NBC News Washington Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor Reflects On the Rise of Kamala Harris

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00:00Hi, I'm Yamiche Alcindor.

00:01I'm the Washington correspondent for NBC News,

00:04and I'm here with Ebony.

00:05This moment means to me the chance to cover a story

00:09that I know better than any political story

00:11I've ever covered in my lifetime.

00:14I know this story because I've been covering

00:17Vice President Harris since she was Attorney General Harris,

00:20and when she was Senator Harris.

00:22I've interviewed her, I've talked to her multiple times.

00:25I know a lot about sort of why she is running

00:28and what she thinks about elected office

00:31and the responsibilities of being an elected official.

00:34There were always signs and hints

00:36that Vice President Harris was gonna be a star,

00:39was going to be someone who was going to have

00:41a lot of success because she's made history

00:44over and over and over again in her lifetime.

00:47Being a Black reporter in this moment,

00:50it does, I think, really help me understand

00:53the relevance of her candidacy

00:56and the challenges that she's gonna face

00:58because I've covered race,

01:00not only because I'm a Black person,

01:02but also because I've just covered race as a beat

01:04since I've become a reporter.

01:06Covering Sunday, July 21st,

01:08the day that President Biden decided to step down

01:11and drop out of the presidential race

01:13and endorse Vice President Harris was extraordinary.

01:16I was sitting in my kitchen

01:18feeding my 14-month-old son at the time breakfast,

01:23and I saw the tweet pop up

01:25and saw the post that said he was dropping out,

01:27and I nearly threw my baby in the air

01:29because it was such a moment where I was like,

01:32everything has shifted, everything has shifted.

01:35And for those first 10 to 15 minutes,

01:37everyone was wondering, I was wondering, well, what next?

01:39And then the president comes out and says,

01:42I'm gonna endorse Vice President Harris.

01:44So I handed my baby off to my husband,

01:47and I went downstairs in the basement

01:48and really, I would say,

01:49captured and reported on history from my basement.

01:52It's gonna be really interesting to see the debate

01:54between Vice President Harris and former President Trump,

01:56especially as it relates to her support

01:58among African-American voters.

02:00So a new poll out by USA Today and Suffolk University

02:03shows that Vice President Harris

02:05is doing better among Black voters

02:06than President Biden was doing,

02:08but she's still not at the sort of 80 to 90%,

02:11and really 90% that she needs

02:13in order to sort of win by big margins

02:16so that she can ensure that that voting block,

02:18which is really the backbone of the Democratic Party,

02:20comes out for her in big, big numbers.

02:22You think of someone like President Obama,

02:25who was able to win twice

02:26because he was able to run up his numbers,

02:28not only among, of course, other groups,

02:29but African-Americans turning up in record numbers.

02:32So I think she's really gonna have

02:34to really appeal to Black people,

02:36make them feel motivated,

02:37make them feel like she really has a vision

02:39for how to improve their lives.

02:41And in particular, that means not just talking

02:43about HBCUs and criminal justice,

02:45which I know I've talked to a lot of Black voters.

02:47Yes, they want to hear about that,

02:49but they also want to hear about the economy.

02:50They want to hear about education.

02:52They want to hear about healthcare.

02:53So I think particularly for African-American voters

02:56who are watching,

02:56I think the ones who are still on the fence

02:59are gonna be looking,

03:00well, why should I leave my house,

03:02maybe stand in line for hours and hours,

03:04maybe be hungry and thirsty trying to vote,

03:07because there are places in this country

03:10where it takes hours and hours to stand in line.

03:12Maybe you even have to miss a day of work.

03:14She's really gonna have to motivate Black voters,

03:16and I would say independent and undecided voters,

03:19but particularly Black voters,

03:21to do that work for her and to have the stamina

03:23to withstand what it might take

03:25to vote in this country come November.

03:27Just in talking to sources

03:30who are close to Vice President Harris,

03:32she is still trying to work out specifically

03:34how to differentiate herself from President Biden.

03:37She, of course, is running on the idea

03:39that she wants to build on the Biden legacy,

03:42but there are gonna be, I think,

03:43a real question of how is she gonna be different

03:47than President Biden,

03:48whether that's on her Israel and Middle East policy,

03:51whether that's on the way that she views foreign policy.

03:55That's gonna be, I think,

03:55something that's gonna be really key for her to do.

03:57I also think it's gonna be key for her

03:59to really lay out how are people,

04:01everyday Americans' lives,

04:03gonna really be impacted by her presidency.

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