Kamala Harris' First Run For Office Was Earlier Than You Realized

Former Vice President Kamala Harris has made history on multiple occasions so far, but what many might not know about the former Democratic presidential candidate is that she started practicing running for the country's highest office when she was still an undergraduate at Howard University. Harris, who studied political science and economics, kept herself very busy with extracurricular activities, joining the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and the debate team (which no doubt proved helpful in delivering a knock to Donald Trump's confidence during the 2024 presidential debate).

"My first run for office was at Howard University, where I was elected freshman class representative of the liberal arts student council," Harris told NBC News in 2019 after she got elected to the Senate. "Running a campaign at Howard was tough! I remember walking up to strangers, asking them to vote for me." One of Harris' former classmates at Howard University, Lita Rosario-Richardson, told the BBC that Harris had always shown an aptitude for politics, recalling how the two of them used to spar with the campus Republicans. "I noticed she had a keen sense of argumentation," Rosario-Richardson said. "That is what attracted me to get her to join [the] debate team [at Howard University], a fearlessness."

As Harris made her bid for the White House in 2024, her former communications director, Gil Duran, told the BBC that Harris had to deal with many naysayers throughout her career, but that rising to the top of the political spectrum was proof she had the x factor. "Many people didn't think she had the discipline and focus to ascend to a position in the White House so quickly... although people knew she had ambition and star potential. It was always clear that she had the raw talent," Duran said.

When former President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Kamala Harris for the Democratic ticket, everyone knew it would be a momentous moment in American history if she won — she would not only be the first female president, she would also be the first Black female president. President Donald Trump seemed to expect Harris to use her race as the foundation of her campaign and tried to get a head start, asserting that Harris "happened to turn Black" the moment it benefited her, per NPR. Harris, however, wasn't planning on making her campaign about her race, or the fact that she was female.

When the topic of her race was brought up during the presidential debate, Harris had an opportunity to get into it with Trump. Instead, she responded, "I think it's a tragedy that we have someone who wants to be president who has consistently over the course of his career attempted to use race to divide the American people," (via MSNBC). To CNN's questions about the significance of her race and gender, Harris responded, "Listen, I am running because I believe that I am the best person to do this job at this moment for all Americans, regardless of race and gender."

This wasn't a new approach. Harris has always been a formidable opponent without playing the race or gender card, telling the "Axe Files" podcast that, after her historical appointment as the California Attorney General, journalists would ask her how it felt to be the first woman holding the job. "And I would tell them, 'I really don't know how to answer that question because you see, I've always been a woman, but I'm sure a man could do the job just as well," she responded.