Harris undoubtedly had the professional chops to take on the job. She served as the district attorney of San Francisco for two terms, as well as the attorney general of California for six years, and a U.S. senator of the Golden State for four. She made history in the Bay Area as the first woman elected to the role of San Francisco DA, and the first female, Black, and South Asian attorney general in the state’s history. With decades of governmental experience under her belt, she ticked all the boxes to become the 49th vice president—but the selection process went well beyond credentials.
“Having been in the position of both being the interviewer and the interviewee, it really as much as anything comes down to chemistry,” Harris explained. “Because by the time that that interview is happening, it’s usually narrowed down to about three people. So all the vetting has been done.
“Then it’s about sitting down and just deciding, because it is going to be a partnership,” she continued. “And it has to be where you feel that you can trust someone, you could work with them, you’re doing it for the same reasons.”
“It lasted for days,” Harris said, likening the loss to a “phantom limb.” “I had a hard time reconciling [that] we can’t still do something about it.”
“Your body is physically used to this thing that all of a sudden stops, and I’ve had that happen every time I’ve run and [won],” Harris said. “Because you’ve been functioning the whole time in a very competitive nature, and it’s fight or flight, and it’s adrenaline surging, surging, surging.”
