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Harvard for Harris, an unrecognized student organization supporting U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign, celebrated their official launch on Monday at the Lowell House Screening Room.
The group originally launched as Harvard for Biden in February, but Co-Presidents Ethan C. Kelly ’25 and Will M. Smialek ’27 rebranded the organization following U.S. President Joe Biden’s July decision to exit the 2024 presidential race.
Leaders of the organization said they were not expecting such a drastic change so late in the season.
“We all jumped on a call together and decided to, right then and there, just issue a statement,” Smialek said. “She was the right candidate for the moment.”
The Monday launch event officially kickstarted H4H’s campaign initiatives, which will ramp up through the upcoming presidential election in November.
“We’re capturing the momentum that I think everyone has been feeling,” Smialek said. “We’ve really seen all different corners of campus come together to support Kamala Harris for her campaign.”
H4H is centering many of their efforts around swing states, with a keen focus on Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona, North Carolina, Georgia, and Nevada.
“We’re looking for phone banking opportunities that are held in swing states so students can call in,” Kelly added. “Beyond that, we’re looking for in-person opportunities for door knocking in Pennsylvania and New Hampshire, which are the two closest battleground states.”
Alongside Harris-specific events and campaigning, H4H plans to collaborate with the Harvard College Democrats to encourage students to register to vote, including organizing an on-campus voter registration drive. In 2020, then-Harvard for Biden helped register approximately 83 percent of Harvard students.
“We just generally want to keep the Harvard group and Harvard community really tapped into this election, and so that means supporting people and getting their absentee ballots, making sure they’re registered to vote by deadlines,” Kelly said.
Attendees of the launch said they were excited by the opportunities H4H is planning.
“People seem motivated,” Evan H. C. Epstein ’28, who attended the event, said. “It seems like they are doing exactly what’s needed.”
“We got Democrats, moderates, people all across the political spectrum,” attendee Alfredo Hernandez ’28 said. “They’re excited to help elect Kamala Harris in November and talk to Harvard voters as well and join the movement.”
“By the energy in the room, I was really inspired to get involved here at Harvard,” Hernandez added.
During the event, H4H leadership announced plans to continue holding events to foster political awareness on campus, including a presidential debate watch party and a fundraiser for the organization’s Harvard Kennedy School members.
The group also spoke about future collaborations with Harris student campaign chapters at other schools, including Duke and Yale Universities.
“We’re two months out from the election and — I genuinely mean it when I say this — there’s such tremendous impact that we can have,” Kelly said.
—Staff writer Hiral M. Chavre can be reached at hiral.chavre@thecrimson.com.
—Staff writer Samuel A. Church can be reached at samuel.church@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @samuelachurch
