address, however, Harris tied her appearance on the same stage as a former president as in keeping with Obama’s candidacy.

“When you really think about it, hasn’t that been, from the beginning, what this campaign to elect Barack Obama has been about?” she asked. “Hasn’t it been about the audacity to do things unimaginable?”

Modeling after Obama – and Biden

When Harris launched her Democratic presidential campaign in 2019, she sought Obama’s counsel on her message and strategy. She had two meetings with him in Washington, aides said, and occasionally talked byphone. Obama offered similar advice to all candidates, including Biden, but offered no endorsem*nt in the primary.

As she campaigned across Iowa in a crowded field of candidates, Harris often invoked Obama’s grassroots support that propelled him to victory over Clinton. She sought to model her campaign after his, even announcing an “all in on Iowa” strategy. But she ultimately struggled to connect with voters who were drawn toVermontSen. Bernie Sanders,then-South Bend, Indiana, MayorPete Buttigieg and other rivals.

“In good faith, I cannot tell you, my supporters and volunteers, that I have a path forward if I don’t believe I do,” Harris said in a video message on December 3, 2019, as she dropped out of the race a month before voting began.

Less than three months later, Biden roared from behind to seize the Democratic nomination. Harris quickly endorsed his candidacy and worked to smooth over animosity from theirprimaryrivalry,derived in part from a debate-stage clash over busing and race.With Biden’s selection of Harris as his running mate, her trajectory to the White House resumed.

While the Democratic convention here this week represents a passing of the torch from Biden to Harris – far sooner than he envisioned – it also underscores how her candidacy is forever intertwined with Biden and Obama.

Obama and President Joe Biden listen as Harris speaks at the White House on April 5, 2022, about the Affordable Care Act.

For whatever hard feelings Biden may harbor toward some longtime Democratic allies, his advisers insist that none are directed toward Harris andthat heis committed to helping her win in November – an election that will still shape his legacy, too.

And for the next 77 days, Obama has made clear to Harris that he will do whatever she needs in her quest to become the nation’s 47thpresident.

His first task, aides said, comes Tuesday night at his convention speech, which he sees as an opportunityto make a case for Harris and Gov. Tim Walz, whom Obama admires and previously endorsed in his Minnesota races.

For this moment, Harris is not expected to be in the audience listening to Obama as she was two decades ago in Boston. She’ll be taking a quick detour to a rally in Wisconsin, trying to follow in the footsteps of both Obama and Biden in winning that critical battleground state.