If the past is any guide, the candidate-elect for the presidency of the United States will be able to take advantage of the results at the polls on November 5, regardless of whether or not she ends up living in the White House.
Since Joe Biden announced his retirement on July 21, it took 48 hours for Nancy Pelosi, a member of the United States House of Representatives, to formally and publicly support Kamala Harris (California, United States, 1964), until then vice president of the Biden administration, as the worthy successor to her boss in this race for the presidency of the United States. Even Biden himself confirmed his support for his second: «I will do whatever Kamala needs.» Soon after, the Obamas joined the support. Nor did the clock turn to get the largest record of donations to finance her campaign: an amount greater than 100 million dollars (92 million euros). A figure that was added to the 96 million dollars raised by Biden until his departure. Something that, according to the progressive consultancy MiddleSeat, nothing similar had been seen before in the Democratic Party until Harris.
What is the reason for Kamala’s success?
In addition to billionaire donors, many of them located on Wall Street and Silicon Valley, donations also include modest amounts. However, Harris’ success is largely due to important groups of female donors who have accompanied the candidate in her career for decades, first as a lawyer and prosecutor for the state of California and then as a politician. Known as ‘the donors of the so-called Bay Area’, as San Francisco, the hometown of the elected candidate, is known, these women created a platform to boost Harris’ great leap, which, whether she wins or loses, could already put her image as a politician at the top. And the importance of these women in Harris’s professional life is significant. They have all advanced with her. Even when the now candidate insisted that Biden was capable of being the best opponent to Trump, this group of women mobilized and began to work on Harris’ campaign so that her funding would not start from scratch. You could say that a large part of the more than 100 million dollars that Harris raised in less than 48 hours was thanks to them.
Wisconsin: Kamala’s first positive stop
After Biden’s exit from the race, Harris’ first stop to win the favor of the citizens was in Wisconsin, the state that seemed to resist the Democrats. In the past tense, because after the candidate’s visit to Milwaukee, the place chosen to give her first rally, politics won the favor of the voters. Under the slogan ‘If we fight, we win’ the main objective of her speech was to end Trump and his policy, for her, of regression, of the past. Her party and not the Republican party being the future for change. Before those present, she promised aid for a less privatized health care system, a constant fight for a dignified childhood, and unquestionable freedom for all Americans.
“This election will present a clear choice between two different visions. Donald Trump wants to take our country back to the days before we had full freedoms and equal rights,” the candidate said. “I believe in a future that strengthens our democracy, protects reproductive freedom and guarantees that every person has the opportunity to get ahead,” she insisted.
Kamala Harris, an $8 million asset
As for her personal finances, the vice president and presidential candidate has a solid account. Forbes USA estimated her fortune at $8 million in May, up from $7 million in 2021. And her candidacy for the White House will provide her with plenty of opportunities to increase her fortune even further, so the figure could rise as early as next November, whether she wins or loses the vote. Simply because of her work and her popularity, both of which have been reinforced at the end of this race for office.
To take it one step further, in the short term, she would actually be better off financially if she lost the presidential election and failed to achieve the victory necessary to become the 47th person to reach the White House, the first woman and of color. These are not conjectures, these are facts of the past. If the past is any guide, Harris’s future situation could be compared to that of other colleagues. For example, between leaving office in 2021 and a futile bid for the presidency in 2023, Mike Pence quadrupled his estimated net worth from $1 million to $4 million by giving lectures and writing a memoir. After deciding not to run for office in 2016 following the death of his son, Joe Biden and his wife Jill raised more than $17 million in earnings from two memoirs and teaching and speaking engagements, boosting his estimated net worth from $2.5 million to $8 million (he is now worth $10 million, thanks largely to the appreciation of his Delaware real estate).
This way, if Harris were defeated by Trump, she could resort to these tried-and-true methods of making money for former politicians and further increase her savings.
