Kamala Harris’ Rise and the Campaign That Started It All

CHICAGO — Years before Kamala Harris rose to the top of the Democratic Party, she was an unheralded prosecutor who mounted a challenge against her former boss, the sitting district attorney of San Francisco, Terence Hallinan.

The brain trust behind Harris’ 2003 victory is still riding with her. As Harris prepares to accept the Democratic nomination for president, a group of her longtime confidants spoke with KQED’s Political Breakdown at a Chicago hotel near the convention to reflect on the campaign that started it all.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Meeting Kamala Harris

Debbie Mesloh, campaign volunteer and later Harris’ communications director: I met Kamala in 2000. I met her the night of the reelection for Sen. Feinstein, who I was working for at the time, and she was a guest to a very small dinner by Louise Renne, our first female city attorney. Kamala was working for her at the time, and we had an amazing conversation, and I realized she was going to do big things. And I made up my mind to be a part of that if I could be.

Heidi Sieck, campaign volunteer: I met Kamala in 2003. There were like eight people at this house party. It was on the back patio, it was raining, it was kind of dingy. And we were just kind of standing there, and all of a sudden, this young woman comes in. She gets this, like milk carton or crate, and she steps up on it and gives this speech about transformation of criminal justice reform that I had never heard before because it was such a new, fresh perspective. And I was like, who is this woman? And I was all in.

Matthew Rothschild, Harris’ colleague in the city attorney’s office: We were both on senior staff at the time. We’d go for coffee and talk about, you know, gossip, what was going on in city politics and what was going on in just our personal lives. I got to know her, and that’s when she told me she was thinking about running for district attorney. And would I help.

Rebecca Prozan, campaign manager: I had just graduated from law school, and I was supposed to start a job at a firm, and she called. It was two weeks before Labor Day. So, during the interview, I said, “So, have you done any recent polling?” Again, mind you, this is a week before Labor Day. And [Harris] said, “I’m at 8%.” And the election is in November. It’s literally just like this [year]: she had 70 days.

The 2003 campaign

Prozan: She was always the key ingredient. Because she was so good, she could be anywhere. She could talk to Black voters in the Bayview. She could go to Pacific Heights. She could go to women’s groups. The LGBT community loved her. San Francisco could see who she was.

Sieck: The passion that the volunteers had in that short amount of time was absolutely infectious. I totaled my car running precincts for her in the runoff, and I just left my car on the side of the road and kept running precincts.

Prozan: Thanksgiving, I was like, the team needs a day off. This is between the first election and the [Dec. 9] runoff. And just to get her to take the time off was a thing. And then, Wednesday at noon, she says, “No, I need to go to Costco. I need to go to Costco and shake every hand.”

Harris’ mother, Shyamala Gopalan

Rothschild: I met [Shyamala] at the campaign headquarters in 2,003, and we hit it off right away. She had a great sense of humor. Kamala definitely got her love of cooking, her laugh, the way she would move her shoulders. And she was interested in you. And, Kamala, she could see that we were becoming good friends. She sort of made sure I knew that when [Shyamala] calls you, make sure you understand her phone calls were never short.

Mesloh: When you walked into the campaign office in 2003, which was in the Bayview — she’s still the only citywide San Francisco [candidate] to have an office in the Bayview for an election — Shyamala would be there every day. And it reminds me of Kamala that Shyamala could give a brilliant strategy, or she could stuff a letter. Nothing was too big or too small. She was a worker, and she was like, this needs to be done, and I’m going to work extremely hard to make it happen. And Kamala has that.

Rothschild: Kamala’s other campaign manager with Rebecca was Jim Rivaldo, who was also Harvey Milk’s campaign manager. And he was sick at the time. And when Jim died, when I went to see him the last time, Shyamala was with me. And then afterwards she said, “Let’s go to Neiman Marcus and have a popover.” So we went to Neiman’s and had a popover and prayed.

Prozan: On election night, Matthew and Kamala and I believe [then state Assemblymember] Mark Leno and a couple of other people went to dinner, and Kamala was like, “Come to dinner,” and I’m like, “No, I’m going to sit here with Shyamala [and her friend], and we’re going to get the [election results], we’re going to hang out.” Shyamala was like, “I need a drink.” But they did not want to get a bottle of wine. They just wanted those chocolate candies with the liquor in them. And after three [boxes], they were completely drunk. And so I remember getting the call saying she’s going to win. And I looked at Shyamala, and I was like, “Your daughter is going to be the next district attorney in San Francisco.” And that was before I even called Kamala to tell her. What a moment to share with her.

San Francisco ‘has prepared her for this moment’

Sieck: She always brings people together. That’s what I loved about what she did in San Francisco. She brought us together, and she said, “Women of San Francisco, what do we want to be? What do we want to prioritize?” It really was the foundation of our leadership capabilities in the city. And so you’ll see, San Francisco is run by a lot of women. And we are all mentees of Kamala Harris.

Rothschild: I’m glad she’s my friend. I miss her sometimes because the world has her now. But I’m happy to share her with the country and the world.

Mesloh: I think that all politics is local and campaigns in San Francisco are a knife fight in a phone booth. And if you can survive that… she’s very special. And I’m so excited that the rest of the country is seeing that now as well.

Prozan: I think it’s a question that gets asked a lot: how does San Francisco, California, produce the Nancy Pelosi’s, the Gavin Newsom’s, the Dianne Feinstein, the Kamala Harris’? And, yes, there is something to be said about, you know, San Francisco politics is a town like none other. We do this for sport. We’re mean, we’re feisty, and we demand a lot from who we elect. But I do think that has prepared her for this moment.