San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris declared victory in the Attorney General Democratic primary in an energized speech around 11 p.m. at Mimi Silbert’s Delancey Street Foundation at 600 Embarcadero.
Harris’ speech came soon after the room buzzed with the news that Santa Clara voters had approved a $937 million stadium deal for the 49ers at a site near Great America, and immediately on the heels a rousing introduction by State Sen. Mark Leno.
“With her kind of leadership, we’ll be able to reinvest dollars in the best crime prevention programs,” Leno said.
Harris’s campaign raised $3 million in the Democratic primary, and Leno indicated that supporters would need to “triple or quadruple that in the general election.”
Leno promoted medical parole and praised Harris’ Back on Track program for reducing recidivism rates for young, first time offenders.
“With your help we will elect the first woman to be Attorney General for the state of California,” Leno promised.
Then Harris took the podium, dazzling in a chic black outfit and pearls.
Acknowledging the work and efforts of her supporters, Harris broke into a big smile.
“I do humbly accept the Democratic nomination for Attorney General of California,” she said.
She praised good ideas that her fellow Democrats raised during the primary around fighting gang crime, corporate greed and fraud, protecting kids and the environment.
‘It’s been an honor to work with you,” Harris said, promising to call her opponents, “to ask you to help us put those great ideas to work.”
Then she talked about getting “tough and smart on crime” by addressing gang crime, but also focusing on early intervention and truancy.
She talked about cracking down on predatory lenders, supporting health care reform, and protecting California’s environment.
“When the President passed healthcare reform, it was the right thing to do,” Harris said. “People deserve to have medical care when they need it. The Attorney General has got to stand up and support that. It must be the work of the next Attorney General to ensure that the disaster and tragedy that happened in the Gulf of Mexico never happens in California,” she said, warning of attacks on AB 32, which set California’s 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction goal into law in 2006. “
And she described her campaign touching down in Modesto, Bakersfield, Oakland and Palo Alto and stretching from “grassroots to net roots,” ,
“We may seemingly be different because of our zip codes, perhaps, but we are all the same in terms of what we want for children.. elders,” Harris said, promising, “to protect poor people, the vulnerable and people who are the targets of bias.”
“We have a lot of work to do before November…but we are clear of purpose, clear of mind,” Harris said. “We believe in hard work, but we also believe that if can be fun work. Let’s celebrate tonight!”
And then she was off the stage, shaking hands with fans .Asked about the possibility of becoming the first female California Attorney General, Harris flashed that dazzling smile.“I’m sure a man could do the job just as well,” she said. “Let’s leave it at that for now.”