From Friend to Future President: My Journey with Kamala Harris

I’ve been active in the national pro-Israel movement for more than 40 years, and I’ve been friends with Kamala Harris for the last 30. I’ve seen her up close on personal, professional, and political levels. So I admit I don’t fully understand the anxiety some people are feeling when you look at her record and listen to her words, but I also acknowledge she’s relatively unknown on the national scene and the war, protests and outward antisemitism this past year have given our community ample reason to be anxious.

Now, as we rapidly near the end of a whirlwind presidential race, I can’t help but think back to the beginning of our friendship, all the chapters ever since, and what that means for our community and country, and our future.

In a moment of deep anxiety and uncertainty about who Jews can rely on in this election, who has our best interests and values at heart, let me simply say what the last three decades have made plain: Kamala Harris will be a president we can trust and a leader we can believe in.

I first met Kamala in the mid-nineties. We were both in the San Francisco political social world, and I knew from the beginning she’d make an excellent candidate for office some day. Her talent, intelligence, and commitment were evident from the start, but I would be lying if I said I anticipated her eventually being the Democratic nominee for President.

While Israel wasn’t a common topic in the local body politic back then, certainly not like it is now, every friend of mine knew about my commitment to Israel and the Jewish community. So while the issues didn’t manifest the way we see today, Israel was a frequent topic with my friends who were curious. Kamala would tell me about collecting quarters in the little blue box to help plant trees in Israel and about her desire to go someday.

When she ran for San Francisco District Attorney, I was in a potentially awkward spot. San Francisco politics are unusual. Our fights are typically between the Left and the further Left. The political establishment, however, doesn’t focus on which side you’re on, but only if you’re part of the club. I was raised in the club, and worked professionally in it from the age of 18. The incumbent DA, while a hero to the Progressive community, was also from a family that had long been part of the establishment, and opposing him was frowned upon by many of my mentors and leaders, even though they tended to disagree with him on policy.

But there was no question I was going to support the challenger – the soon-to-be rising star Kamala Harris – not only because I agreed with her on policy, but because she was, simply put, terrific. And I did take heat from some of the more established names in San Francisco, all of whom were backing the incumbent. Still, that didn’t matter – principles and personal connection mattered more. And during the campaign, I had the honor of serving as part of her cadre of informal advisors.

Then-District Attorney Harris went on her first trip to Israel in 2004 with the San Francisco Jewish Community Relations Council. I have a rule for my friends: when they get back from their first trip, we need to go to lunch and I have to hear all about it. When Kamala described her journey to me, her eyes lit up, her passion was evident, and she knew what she long assumed would be the case: she loved Israel.

Back then, Israel didn’t typically present itself as an issue a DA had to handle. But in 2007, District Attorney Harris had the first opportunity to show our community the true nature of her commitment. Elie Wiesel was visiting our city and was assaulted by a Holocaust denier. This assailant was eventually arrested, and charged with several counts of assault and elder abuse. At the time, I didn’t know about hate crime enhancements. The first I heard of them was when Kamala added them to the charges. Our community didn’t ask her to do so. She was driven entirely by her recognition of the severity of antisemitism that drove the assailant to attack Mr. Wiesel, and she gave many of us a powerful legal lesson along the way. Kamala Harris stood up for us without us even knowing there was something she could do.

A few years later, I supported her for Attorney General, and I threw her largest pro-Israel community fundraiser when she ran for the United States Senate. It was in the Senate that she had the opportunity to further prove her support. Yes, the first vote she took regarding Israel was for a resolution admonishing the Obama administration for not supporting Israel at the UN. And her voting record in the Senate from that point on was perfect.

But it was two personal issues that really stood out. The first was when she announced she was going to travel to Israel in her inaugural year as Senator, and she was taking her husband for his first time. She wanted to not only show where she stood, but wanted Doug to see the Israel she loved. I’ve heard him say that trip brought him back in touch with his Judaism. Kamala Harris did that – not by our community asking, but with her initiative.

Perhaps the story that most speaks to who she is happened in 2019 when she was running for President. Some, at the time, were trying to get Democratic candidates to boycott the annual AIPAC Policy Conference. It was a disingenuous effort given candidates aren’t invited until the actual election year. But shortly before the conference, a national ad ran thanking the candidates who weren’t attending for “boycotting,” even though only two of the candidates actually agreed.

Kamala was in that ad, and it made her furious. A few of us were scheduled to meet with her senior foreign policy staff, an opportunity every AIPAC activist knows is one you don’t pass up, but Kamala rearranged her calendar to be in the meeting. She called me and, deploying some salty language, explained we would come in to see her instead. We would take a photo that she would send out on social media, and she wanted AIPAC to retweet her post.

The vitriol she took online for that picture made her even more sure she was standing with the right community – with our community.

Kamala Harris’s track record of support for Israel and the Jewish people is more than the support of an important constituency. It’s who she is. She has proven it over and over again, and she will continue to prove it as President of the United States.

It’s strange to think about calling your friend “Madam President.” But truth be told, I can’t wait to have that chance.

Sam Lauter is a key voice and fundraiser for the organized Jewish community in both California and Washington, D.C. In early 2022, Sam was appointed by President Biden to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. Among Sam’s other affiliations: Past Chair of the Northern California Board of Directors of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC); past member, National Council of AIPAC; founding member, Board of Directors for the Democratic Majority for Israel; member, Board of Directors of A Wider Bridge; Chair, Advisory Committee of Bay Area Jewish Action; and he has served as California State Chair of the Jewish Public Affairs Committee, and as a board member of the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Jewish Bulletin (now the J Weekly), Brandeis Hillel Day School (now The Brandeis School of San Francisco), and the Diller Teen Advisory Board, among others.