Kamala Harris, Revisited

By Gene Demby,

Shereen Marisol Meraji, Kumari Devarajan, Leah Donnella, Jess Kung, Courtney Stein, Xavier Lopez, Christina Cala, Lori Lizarraga, B.A. Parker

Published July 26, 2024 at 10:12 AM EDT

With Kamala Harris entering the race to be president, we wanted to revisit some of our own coverage of her from back in 2020. Back then, Harris found herself in a tricky political spot: she had spent much of her career as a prosecutor, making it a prominent part of her political identity. But voters in the Democratic party moved to the left on issues of race and criminal justice, which complicated things for Harris during her first presidential campaign. And then she had to navigate 2020, a time when millions of people were giving fresh attention to racism in America's criminal legal system.

Now, that moment has largely passed, and Harris is up against Donald Trump for president. Many people, including Harris, are framing this race as the prosecutor taking on the man with dozens of felony convictions.

So as her next campaign kicks off, we're revisiting two Code Switch episodes from 2020:

Let's talk about Kamala Harris, digs into Harris's history as a self-described "top cop" and "progressive prosecutor" in California.
And Claim us if you're famous, looks at Harris's South Asian political identity, how multiracial people are perceived, and how Blackness intersects with all of those things.

Tags

NPR Podcasts

Gene Demby

Gene Demby is the co-host and correspondent for NPR's Code Switch team.

See stories by Gene Demby

Shereen Marisol Meraji

Shereen Marisol Meraji is the co-host and senior producer of NPR's Code Switch podcast. She didn't grow up listening to public radio in the back seat of her parent's car. She grew up in a Puerto Rican and Iranian home where no one spoke in hushed tones, and where the rhythms and cadences of life inspired her story pitches and storytelling style. She's an award-winning journalist and founding member of the pre-eminent podcast about race and identity in America, NPR's Code Switch. When she's not telling stories that help us better understand the people we share this planet with, she's dancing salsa, baking brownies or kicking around a soccer ball.

See stories by Shereen Marisol Meraji

Kumari Devarajan

Leah Donnella

Leah Donnella is an editor on NPR's Code Switch team, where she helps produce and edit for the Code Switch podcast, blog, and newsletter. She created the "Ask Code Switch" series, where members of the team respond to listener questions about how race, identity, and culture come up in everyday life.

See stories by Leah Donnella

Jess Kung

Jess Kung (they/them) is a production assistant on Code Switch. Previously, they interned with Code Switch and the podcast The Document from KCRW in Santa Monica. They are a graduate of Long Beach State University.

Courtney Stein

Courtney Stein comes to NPR from the New York Times, where she helped to create the weekly podcast First Person. Prior to that, she spent over a decade at WNYC's Peabody Award-winning Radio Rookies, teaching young people to report radio documentaries about issues important to them. While at WNYC, Courtney also helped to pilot the podcast Nancy and was on the team that created the dupont-Columbia award-winning podcast Caught: The Lives of Juvenile Justice, which began as a radio workshop she started in a juvenile detention center in Queens.

Xavier Lopez

Xavier Lopez is a producer for Code Switch. He came to NPR from CNN Audio, where he helped produce shows such as Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and the inaugural season of Tug of War. Prior to that, Lopez worked at NPR member station WHYY in Philadelphia, where he worked on shows such as The Pulse, Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane and the daily news podcast, The Why.

Christina Cala

Christina Cala is a producer for Code Switch. Before that, she was at the TED Radio Hour where she piloted two new episode formats — the curator chat and the long interview. She's also reported on a movement to preserve African American cultural sites in Birmingham and followed youth climate activists in New York City.

See stories by Christina Cala

Lori Lizarraga

Award-winning journalist Lori Lizarraga is a co-host of NPR's Code Switch, the preeminent podcast about race and identity in America. Before joining NPR, she reported across the country in Texas, California, Colorado and internationally in Ecuador. She has a reputation for breaking news and a passion and energy for covering under-reported communities, civil rights and issues surrounding immigration and Latinos in the U.S.

B.A. Parker