--- title: Kamala Harris’ Person of the Year Interview: Read Excerpts description: Kamala Harris spoke to TIME about Joe Biden, her historic election, and more. Read excerpts from her 2020 Person of the Year interview. canonical: https://time.com/5919490/kamala-harris-person-of-the-year-interview/ author: Madeleine Carlisle article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-12-11T03:52:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:08:43.214Z article:section: Politics og:title: Kamala Harris on Joe Biden, Being a ‘First’ and Restoring the Soul of the Nation og:description: Read the 2020 TIME Person of the Year interview og:url: https://time.com/5919490/kamala-harris-person-of-the-year-interview/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc06e52d203a617d/698a151d4ee2620be431832e/time-person-of-the-year-kamala-harris-portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2056 og:image:height: 1157 og:image:alt: time-person-of-the-year-kamala-harris-portrait og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kamala Harris on Joe Biden, Being a ‘First’ and Restoring the Soul of the Nation twitter:description: Read the 2020 TIME Person of the Year interview twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc06e52d203a617d/698a151d4ee2620be431832e/time-person-of-the-year-kamala-harris-portrait.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kamala Harris on Joe Biden, Being a ‘First’ and Restoring the Soul of the Nation: The 2020 TIME Person of the Year Interview > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=668d3354-f212-4dfa-843e-fe8d0b482905&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 2020 Person of the Year: Kamala Harris on Leadership and Making History [Watch (HLS stream): 2020 Person of the Year: Kamala Harris on Leadership and Making History](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PsA1pomS.m3u8) (4:28)  _Published 2020-12-11. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are Time's 2020 Person of the year_  by [Madeleine Carlisle](https://time.com/author/madeleine-carlisle/)  ## Madeleine Carlisle Dec 11, 2020 3:52 AM UTC  by [Madeleine Carlisle](https://time.com/author/madeleine-carlisle/)  ## Madeleine Carlisle Dec 11, 2020 3:52 AM UTC Kamala Harris is the first Vice President-elect to be [named TIME’s Person of the Year](https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2020-joe-biden-kamala-harris). TIME senior correspondent Charlotte Alter sat down with the California senator in Wilmington, Del., on Dec. 7—which happened to be Harris’s mother’s birthday. “She’d be very proud,” Harris told Alter, when asked what her mother would say as her daughter prepares to [take the oath of office](https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2020-kamala-harris-white-house/). “And she would be very focused on the issues of the day and knowing that I would take seriously the responsibility that I have and will have to address those issues.”  Vice President–elect Kamala Harris photographed in Wilmington, Del., on Dec. 7 Camila Falquez for TIME Here are excerpts from Harris’ interview with Alter, edited for clarity. ## **On what she wants to do first** There’s a lot, to be honest. We’re talking about a [public-health crisis](https://time.com/5913620/covid-third-wave/) that has [killed hundreds of thousands of people](https://time.com/5887432/coronavirus-united-states-failure/), has infected tens of millions. We are in the midst of an [economic crisis](https://time.com/5876606/economic-depression-coronavirus/) that’s being compared to the Great Depression. A long overdue reckoning on racial injustice. And a climate crisis. We have to be able to multi­task, just like any parent or any human being does. ## **About Joe Biden** I can tell you many things about him with admiration and respect, including that Joe asked me to be his running mate because he under­stands that we have different life experiences. But he also knows—and I know, and it’s a point of pride for me—that we have an incredible amount of shared experiences and values. We were both raised in strong, hardworking families. We’re grounded in faith. We both have spent our entire careers in public service. I think that’s what makes ours a very full and very robust partnership. ## **Getting the call** My team got a call that the \[former\] Vice President would like to speak to you. The anxiety, the tension was high. What was this call gonna be? Instead of going on as some might with their involvement with themselves, immediately \[Joe\] said, “So, you want to do this?” He just got right to the point. That’s who Joe is. There’s no pomp and circumstance with him. He’s a straight shooter. ## **Why Biden and Harris won** The country wanted a leader who pledged their [ability to heal](https://time.com/5908983/president-elect-joe-biden-vows-to-usher-in-a-time-to-heal-in-america/) and to build a broad coalition. The American people said, “Let’s move forward. Let’s understand that regardless of where you live, your race, your ethnicity, the language your grandmother speaks, let’s move forward knowing that the vast majority of us have more in common than what separates us.” It’s about basic stuff. Can I get a job? Are my kids gonna have the opportunity for an education that allows them to reach their God-given capacity? I think that’s [what people want](https://time.com/5907674/joe-biden-wins-2020-election/) as we move forward. And I think that’s what the American people got. ## **Restoring “the soul of the nation”** Our souls will be well when people know that they can feed their children. When they know that they can have a job that allows them to not only pay the bills by the end of the month, but to have a sense of dignity, in terms of knowing