Anika Arora Seth, Contributing Photographer

Kamala Harris is far from a DEI candidate, Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison ’98 said on Thursday.

Harrison, who graduated from Yale College with a degree in political science, spoke to a crowd of about 40 Yalies at Yale’s Afro-American Cultural Center, or the Af-Am House, on Thursday afternoon. Richard George ’27, a peer liaison for the House, and Janalie Cobb ’25, president of the Yale College Democrats, moderated the session and asked Harrison various questions about his time as a Black student at Yale, his experience as a Black man in politics and the upcoming presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. 

“I have never seen an election this tight, ever,” Harrison said during the scheduled program. “The election will be won or lost by seven or eight battleground states … I think either Kamala will win them all or almost all of them, or Trump will win them all or almost all of them.”

Over the course of her presidential campaign, Harris has faced criticism from conservatives who call her a “DEI candidate,” dismissing her political success as unearned and contending instead that she has benefitted from some sort of unearned advantage due to her identity as a woman of color. 

Harrison described these critiques as “extremely disrespectful” and said Harris — whose political resume includes the vice presidency, three years as California’s junior senator and six years as California’s attorney general — is likely more experienced than any historical presidential candidate, with the exception of sitting President Joe Biden. 

“It’s racist, it’s bigoted, it’s misogynistic, but it’s the things that you see right now in the Republican Party,” Harrison told the News after the event. “But this is the amazing thing about Kamala Harris: She knows who she is. She doesn’t need anybody to tell her who she is and what she has done and what she’s accomplished. She knows that, and the American people know it, too, and that’s why, at the end of the day, she’s going to be the next president.

During the scheduled program, Harrison recounted his favorite moments from his undergraduate years and described his political trajectory. 

While at Yale, Harrison was involved in the Yale Black Political Forum — which he described as similar to the Yale Political Union but specific to issues affecting the Black community — and said he spent much of time in Pierson College and at the Af-Am House.

“My four years at Yale were four of the best years of my life,” Harrison said. “I found my footing, and I found lifelong friends.”

Harrison hails from Orangeburg, South Carolina, and was a first-generation college student. After graduating from Yale College in 1998, he returned home to teach at Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School, his alma mater. He went on to study law at Georgetown University, earning his Juris Doctor in 2004, and continued to work in local politics, including as a staffer for South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn.

In 2013, Harrison became the first African American to serve as chair of the South Carolina Democratic Party; he headed up the party in his home state until 2017, when he launched his first bid for chairperson of the Democratic National Committee. Harrison withdrew from the race and instead endorsed former Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, who ultimately appointed Harrison as an associate chair. 

Two years later, in 2019, Harrison launched a campaign challenging incumbent South Carolina senator Lindsay Graham in the 2020 election. His campaign raised $130 million, the most funds of any U.S. Senate candidate, and broke a record set by fellow Democrat Beto O’Rourke in the 2018 Texas Senate election. 

Harrison lost to Graham by more than 10 percentage points — but after Biden won the top seat in the U.S. government, he endorsed Harrison to be Perez’s successor as party chair, and DNC members formally elected him to the office in January 2021. 

After the event, Harrison said that he hopes young people, and Yale students, will seize “the power that they have” by showing up to the polls. Both the Harris and Trump campaigns seem to believe that young voters hold the key to the 2024 election and have taken strides to win over Generation Z in crucial swing states.

“Young voters in this country are the largest voting bloc but the least-performing — meaning that the world that they want, they can have, they have the power to make, but they got to use it,” Harrison said. “You got to use your vote, you got to use your voice, you got to use your power in order to help shape the politics.”

Thursday’s event, which was part of the Af-Am House’s alumni speaker series, was co-sponsored by the Yale College Democrats and co-hosted by the Yale Undergraduate Black Pre-Law Association. Adam Walker ’26, a current University editor for the News, is the vice president of the Yale Undergraduate Black Pre-Law Association and was not involved in the reporting of this article. 

Cobb, the president of Yale Dems and one of the two student moderators, told the News that students were excited to meet with Harrison, especially given the significance of the upcoming election.

“The fact that he made time to talk with our students and those at the House despite his busy schedule speaks to his commitment to fostering a passion for service and bettering our communities in the next generation of leaders,” said Cobb, who is a former staff reporter and audience editor for the News. “Chair Harrison is a strong example of political excellence — especially Black political excellence — in our country, and we are all very grateful to have had the opportunity to learn from him.”

Af-Am House Director and Yale College Assistant Dean Timeica Bethel-Macaire ’11 similarly commended Harrison for carving out time to speak with students amid “such a critical period for him professionally.”

“His desire to return to this space specifically really speaks to the impact of The House and the fondness alumni feel for it,” said Bethel, adding that she is excited to bring more alumni to speak at the Af-Am House over the year and during the House’s 55th anniversary celebration in March. 

“Welcome home,” Bethel said to Harrison at the start of Thursday’s program.

After his Thursday event at the Af-Am House, Harrison attended a Connecticut Dems event and participated in a Pierson College tea.

He previously spoke at the Af-Am House in 2022 as part of the center’s celebrations for its 50th anniversary, which were delayed due to COVID-19.

ANIKA ARORA SETH
Anika Arora Seth was the 146th Editor in Chief and President of the Yale Daily News from April 2023 until May 2024. Previously, Anika covered STEM at Yale as well as admissions, alumni and financial aid. She also laid out the weekly print edition of the News as a Production & Design editor and was one of the inaugural Diversity, Equity & Inclusion co-chairs. Anika is pursuing a double major in statistics & data science and women's, gender & sexuality studies.