For Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, it was “grandmother” — the label she frequently turned to when defining herself to voters, attempting to show them who she was apart from her work in politics.
For Kamala Harris, it might be “auntie.”
Harris’s presidential nomination has made history several times over. She is the second woman, the first Black woman and the first South Asian woman ever nominated for president by a major party. Now, as she pushes to break the nation’s highest glass ceiling, women — and especially Black and South Asian women, who already lean Democratic — have mobilized, donating to her campaign in record-breaking numbers, including the $1.6 million raised by Win With Black Women only hours after Harris declared her candidacy.
Harris claims that identity proudly in her social media bios, calling herself “Wife, Momala, Auntie.” Friends and family have been known to use the “auntie” label in addressing her. References to aunties — including “Auntie Kamala” herself — pepper Harris’ 2019 memoir, “The Truths We Hold.”