Kamala Harris landed in the Bay Area this weekend after a multi-state tour introducing her new running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, to canvass for donors in front of a home crowd at a fundraiser in San Francisco where each participant raised several thousand dollars.
The previous evening, San Francisco Mayor London Breed welcomed the former Vice President and current Democratic candidate along with California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis on the tarmac of SFO.
The vice president attracted hundreds of donors to the exclusive Sunday morning event hosted by the Harris Victory Fund. The fund reportedly raised about $12 million by selling tickets valued at $3,300 to $500,000 apiece.
For Harris, an Oakland native who served as San Francisco district attorney before rising to higher office, the event is something of a homecoming.
As a crowd of deep-pocketed Democratic donors flocked to the iconic Fairmont Hotel in Nob Hill, hundreds of protesters gathered outside to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, where the Palestinian death toll recently hit 41,000, according to Health Department figures.
Protesters held up signs addressing Harris directly, one of which showed Harris holding a bomb that read: “Got money for war but can’t feed the poor.”
At the Harris Victory Fund soiree, attendees sipped mimosas and nibbled on appetizers brought by waiters in gray uniforms. before shuffling into the 14 rows of 40 seats each, separated by an aisle, in the hotel’s grand ballroom.
The stage was decorated with American and Californian flags and a large blue sign with Harris-Walz in bold white letters.
The soundtrack began with “ABC” by the Jackson 5, “I’ll Take You There” by the Staple Singers, “What’s Love Got to Do With It” by Tina Turner, and “Think” by Aretha Franklin, among others.
Some participants expressed their enthusiasm through signs or T-shirts decorated with quotes. One woman walked in with a homemade sign that read “Make America Joyful Again.” Another wore a white T-shirt with “Elect Women” embroidered in cursive on the front.
At least one person wore a Harris 2020 campaign T-shirt that read “For the People.” Several people came dressed all in white as a tribute to the women’s suffrage movement and a symbol of hope that the nation might finally elect its first female commander in chief.
In a line that slowly moved back to buy drinks, a man with glasses stood out in the room full of blue blazers and shirts. He imitated the protagonist of The Big Lebowski, wearing a cream-colored T-shirt with the face of Jeff Bridges surrounded by the slogan “Dudes for like, Harris, man.”
Numerous San Francisco leaders mingled with the crowd, including Mayor Breed in a blue jacket and Supervisor Aaron Peskin in a white button-down shirt and navy blue suit.
Governor Gavin Newsom, in a crisp white shirt and dark gray suit, squeezed skin and posed for photos in the back of the ballroom – including an obligatory snapshot with a baby.
Other California Democratic dignitaries in attendance included Newsom’s deputy Kounalakis, House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi, state Attorney General Rob Bonta and U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee.
Gary McCoy, vice president of communications for the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club in San Francisco, came with his husband, Kory Powell-McCoy, to soak up the festive atmosphere.
“I see joy,” Gary McCoy told The Standard. “That’s what drives, promotes and radiates this campaign.”
Reporters were relegated to a balcony overlooking the ticketed crowd below. They were forbidden from taking photographs or making audio or video recordings and were told they could stay only until the end of Harris’s speech.
At 11:20 a.m. a voice came over the PA system and asked everyone to take their seats. “Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keys played, followed by “Tightrope” by Janelle Monae and “Sun is Shining” by Bob Marley and the Wailers.
Another hour passed before the event ended and Pelosi took the podium to thunderous applause. “Good morning, everyone,” she began. “And isn’t it a wonderful morning?”
The former congresswoman began her campaign speech by emphasizing the importance of the “three M’s”: mobilization, message and money.
“We have to do our job… with our mobilization on the ground, we have to send a bold and progressive message, and we have to have the money to do the job,” she said.
Pelosi then thanked the attendees – whose admission price on Sunday helped cover the last M – “for making this all possible.”
The former Speaker of the House of Representatives then listed Harris’ accomplishments over the past few years under President Biden.
“Democracy is on the ballot,” Pelosi said, “and we want democracy to win Olympic gold on this day.”
