For Harris, memories of mother guide bid for vice president

NEW YORK » Speaking from the Senate floor for the first time, Kamala Harris expressed gratitude for the woman on whose shoulders she said she stood.

Penning her autobiography, she interspersed the well-worn details of her resume with an extended ode to the one she calls “the reason for everything.”

And taking the stage to announce her presidential candidacy, she framed it as a race grounded in the compassion and values of the person she credits for her fighting spirit.

Though more than a decade has passed since Shyamala Gopalan died, she remains a force in her daughter’s life as she takes the historic spot on the Democratic ticket besides former Vice President Joe Biden. Those who know the California senator expect her campaign for the vice presidency to bring repeated mentions of the woman she calls her single greatest influence.

“She’s always told the same story,” says friend Mimi Silbert. “Kamala had one important role model, and it was her mother.”

Taking the stage Wednesday in her first appearance beside Biden as his running mate, Harris invoked her mother’s memory, saying she always responded to gripes with a challenge.

“She’d tell us, ‘Don’t sit around and complain about things. Do something.’ So I did something,” Harris said Wednesday in her first appearance with Biden as his running mate.

Making clear the feeling of loss despite the buoyancy of the biggest moment of her professional life, Harris tweeted Thursday, “I dearly wish she were here with us this week.”