The Kamala Harris I know

Lately, there’s been talk among pundits and pollsters about Jewish voters, many of whom are inclined to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris but feel they just don’t know enough about her. So let me tell you about the person I know, the public servant I’ve worked with for the better part of three decades and the Vice President I’m proud to call a friend: without reservation, in her heart, Kamala Harris deeply feels her personal connection to the Jewish people and to a strong US-Israel alliance.

I know this because I have collaborated with her quietly on causes of common concern far from the cameras and the limelight – then watched her bring her uncommon determination to matters of mutual interest in the Senate, in the White House, on debate stages, in convention halls and in the public square. 

Our relationship began in San Francisco, in the mid-1990s, when she worked for City and County government. I was running one of the largest Jewish organizations in the state – San Francisco’s Jewish Family and Children’s Services, a social service agency that serves tens of thousands annually. We connected around our shared focus on aiding individuals in need as her office defended children, families, women and seniors at risk, and led the charge in fighting antisemitism and hate. Kamala Harris emerged immediately as an ally of our community and a champion of social justice, with an unwavering personal understanding of the values at the heart of Jewish tradition. 

Those collaborations marked the beginning of a running dialogue that has carried through her time as District Attorney and California Attorney General and onto the national stage. She’s never ceased to seek opportunities to learn more about the Jewish story. What’s the arc of our history? What should everyone know about the Holocaust, its causes, its victims, and its survivors? What does contemporary antisemitism look like? How do we best fight it?

For her, these questions were the start of a decades-long conversation. They revealed her to be an active listener and truly staunch ally. They transformed from talk into actions to counter antisemitism, strengthen ties with Israel, aid the Jewish state, and combat hate crimes. More than anything, Kamala Harris understood the Jewish story and the imperative of self-determination for the Jewish people. 

As a leader in the pro-Israel movement and the Jewish community for more than 40 years, I’ve felt – and continue to feel – that we can count on Kamala Harris when we need a leader with backbone and courage on our side.

I’ve taken two trips with Kamala to Israel. The first came in 2004 when she was San Francisco’s District Attorney. We met with government officials and military leaders. We toured the Old City and prayed at the Western Wall. We went to Yad Vashem, where I told the story of my family – all Holocaust survivors – only to look up and see tears running down Kamala’s cheeks. 

Every day on that journey, she’d tell me how much more deeply she had fallen in love with Israel. How much more she appreciated the breathtaking beauty, democratic values, stunning diversity, complexities, struggles, fears, hopes, and possibilities woven into the fabric of the Jewish state. How much more viscerally she understood the historic need for self-determination for the Jewish people as well as Israel’s plight in a dangerous neighborhood. Above all, how America’s own national security is solidified by what she has always described as the ironclad US-Israel alliance.

Then, 13 years later, we visited Israel together again, this time with her husband, Doug Emhoff. She told me she wanted to go to Israel during her first year in the Senate, and she did just that. Her comfort on the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv was self-evident. She saw in those cities the same vibrancy, tech innovation, American-like pioneering spirit she knew from home.

After we returned, she posted pictures of our tour on social media and prominently in her Senate office. But a few days later, I received a call from her staff. They received complaints about the Senator’s expressions of support for Israel. They wanted my thoughts on how to handle the blowback from a small but vocal group of critics.

But no one needed to ask me. They just needed to turn to their boss. Because Kamala Harris’s stance has always been the same: she would not be intimidated. She would never shy away from her conviction in the necessity of a secure, Jewish and democratic Israel as a matter of principle and as a pillar of American security. She was firm in her opinion about the need to stop the malign behavior of Iran and its proxies, and she understood the long-term need to create regional stability. 

The Kamala Harris I know is a person and public servant defined by fealty to her core values. She has an unwavering moral North Star that includes her heartfelt friendship with Israel and allyship with the Jewish community – and her willingness to hold firm when times demand conviction, determination, persistence and steel in her spine. 

In these dangerous times of insecurity and challenge, that’s the kind of steady leadership we need.