She then welcomed the guest of honor to the stage. Harris, wearing a dark suit and a white blouse with a bow, took the microphone.
“How are you all?” she asked. “It’s always nice to be home.”
She nodded to Newsom and pointed out that she and the governor both began their political careers with their election in San Francisco on the same day: January 8, 2004.
“We took our oath and I have known Gavin as a friend and colleague for many years,” she said. “I want to personally thank you for being an extraordinary Californian and a national leader.”
The audience responded with a standing ovation.
Harris then wished Breed a happy 50th birthday and congratulated Congressman Lee and “our future Congresswoman” Lateefah Simon.
“This is a room full of very, very long-time friends,” Harris continued. “So many of you have been with me on this journey through some very tough campaigns. We’ve been through a lot together. Thank you for your dedication to our country.”
“I begin and end with this: We will win this election.”
The audience rose from their seats again and applauded.
She said there was a lot at stake in the upcoming election and described her campaign as “focused on the future” while Republicans were “so clearly fixated on the past.”
Harris attacked the conservative political concept “Project 2025,” whose more controversial proposals provided Democrats with fodder for anti-Republican attacks.
“Can you believe they actually put that in writing?” Harris asked. “So much of what they’re proposing is based on proven failed policies. We’re not going back.”
In some parts of the country, she says, crowds are already chanting that they don’t want to go back before she even says it. As if on cue, the room began chanting, “We’re not going back!”
She then listed various freedoms that she believed were threatened by her political opponents, such as freedom from gun violence, freedom to breathe clean air, and freedom to openly love who you love.
“Not to mention the fundamental attack on the freedom to decide what happens to one’s own body,” Harris said to another standing ovation.
She pointed out that during his presidency, Donald Trump personally selected three U.S. Supreme Court justices who later overturned the Roe v. Wade ruling. And if he were to return to the White House, she warned, “he would sign a national ban on abortion.”
However, she said that if elected, she vows to enshrine Roe v. Wade’s protections into law.
“We all face a question: What kind of country do we want to live in?” Harris continued. “A country of chaos, fear and hate? Or a country of freedom, compassion and the rule of law? We all have the power to answer that question. Because in a democracy, the power lies with the people.”
Harris concluded her speech by reminding her supporters that there is still much work to be done before Election Day.
“Yes, we will fight for freedom and we will fight for our future,” she concluded. “And as I say at every rally, if we fight, we win.”
The speech ended with thunderous applause, Beyoncé’s “Freedom” blared from the speakers, and the crowd lined up along the stage to greet Harris.
Outside the Fairmont, at the corner of California and Powell Streets, landscape architect Stephen Suzman was still beaming after attending Sunday’s rally.
“I’ve known Kamala for 20 years,” he said. “I supported her when she ran for district attorney, I supported her when she ran for attorney general. I’m absolutely overjoyed and thrilled that she’s running for president, and I believe she’s going to win. That’s so critical.”
Suzman comes from South Africa, where he says he was involved in the fight against apartheid at the age of 12. He knows what fascist governments can do to people and is “scared and angry” that Trump – whom he described as a “greedy old man” – is “playing games with the most important democracy in the world.”
San Francisco resident and retired veteran Jim Martinez, another Harris supporter outside the event, wore a T-shirt that read “Kamala Harris for the people” and said he hoped she could resolve conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
“I hope she can take care of the Palestinian crisis,” he said. “I give her the chance to take care of bringing the hostages home and achieving a two-state solution.”
Although Sunday’s event was expected to draw no more than 700 people – a small crowd compared to the record turnout of 14,000 at the Harris-Walz rally in Philadelphia, for example – it was expected to raise millions of dollars.
The fundraiser came days after Silicon Valley raised a six-figure sum for the Harris-Walz campaign in a Zoom call led by venture capitalist Ron Conway and with the participation of LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman.
And this came about two months after former President Donald Trump raised $12 million from Republican donors at a fundraiser in San Francisco’s upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood.
