Bay Area supporters hyped up as Kamala Harris returns to SF stomping grounds for campaign fundraiser
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Vice President Kamala Harris returned to the Bay Area for the second time in two months.
Harris arrived Friday night ahead of a campaign fundraiser at the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts Saturday afternoon.
"This is probably the most important election of our lifetime," Harris said at her sold-out campaign fundraiser.
It was a homecoming welcome for Harris in the same city she once served as district attorney.
"As a native Bay Area resident, I'm just so immensely proud that a daughter of our region is putting herself on the line to save democracy," said Teddy King, a Piedmont resident. "This is such an important election."
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Harris held her second campaign fundraiser in less than two months here.
Last month, a fundraiser at the Fairmont Hotel raised more than $13 million for her campaign.
"She said we have to get all the money and give it to... Kamala Harris!" said Palo Alto resident Mansi Shaw and her five-year-old daughter. "And only Kamala Harris."
Shaw brought her family of four, paying between $500 to a $1,000 per ticket.
"For me, it's for them to see history, so that's really what I wanted them to see, even the vice president is history for us," Shaw said.
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King and her friend Conna McCarthy came in from Piedmont.
Before even catching wind of Saturday afternoon's fundraiser, they already had other plans to support the campaign this weekend.
"We were going to drive up to Reno and knock on doors for Kamala in Nevada, which is a key swing state, but we switched that around, and we'll do that another weekend. Next weekend," King said.
Addy Sakler traveled from Sacramento, just happy to be in the same city as the vice president.
"I've been donating nonstop to her, like weekly. And then I'll do it again, because I believe in her, and we have to defeat Donald Trump for our safety," Sakler said. "We're afraid as a queer couple if he wins."
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"Quite frankly, my two cents is, all that money she raises isn't going to help her," said Mindy Pechenuk, a member of Alameda County's Republican Central Committee.
Pechenuk is running for Oakland City Council.
She honed in on Harris' Friday visit to the southern border, calling it a campaign gimmick that's come too little, too late.
"I don't think she's fooling anybody by running down there to the border right now," she said. "She couldn't go down there. She was 'border czar.' What was she doing? She said in one interview, 'Well, I've never been to Europe either.' Give me a break."
But with less than 40 days to Election Day, Harris supporters say the money spent has been well worth it.
"To support Kamala, to support democracy, to support the future of our children, yes. Our planet, yes. There is no money that could be better spent than to give it to this race," McCarthy said.
