Harris Declares Victory in AG Race

Four weeks after the election, a belated victory declaration by the attorney general-elect
By: Gerry Shih

The cheers, the smiles and the victory speech came four weeks late, but finally, on Tuesday, Kamala D. Harris, the Democratic San Francisco district attorney, declared herself the next attorney general of California.

In the end Harris emerged the winner over Republican Steve Cooley, the Los Angeles District Attorney, with a razor-thin margin of 75,000 votes. For weeks after the Nov. 2 election, the two campaigns had squabbled as they swapped leads while vote counters around the state sought a conclusion to one of the tightest statewide races in recent memory.

In a speech to supporters in downtown Los Angeles, the Democrat immediately sounded a gracious and inclusive note, praising Cooley for his leadership and pledging to represent the full spectrum of the California electorate, from cities to rural areas and from “Los Angeles to San Francisco.”

“I stand before you today humbled to be chosen to be the next attorney general,” Harris said at the Millenium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, where she began her victory lap up the state. “It was important that we are clear that this position of attorney general is about representing all the people of the state of California.”

Cooley had conceded last week, but Harris held off declaring victory until today.

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She said Tuesday that she had begun to prepare the transition, with extensive talks with governor-elect Jerry Brown,” her predecessor as attorney general. Her transition team includes former Los Angeles police chief William Bratton, former secretaries of state Warren Christopher and George Schultz—a Democrat and a Republican, respectively — and the civil-rights lawyer Constance L. Rice.

Civil rights was again at the heart of a bold message delivered by Harris, 46, who has become the first woman, and minority, to take the top law enforcement position in California history.

“There is something very consistent with fighting for civil rights and fighting for public safety,” said Harris, echoing a familiar theme she used on the campaign trail to court black and Latino audiences—constituencies that critically elevated her candidacy in a tough race, political analysts say.

She asked for bipartisan support for her self-styled “smart on crime” approach to tackling the crushing burden of California’s criminal justice problems, such as a soaring recidivism rate and the state’s woefully overcrowded prisons.

Harris did not give any immediate indications of how she would pursue the city of Bell's pension and embezzlement scandal or what she would do about the prison overcrowding case before the Supreme Court, saying that she has not yet had a chance to review the case materials. Still, even as she promised to fix the “incredible burden” of the prison system, Harris could not hide her glee as she delivered a message of optimism and urged her supporters to look forward to several “wonderful” years.

She planned another speech this afternoon in San Francisco, followed by a celebration with supporters at the Delancey Street Foundation on the Embarcadero.