70% pay rise if Kamala wins election
On January 20, 2025, if there is a female president, Harris will receive a taxpayer-funded mansion to live in and a $50,000 spending allowance, though the presidency isn’t free: She’d still have to pay for her own groceries and personal legal expenses. Fortunately for her, she’d also get a 70% pay raise, to $400,000, and be eligible for a pension under the Former Presidents Act that would pay her the salary of a Cabinet secretary (or the vice president), about $235,000 annually for the rest of her life once she leaves office. If Harris served one term, that pension would be worth about $1.7 million when she left office; after two terms, it would be worth about $1.1 million because she’d be older, 68, when she started collecting the benefits.
It would be his departure from office, however, that would bring him the biggest financial rewards. The Clintons raised a whopping $240 million between 2001 and 2016, according to an analysis by Forbes USA , largely through speaking engagements, writing and consulting. Donald Trump cashed in on his post-presidential fame in part by starting an X knockoff (Twitter) that, after going public in a merger earlier this year, has inflated his net worth by billions.
Doug Emhoff: Jewish millionaire lawyer husband
Moreover, Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, could grow his fortune even better than either Pence or Biden. As a private-sector entertainment lawyer, he earned more than $1 million a year while she was a senator. But when Harris became vice president, Emhoff left his current job to teach at Georgetown University Law School and focus much of his time on his duties as Harris’s husband (something he would have to continue to do, all the more so if Harris were to win on Nov. 5). If Harris loses, Emhoff could return to his old job four to eight years earlier than normal, and with the added benefit of valuable government connections, he could make a lot of money.
Harris and Emhoff, both 59, have a net worth of $8 million and are already more than 20 times richer than the average American in their age range. It’s hard to say whether they will be able to increase that number more quickly if they win or lose the election, and it’s unlikely Harris is making decisions about her candidacy based on her bank account, but one thing is clear: If they decide to cash in, they’ll both have plenty of money.
But Kamala Harris doesn’t stop there. The Democratic candidate for the US presidency conveys her political party’s messages through her attire in each of her appearances, which, logically, are becoming more frequent.
While Donald Trump is identifiable by his hair, his navy suits and his long red tie, Harris does not have a more obvious identity code at first glance. She takes every opportunity to send different messages that align with her values and she can be recognized for some of her style gestures.
The candidate , of Jamaican and Indian descent, is known for being the first female vice president of the United States. But she has also had other great roles in her life such as the aforementioned Attorney General of San Francisco, prosecutor for the State of California, and being the first South Asian American woman appointed as a Senator. During the beginning of her professional career she opted for darker and more serious suits in black, dark blue and gray tones. She always adorned them with elegant jewelry, usually pearls; and when she was not having an event she always paired her blazers with Converse.
Despite her drastic change in color palette in her wardrobe, Harris maintains her favoritism for pearls, as they hold a special meaning that she carries with her from her college years. During her career at Howard University, she was part of the first black sorority called Alpha Kappa Alpha. The founders called themselves «the twenty pearls,» and that’s why once they accept a new member, that member receives a pin with 20 pearls, according to Vanity Fair magazine .
She also doesn’t say goodbye to her Chuck Taylor sneakers, which she owns in different shapes and colors for different occasions, as the vice president explains in an interview with The Cut magazine . These sneakers give her an image of being an approachable woman, with whom people can identify and trust. Harris has redirected her style, using her sneakers less and taking care of the meaning behind each garment due to the misunderstanding of the cover for Vogue magazine . In it Harris appears against a green and pink background, wearing a gray suit and white Converse, the publication was criticized by journalists and writers such as Wajahat Ali or Yashar Ali in X, for being a whitewashed and inelegant image.
Since her first official act as vice president, when they won the election in November 2020, she has demonstrated the importance of an outfit. With a white suit by the brand Carolina Herrera she showed her support for the women who fought for women’s suffrage, a fight very important to Harris. Or a purple dress and coat set for the inauguration in 2021 by designer Christopher John Rogers, where she indicates bipartisanship and unity between Democrats (blue) and Republicans (red).
Harris continues to show her support for black and American designers such as Christopher John Rogers, Sergio Hudson or Kerby Jean-Raymond. But since Joe Biden’s departure, the new face of the Democratic Party has expanded her selection of designers internationally, opting for designs from European brands such as the French firm Chloé at the Kenyan state dinner at the White House. Perhaps this is her way of showing that she is ready for change and increased responsibility by, why not, becoming the first female and black president of the United States.
