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The vice president often credits gay political operative Jim Rivaldo with her success.
As Vice PresidentKamala Harris stepped into the role ofDemocratic nominee for president, following PresidentJoe Biden’s decision to step aside from reelection and endorse her candidacy, Harris has acknowledged that she owes much of her political career to her late first campaign manager, a gay man named Jim Rivaldo.
Related: Kamala Harris: Our One-on-One With the Vice President
Known for his strategic brilliance, Rivaldo played a pivotal role not only in Harris’s early political career, working on her 2003 campaign to be San Francisco district attorney, but also in the groundbreaking campaign of gay rights leader Harvey Milk.
At a July fundraiser in Massachusetts, one day before Biden announced his withdrawal from the 2024 election, Harris shared her deep admiration and respect for Rivaldo, emphasizing his indelible impact on her political journey. “He talked about how Harvey would say that those who oppose progress will always try to suggest that a movement for freedom is somehow subversive,” Harris said to a crowd of more than 1,000 people in the LGBTQ+ summer hot spot Provincetown. She continued, “Freedom strengthens who we are as a nation when we fight to expand rights rather than to strip them away,” drawing applause from the audience.
Harris’s connection to Rivaldo is profoundly personal and rooted in shared values of justice and equality.
Throughout the event, Harris highlighted the importance of community and political engagement. “We must be intentional about building community and reminding people that they are not alone,” she said, according to the Cape Code Times. “We must be committed to making our voices heard. We are all in this together.”
The event raised $2 million and featured notable figures such as U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg,Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, and actors Jennifer Coolidge, Billy Porter, and Adrienne Warren.
In an exclusive interview with The Advocate in 2023, Harris emphasized the importance of elections and their role in protecting and expanding rights. “Elections matter on all of this stuff,” she said. “I strongly encourage everyone to understand what’s at stake and the connection between that and their right and their responsibility to vote.”
Harris also recounted her connection to Rivaldo and his influence on her early career. “I don’t know if you know this, but my first office was San Francisco DA, and a very dear friend of our family who was my campaign manager was Jim Rivaldo,” she said. “Jim Rivaldo was besties with Harvey Milk, and Jim was brilliant.”
She called him “an incredible gay icon in politics and policy [who] could have done anything, but he [helped] Harvey in understanding the importance of elected leaders and what that means in terms of all of these movements and these fights.”
She explained that her parents were integral in taking her to civil rights-related marches and events growing up.
“The experience prepared me to fight for all people,” she said. “When it comes to the fight for LGBTQ rights, I know it’s a fundamental fight for freedom. You should be able to love and to be who you are openly and with pride, free from discrimination, bigotry, and hate — the freedom to simply be.”
Rivaldo died in October 2007 after suffering complications from AIDS, hepatitis C, and liver cancer.
“He had AIDS, and he passed away, but my mother took care of him before he passed away,” Harris said. “He was brilliant.”
