Longtime Kamala Harris mentee, friend tapped to respond to Trump’s Congressional address
The White House charges anti-Trump bias as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt discusses Oval Office fallout, Elon Musk, and DOGE’s efforts, the White House’s changes to the press pool, and more on ‘MediaBuzz.’ A left-wing political party has selected Democratic California Rep. Lateefah Simon, a longtime friend and mentee of former Vice President Kamala Harris, to deliver its response to President Donald Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday.
“I’m honored to speak on behalf of the Working Families Party,” Simon stated last week. “We need a government that is run by and for working people, not billionaires—and that’s what the WFP is fighting for. When I see what’s happening in our country right now, it’s essential that we—as Members of Congress—are showing up for our communities and reminding people that it doesn’t have to be this way.”
The Working Families Party, a small left-wing political party, has previously had Rep. Ayanna Pressley, former Rep. Jamaal Bowman, and Rep. Rashida Tlaib deliver its response to a president’s joint address to Congress.
Simon, a freshman congresswoman representing California, has a long-standing friendship with former 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. She first met Harris in the early 2000s when Harris worked in the San Francisco City Attorney’s office.
“I really believed in her. The young women that I worked with believed in her. But never in a million years did I think that I would work for her,” Simon told NPR in August.
Simon recounted that Harris had encouraged her to earn a college degree, asked her to join her team when she was San Francisco district attorney, given her career advice, and even officiated at her wedding ceremony.
When Harris offered her a job in the DA’s office, Simon recalled Harris saying, “You can either carry this bullhorn on your back for the rest of your life, demanding that elected officials work for you and the young people that you care about, or you can become a part of my team, and we can actually deconstruct some of these inequities.”
Simon has been a vocal social justice advocate in California, including advocating for defunding and abolishing policing standards on public transportation in favor of unarmed ambassadors during the defund-the-police movement of 2020.
She won her election to serve as California’s 12th congressional district representative in November, succeeding former Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee, and has been identified as a “rising star” in the Democratic Party by liberal media outlets.
Harris officiated Simon’s congressional swearing-in ceremony in January, where Simon praised her “mentor” as a pivotal influence in her career.
“I am so honored to have my mentor and former boss, Vice President Kamala Harris,” Simon said. “Since our time together in the district attorney’s office in San Francisco, the vice president has played an integral role in shaping my public service career, and I have learned so much from her.”
Trump is scheduled to address Congress at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, his first joint address since returning to the Oval Office in January. The speech comes after a heated meeting between Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
The Democratic Party will also issue a response speech to Trump, with Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin speaking to voters late Tuesday evening after Trump’s address.
It will be interesting to see how Simon’s response and Slotkin’s response to Trump’s address will play out in the political landscape. Stay tuned for more updates on this developing story.
