As Kamala Harris prepares to face Donald Trump on the debate stage, an old video from 1995 has re-emerged, casting an unexpected light on her past.
The ABC News special, focused on then-San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, features a young Harris being questioned by reporters while out with Brown, who was 31 years her senior. In the clip, a reporter asks Harris if she is Brown’s daughter, to which she replies with her characteristic laugh, “No, I’m not.”
At the time, Brown was a towering figure in California politics, serving as the state legislature’s speaker for 14 years and beginning his run for mayor of San Francisco. Their relationship, which started when Harris was 29 and Brown 60, sparked local gossip and speculation about a possible marriage.
Harris, however, distanced herself from Brown after the relationship ended following his election win, with Harris emphasizing in a 2003 interview that Brown’s chapter in her life was over. It’s worth noting that Harris makes no mention of Brown in her memoir, published in 2018.
Kamala Harris featured in a 1995 Willie Brown profile gets asked, “Are you his daughter?” This is incredible. She was sleeping with him then despite the fact that he was married and had kids and he would go on to give her jobs worth $400k: pic.twitter.com/LHdDXtojgm
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) September 10, 2024
This resurfaced clip comes at a delicate time for Harris as she faces the most high-profile debate of her career against Trump. Both candidates received mixed reviews for their performances, with Harris’s poise praised, but also criticized for a lack of detail in some of her policy responses.
Trump, on the other hand, expressed confidence after the debate, calling it his “best debate ever,” though many observers, including Fox News’ Brit Hume, felt he struggled by relying too heavily on old grievances.
The debate moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis, were also in the spotlight, with Trump claiming he was up against not just Harris, but the moderators as well. Davis’s interjections, especially when fact-checking Trump’s remarks about abortion, became a point of contention for Trump supporters, who accused the moderators of bias.
Despite the heated back-and-forth, the debate has left both camps regrouping. Trump, for his part, has remained non-committal about participating in a potential second debate, suggesting he might only consider it if it takes place on what he considers a “fair network.”