they’re providing for their families and creating a pathway for their future possibilities. [The soul of the nation](https://time.com/5908833/joe-biden-empathy/) is well when people don’t have to worry about whether they can afford their medical bills, or whether they’ll go bankrupt because they have a family member that’s sick. It’s these basic things that should be considered human rights, frankly, civil rights. ## **On being first** It is one of my responsibilities. My mother had many sayings. She would say, “Kamala, you may be the first to do many things; make sure you’re not the last.” Which is why \[in my victory speech\], I said, “I will be [the first](https://time.com/5908579/kamala-harris-historic-vice-president/), but I will not be the last.” And that’s about [legacy.](https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2020-kamala-harris-white-house) That’s about [creating a pathway](https://time.com/5910084/kamala-harris-historic-win-women/). That’s about leaving the door more open than it was when you walked in. _—With reporting by_ Charlotte Alter _and_ Simmone Shah. _This article is part of TIME’s_ [_2020 Person of the Year_](https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2020-joe-biden-kamala-harris-choice) _issue._ [_Read more_](https://time.com/person-of-the-year-2020-joe-biden-kamala-harris) _and sign up for the_ [_Inside TIME newsletter_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/newsletters?newsletter%5Fname=INSIDE%5FTIME&source=poy-article) _to be among the first to see our cover every week._ ## Transcript Kind: captions Language: en-US Joe asked me to be his running mate to be his Vice President because he understands that we have different life experiences. And I think that's what makes ours a very full and very robust partnership. Can you tell me where you were when you got the call, that you would be his running mate, and you would be his pick to be his Vice President? I was in our apartment in Washington D.C. we got a call, my team got a call that the Vice President would like to speak to you he'd actually prefer to do it by Zoom and that wasn't actually one of my Zoom days so that required a whole preparation process to be Zoom ready he must have known that anxiety, that tension was high, what was this call going to be and instead of delaying it immediately he said, so you want to do this? It's what it is, he's a straight shooter, he gets to the point and that's where I was and that's how I learned that he wanted me to serve on the ticket with him. So as a former prosecutor, do you think some of the possible crimes committed by Trump and those around him need to be investigated or do you think the focus should be on the country moving forward? I would not dare tell the United States Department of Justice what they should do or what any prosecutor should do they will make their decisions based on the facts and the law and I think we should all respect that. You also ran for the nomination, obviously you were a presidential contender yourself do you think anybody but Joe Biden and you could have beaten Trump do you think that this was the only ticket that could have won? You're right I stood on that debate stage for almost a year figurative debate stage for almost a year with extremely talented people. I think that we have in many ways have had a recent demonstration of a vast variety of leaders in our country but this was a moment in time where the country wanted a leader who pledged their ability to heal and to build coalitions and to build a broad coalition and Joe and I were very proud of the fact that our campaign did that. People expected this to be a landslide, and it wasn't it's very clear that Trumpism is still very powerful in this country do you think that the Biden-Harris ticket was uniquely capable of winning against Trump this year? I believe the American people said, let's move forward let's understand that regardless of where you live you know, your race, your ethnicity, the language your grandmother speaks let's move forward knowing that the vast majority of us have more in common than what separates us that's what I believe is the tell of this election. This has been a really meaningful moment for little girls all over the country and I'm wondering what it means to you, to watch how much it means to them. You know my mother had many sayings, I say it all the time but one of them was she would say Kamala you might be the first to do many things make sure you're not the last and that's about legacy that's about creating a pathway, that's about leaving the door more open than it was when you walked in. So obviously this is an historic moment because your husband Doug will be the first ever Second Gentleman what do you think that means for little boys to see that? My husband being the first "Second Gentleman" is a model for boys and girls because yes, little boys will see, that among the models of men, are men who support their partner and do it with pride and do it with gusto and I think that's really important, that's very important and you know, sadly we're still making firsts I think Doug feels equally he won't be the last either. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5919490/kamala-harris-person-of-the-year-interview/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5919490/kamala-harris-person-of-the-year-interview/"},"headline":"Kamala Harris on Joe Biden, Being a ‘First’ and Restoring the Soul of the Nation: The 2020 TIME Person of the Year Interview","datePublished":"2020-12-11T03:52:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-14T09:08:43.214Z","description":"Kamala Harris spoke to TIME about Joe Biden, her historic election, and more. 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