Harris to spend election night at Howard University, her alma mater, as campaign leans into HBCU roots

Howard University is where Vice President Kamala Harris spent some of the most formative years of her life, and it’s where she’ll be on election night, when could find out the fate of her 2024 bid for the presidency.

Harris has maintained close ties with her alma mater, a Washington, D.C., Historically Black College and University. 

“I am proud to be the first HBCU vice president of the United States. I intend to be the first HBCU president of the United States,” Harris told Charlamagne tha God in a recent interview .

The Democratic presidential candidate graduated from Howard University with a bachelor’s degree in 1986. On the campus, nestled on a hill in Washington, D.C., she also pledged the first Black sorority in the U.S., Alpha Kappa Alpha. The HBCU was founded in 1869 and is often referred to as “The Mecca” for its storied legacy of producing Black community leaders like civil rights leader Stokely Carmichael and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.  

If elected, Harris would be the first Black woman to win the presidency, and she has already made history as the first Black woman to secure the nomination of a major party. But her racial identity is something she seldom brings up on the campaign trail, despite the historic nature of her campaign. 

Although Harris may not talk about her race on the trail often, she has highlighted Howard University’s role in her life throughout her political career. Recently, she went to Howard to practice for her debate against former President Donald Trump. It’s also where she launched her failed 2020 presidential bid.

Harris’ campaign has recently leaned into HBCUs and attempted to appeal to young voters and alumni by holding events at homecomings on the campuses of schools for what it’s calling the “HBCU Homecoming Tour.”

Trey Baker, a senior adviser to Harris, said the tour is geared to meeting voters where they are. There are nearly 290,000 students enrolled at HBCUs across the country, according to the Pew Research Center. Each fall, students and alumni gather on the campuses for homecomings that are evocative of a family reunion. 

Many of the campaign’s homecoming tour stops have been in battleground states, but the campaign was also visited Howard’s homecoming, which took place in late October.

With a rally just blocks away from Howard’s campus, the Harris campaign gave away food and drinks, and handed out merch and yard signsto those who filled out to commit-to-vote cards.

Harris skipped Howard’s homecoming this year to campaign in battleground states, but in a letter penned to her alma mater, she said, “At Howard, we learn that we have the capacity to be great and also that we have the responsibility to work hard to live up to that potential each day.”

Cameron Trimble, who organized the HBCU tour and is a Howard graduate as well, told CBS News it fills him with “immense pride” to be able to cast his vote for a fellow Bison. 

“This is a chance for America to really make good on the promise of the founding of this country, that all people are truly created equal and that any American, can break through any glass ceiling that exists,” Trimble said. 

Mississippi state Rep. Justis Gibbs graduated from Howard in 2018 but returned for homecoming and spoke about how Harris has inspired him to get involved politically. 

“I think sometimes we think about how long it takes for things to change, and then change is happening right in front of us,” Gibbs said.  “I remember being in third grade. I didn’t think that I would have an African-American president in my lifetime. And now we have President Barack Obama. We’re about to have President Kamala Harris.”

Harris’ fellow alumni are anxious about the closeness of the race. 

“There’s a lot on the line in this election,” said Virgil Parker, another Howard graduate. “I am very anxious about former President Trump winning because he has already shown us the divisiveness he is capable of.”

Regardless of whether Harris wins, Parker says “her access shows us that anyone can ascend to any level of success no matter who they are and what they look like. As a person of color and HBCU graduate, I see myself in VP Harris.”