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Vice President Kamala Harris is set to accept the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination Thursday night. It’s a moment Hillary Clinton, the party’s 2016 nominee, is uniquely familiar with. Clinton opened the Democratic National Convention on Monday with an emotional pitch to Americans to “keep going” and seize history by electing Harris.
The 19th spoke to Clinton about her relationship with Harris, her speech and her concerns about the Electoral College.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Errin Haines: It feels like there’s a real relationship there with you and Vice President Harris. I want to start by asking you about that: How has your relationship with her evolved since she’s been in office? Can you share anything about what lessons you’ve shared with her about leadership?
Hillary Clinton: I actually knew her way back when she was [district attorney] in San Francisco, and I kept in touch with her over the years. Her sister, Maya, worked for me in 2016. I’ve always had a really high opinion of her and her talents and her record of public service. When she became vice president, I was very excited. I tried to be as helpful as I could because I am 100% committed to her, both when she was vice president, now as a candidate for president.
That sounds like a relationship that has really grown and deepened. Tell me about the Kamala Harris you know and why you think she should be America’s next president.
First of all, she’s incredibly talented. She is really blessed with a good sense of values and steadiness, she has a good understanding of what the job of being a leader should be, and she doesn’t overpromise. She works really hard. She tries to ask for advice from a broad cross-section of people, she’s somebody whose instincts are good and whose preparation and outreach make them even better because she’s always willing to test her thinking and her ideas against other people’s.
Is there anything about her that people may not know, that you’ve had a chance to see, something that surprised you about her?
She’s just a very collegial, open, fun person. She is pretty much the person that was described by Doug [Emhoff, Harris’ husband], deeply about family, who has a strong sense of duty and obligation, who is very much her mother’s daughter, in the sense that she’s somebody who holds herself accountable, holds others accountable, but she’s just fun. She’s somebody who you have a good time talking to.
That’s not a person that people have necessarily had a chance to see. And when you’re a woman in politics, it’s not always a side that you can show people, right?
Being vice president is a very tough job because you’re truly in the shadow of whoever the president is. And so I think it’s great that people are, in a sense, being introduced to her for the first time. Because during the prior four years, she was a very loyal, very dutiful, very supportive vice president. But that doesn’t make it easy for people on the outside to really understand what she’s doing and give her the credit she deserves.
And so now, in this primary role as the candidate, she has a different opportunity for her to introduce herself?
And I think she’s doing a great job of it, too. I mean, she really does seem totally empowered, even liberated. Now, she’s her own person. She’s able to kind of campaign the way that she feels comfortable doing it. And we’ve seen what a joy it is to watch that over the last month. I think the country is getting to know the Kamala that some of us have known for a while, and seeing her in action is part of what’s giving a lot of people the sense of possibility that they feel now. And I couldn’t be happier.
I can really sense that, and your enthusiasm for her campaign. Can you talk about your decision to immediately endorse her candidacy? Why was that important, and what was the message you wanted to send?
It was important on the merits, she had earned it. She was the running mate that had gone to the primaries with the president. Now the 14 million people who voted in the primary season were voting for their ticket, and the ticket was literally President (Joe) Biden and Vice President Harris. I didn’t have a moment’s hesitation in endorsing her literally right away. I thought she’d be a great candidate. I thought there’d be continuity with all of the good things that the Biden administration had accomplished, but there would also be freshness, new energy being injected. So it just seemed like a win-win for everybody.
There were people who were suggesting that maybe she didn’t earn it, people who were suggesting that maybe she wasn’t ready. I wonder if some of that talk felt gendered to you?
Look, I think that women are always underestimated. Vice presidents are always underestimated. Our first woman vice president was bound to be underestimated. It just was something that we had to accept and understand it wasn’t fair or wasn’t well founded, and she has.
It also just sounds like you believe the time is right, that if it wasn’t going to be you, it should be Kamala Harris now. Do you think we’re just in a moment that is bigger than even any candidate?
It is, of course. It’s historic, but it’s also an important moment in the country’s history, that we not fritter away the accomplishments of the last four years — and that we have someone who was so intimately involved with them and getting hard legislation passed, casting tie-breaking votes, understanding what it’s going to take to implement change. I think she’s got the whole package going.
Your 2016 candidacy is part of how we got to this moment. What is the role you see yourself in now in helping Harris to potentially make history?
I’m going to do everything I can to get her elected. I’ve already done fundraisers. I’ve already talked with the team about both politics and policy. I put myself totally at her disposal. I speak to her on a fairly regular basis and offer whatever advice I can because it’s going to be hard. We are the underdog, that just kind of goes with the territory when we have the Electoral College staring at you, and we all have to be willing to take whatever steps to support her. And I’m going to do that.
You mentioned the Electoral College, so we have to talk about it. Is that something that you’re concerned about, an outcome that might be similar to 2016 or even 2020 and the threat of political violence?
It’s sad that you have raised that, Errin, because you needed to — because I have no doubt that the other side can do everything they can prevent her from winning, and they’ve had four years to plan whatever actions they can take. They are ruthless, so we have to fight as hard as we can to overcome whatever obstacles.
Part of what I think you spoke to in your speech was one of those obstacles: our country’s political imagination. Are you thinking the rest of the country might need some time or some help to catch up to the idea of a woman president?
Look, that certainly is true. It’s true. It’s reflected in polls. People often say, “Oh, of course I would vote for a woman — just not that woman,” whoever that woman is. People have hesitancy because there’s no perfect woman. So I think the challenge will be to make the case on the merits, overcome the doubts and questions people have and mobilize voters to turn out because if our people vote, we will win.
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