Latina civil rights leader Dolores Huerta endorsed Vice President Harris’s presidential run on Thursday, adding a powerful progressive voice to her growing base of support.
“I’ve known Kamala Harris for a long time — and I’ve seen firsthand how she fights relentlessly for Latino communities, working families, and for every American,” said Huerta in a statement.
“Today, I’m thrilled to endorse Vice President Harris to be our next president of the United States, because I know she’ll be our fierce champion in the White House.”
Huerta is headlining Harris campaign events in Phoenix on Thursday, alongside presidential campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez, the granddaughter of labor organizer César Chávez.
Together, Chávez and Huerta founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later merged into the United Farm Workers, a labor group that spawned the modern Latino civil rights movement.
Huerta’s collaboration with Chávez lasted until his death in 1993.
President Biden, who named Chávez Rodríguez as his campaign manager before later dropping out of the race, displays a bust of Chávez in the Oval Office.
Huerta has been a vocal supporter of the Biden administration, and equally vocal opponent of former President Trump.
“Over the last three and a half years, Kamala Harris has worked alongside Joe Biden to restore sanity and stability to our lives. DACA is stronger than ever, and health care is more affordable than ever. Kamala and Joe have worked to keep families together, bring down everyday costs, and have stood with organized labor. Under a Harris presidency, we’ll continue to build on this progress,” said Huerta in her statement.
“Donald Trump, however, promises a return to chaos and cruelty. After separating children from their parents and trying to end DACA during his presidency, he’s now running on a pledge to separate families and deport tens of millions of hard-working people.”
Huerta has also been a longtime supporter of Harris.
In 2019, she endorsed Harris’s presidential bid and signed on the campaign’s California co-chair.
In April, Harris posted a selfie with Huerta at a White House reception wishing the labor leader a happy 94th birthday.
Huerta has remained politically active, with a focus on improving democratic institutions.
“Some things have to change to save our democracy and to keep our democracy. And it's not only about the United States of America, it's about the entire world. We are the beacons, so to speak, of democracy, and if we can't make it work here, then it's not going to work anywhere else,” she told The Hill in a September interview at an event organized by Democracy Forward, an anti-corruption non-profit group.
At the event, Huerta noted that both major candidates then running in the Mexican presidential election were women, meaning the next president of that country — where some of Huerta’s ancestors came from — would be a woman.
President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum is due to be sworn-in in October to become the first North American woman head of state.
“I've been telling everybody we're going to have the first female president in Mexico. Mexico is going to beat the United States to have the first female president,” Huerta said at the time, when Biden was running practically unopposed for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“So the women, the women can make it happen.”
