Laphonza Butler on “The Fight” for Kamala Harris, Serving with JD Vance, and the Threat of a Second Trump Term
Kamala Harris want Laphonza Butlersupport. In 2010, Harris, the San Francisco district attorney, was in a crowded primary for California attorney general. So she visited the Los Angeles office of Butler, then president of a powerful labor union representing long-term care workers. Harris also impressed Butler during a day spent with one of SEIU’s home health aides in Oakland; the union made a crucial endorsement; and Harris won the general election by 0.8 percent.
Butler, 45, has been a member of Harris’s inner circle ever since. She’s adept at big-picture strategy—for example, in the words of The Washington Post, provides “a roadmap for Team Harris: Respond to Trump’s extreme rhetoric, then get back to the pocketbook.” She can also assess the specifics of the political dynamics in ethnically diverse swing states.
Those skills are the product of a career that has taken some unexpected turns. After leading a labor union, Butler has consulted for Uber and held a senior position at Airbnb, companies not exactly known for being friends of organized labor. She has become the chair of EMILY’s List, which promotes female candidates and pro-choice initiatives. Last fall, California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Butler to fill the remaining 15 months of the late Senator Dianne Feinstein’s term in the United States Senate—a seat that Butler quickly announced she would not campaign to win for a full term.
Butler will have no shortage of job prospects when her Senate term ends, especially if Harris defeats Donald Trump, and would be on the short list for a top job in the Harris administration. It’s a long way from growing up in Magnolia, Mississippi, population 2,400. “We talk a lot about how things have changed since we started,” Butler told me when I asked what she and Harris talk about these days. “And we talk about how to address our current situation as a country.”
Vanity Fair: When you spoke on the first night of the Democratic National Convention, the video screen behind the podium showed a large photo of Vice President Kamala Harris holding your daughter. I guess that image will be your Christmas card this year.
Senator Laphonza Butler: This must be one of those framed photos. Nylah could be four or five in that photo. She’s almost ten, so it’s not that interesting to her anymore.
The DNC speech mentioned the fact that you and the Vice President are proud graduates of historically black colleges. Conservative commentator Megyn Kelly wrote on social media, “Imagine white people there: I’d be proud to tell you I went to a predominantly white college!” Kelly’s agenda is pretty clear. But if she were sitting here instead of me, what would you say to her?
I think I want to start from a place of curiosity: Megyn, have you ever been to a historically black college campus? Do you know the history of why historically black colleges were founded in the first place? Do you know the contributions that historically black colleges have made in the spaces of doctors, lawyers, judges, and teachers? My assumption is that the answer is no. But I really want to start from a place of genuine curiosity rather than judgment, as I hope she would do with me if she were truly interested in our nation’s historically black colleges.
I assume she knew the history and still wrote what she did.
Hey, I think maybe so, but if I model the behavior I want my daughter to experience, then that’s something I have to take responsibility for.
You were more sought after at the convention with Harris than President Joe Biden as the nominee. Did you end the week exhausted, excited, anxious?
I had 30 press tours while I was there. I was exhausted by the amount of work that had to be done. I was energized because it was contagious. I was nervous because this was still something the country had never done before. And even if you put aside the historical nature of the race, it was still a very polarized time in our country. And we have this Electoral College system, so it means that to win, you need fewer people in fewer states. And I can’t imagine what my daughter’s life would be like if we had another term of Donald Trump as a country.
Harris’ campaign had a great first month. How are they trying to maintain the momentum?
