Former California Commissioner Reflects on Kamala Harris’ Leadership Strengths, Campaign Challenges

I'm Kelly Wright. We're here at the DNC, the Democratic National Convention, here at the United Center in Chicago, talking to a myriad of people about the energy that's in the room for the DNC. Someone who knows Kamala Harris and knows her very well is my good friend Timothy Allen Simon from San Francisco, former appointment secretary for the governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Timothy, good to have you here, man. It's great to be here, Kelly, and for us to finally meet. To finally meet after all these years that we've talked to each other and interviewed each other. We meet here in Chicago, and you're here as someone who has known the vice president for many years, even before she became Kamala Harris. What do you recall about your friendship with her? Very insightful, very driven. I was in public service, probably a little before Kamala moved into the public sector. I was on the Republican Central Committee in San Francisco. Shortly after being appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger, we sat down and just talked about California politics and the nation. It was clear to me at that time that she had a vision and a future, that she understood her talent. She comes out of a strong intellectual, scientific, and activist background. She was really made for public service. She's been in public service since she's left law school. Let me ask you about that service, public service. We saw another presidential candidate who was involved and active in community service right here in Chicago. His name is Barack Obama. He took that community service all the way up to becoming president of the United States. Are there some similarities between the two in terms of their commitment to serving? I would say yes. In President Obama's case, he did go into big law, as we call it. I'm sure Kamala has had every imaginable invitation to be a part of the large law firm and or corporate structure. But she's opted to put her time and energy in serving the people, as a prosecutor, as an attorney general, as a United States senator, vice president, and now possibly the next president of the United States. Those are decisions that people make. They can be tough decisions because California is a very expensive place to live. When people say, no, I want to serve and be in public service, either as an elected official or, in my case at one time, as an appointed official, it is a sacrifice because these jobs are not nine to five. They're 24-7. That says something about perhaps her ability to cross over and find a bipartisanship, common ground approach to governing, yet she's been criticized for being progressive and far left. In California, we are deep blue as a state, but there are Republicans that have a voice in policy. Vice President Harris understands that. Once you're elected in office, yes, you go through the party political structure as we're here in Chicago today, but you're actually serving the people. I think the partisan elected officials and even appointed officials oftentimes are not as effective because they're relying more on the party than the people. Timothy, what challenges does she face going up against the former president of the United States, Donald Trump? I think the challenge she will face—and I believe the Democrats are vulnerable here in allowing Republicans to define them rather than embracing their own definition. For example, President Trump will characterize her as a far left politician. I think what she'll be facing from a public persona standpoint, particularly in some of the rural areas in the key battleground states, is to be preemptive in how you define yourself. Don't allow the opposition to define you. What's your hope for America out of all of this? Unity, to come together. I think the kind of hope that Barack Obama was able to give to Republicans and Democrats, Green parties and independents, to say that we have more in common than we have as differences. That's my sweet spot in looking at both of the platforms and seeing where they overlap. I think if most people would remove the personalities and really look at the platforms, we would see that as a nation, we have an ability to come together.