A Primer On The Electoral History Of Kamala Harris During Her Political Career In California — A Horror Story

by ShipWreckedCrew

Harris has run one time — ONCE — in an election where she was opposed by a well-funded opponent from an opposition party. She won but it did not go well.

Harris is the product of Northern California politics — a one-party self-perpetuating political ecosystem that is every bit the equal of any similar one-party big city system anywhere else in the country, with the added feature that the Gay/Lesbian community has always played an outsized role among the various liberal/socialist/communist components of the party. San Francisco is the “Manhattan” of the West Coast.

Harris is infamously known for having emerged from the political pack in San Francisco as Willie Brown’s girlfriend for a time. In his 60s at the time, Brown was the long-time leader of the California Assembly, having been first elected in 1964 and serving as Speaker of the Assembly from 1980 to 1995. He represented an urban San Francisco Assembly District for his entire tenure.

The basic outline of Kamala Harris’ political career can be found on her Wiki page — basically accurate for the most part. She born in California but her family moved to Illinois when she was 2. Her mother brought her and her sister back to Berkeley when she was 6, but moved to Montreal, Quebec when she was 12 years old. She attended Howard University in Washington D.C., graduating in 1986.

She then enrolled at Hastings Law School (UC San Francisco), graduating in 1989. In 1990 she was hired as an entry-level Deputy District Attorney in Alameda County. Four years later Willie Brown — with whom she was romantically involved — appointed her to the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and the California Medical Assistance Commission. The Appeals Board position paid a salary of $97,000 a year — far in excess of what she was making for the Alameda DA. She stayed in that position for only 6 months because the seat she filled had only 7 months left in its term. Her relationship with Willie must have lasted longer than six months, because with one month left in the term, Brown appointed her to the Medical Assistance Commission, a job that paid $72,000 a year, but with a full term of 4 years remaining. This came as Brown was about to be replaced as Speaker, with Republicans having captured a majority of Assembly seats for the first time in decades.

After 3 years as a newby Dep. DA, and four years as a Brown appointee on a medical commission, when her term was about to end she was hired by the San Francisco District Attorney to head up the “Career Criminal Division” of the Office — supervising five experienced prosecutors — when Willie Brown was then the elected mayor of San Francisco.

There was no way on God’s Green Earth she was qaulified for that position, and the general view at the time was that her short tenure was a disaster. She left the SF DA’s Office after 2 years, and two years later ran for SF DA herself in 2002.

Her opponent was Terrance Hallinan, a famously combative criminal defense attorney in SF who blazed the trail for other progressives to run for DA and dramatically alter the criminal justice system in the jurisdictions where they controlled prosecutions. Hallinan had been a leading criminal defense attorney all through the 60s and 70s, representing high-profile counter-culture figures all across the Bay Area for decades before entering politics.

For Harris, this was a race against a fellow radical progressive — a “Blue v. Blue” election — and her opponent was someone that was basically hated by everyone both inside and outside the Democrat party establishment. The outcome was going to be based almost entirely on “party” support, and Harris used her connection to Mayor Brown to convince the party to not endorse Hallinan for re-election. She won with 56.5% to his 43.5% and then ran unopposed for re-election in 2006.

In 2010 she set her sights on the California AG’s Office following Obama’s win as President in 2008. She won the Democrat primary in a 7-way race with 34%, and that set her up for her first — and only — contested election against a well-funded and well-known GOP opponent, Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley.

This was the time period when Republicans ceased being competitive in state-wide races. Pete Wilson had been a Calif. Senator from 1983 to 1991, and then was twice elected Governor in 1990 and 1994. But in 2006, Arnold Schwarzenegger was the last GOP office holder to be elected in a statewide contest.

In the 2010 elections for statewide offices in California, Democrats won all seven — U.S. Senator, Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Controller, Treasurer — and Attorney General. Harris did beat Cooley, but the margins are worth noting:

Senate: Barbara Boxer — 52% to 42%

Governor: Jerry Brown — 54% to 41%

Lt. Gov: Gavin Newsom — 50% to 39%

Sec. of State: Debra Bowen — 53% to 39%

Controller: John Chiang — 55% to 36%

Treasurer: Bill Lockyer — 56% to 37%

Attorney General: Kamala Harris — 46.1% to 45.3%

Six statewide races won by Democrats getting an average of 53.5% of the vote, and with an average margin of victory over their GOP opponent of 14%. The closest margin — other than Harris — was Gavin Newsom’s 11%

Harris runs more than 7% behind their AVERAGE vote totals, 11% behind the average margin of victory, and 10% behind the largest percentage in the Treasurer race. She received 1 million fewer votes than Bill Lockyer out of less than 9 million cast.

Harris was not declared the winner for several days, and the margin of victory ended up being provided by “mail-in” votes which came in much larger numbers from Democrat than Republican voters. Cooley didn’t concede until 3 weeks after the election.

She was re-elected against an underfunded GOP challenger in 2014.

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