Today, on Sunday, October 6th, Alex Cooper released the highly anticipated Call Her Daddy episode featuring Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. In this powerful discussion, Harris opens up about overcoming doubt, resilience, and key policy issues such as women’s rights and the economy. Vice President Harris reflects on her experiences of being told “no” throughout her career and emphasizes the importance of not letting others define you. Harris also shares her lifelong commitment to standing up against sexual violence, stressing the need for open dialogue to break the silence and stigma surrounding abuse. The conversation touches on the economic struggles women face when trying to escape abusive situations, highlighting the importance of financial independence. Harris critiques former President Trump’s stance on women’s rights and reproductive freedom, particularly following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and explores the broader implications for access to essential healthcare. Additionally, she discusses student loan forgiveness and the financial challenges young people encounter when starting families, providing personal insights and policy-driven solutions throughout the conversation.
The full episode to the podcast HERE. Call Her Daddy is available for streaming on all podcast platforms.
Vice President Harris makes her debut appearance on Call Her Daddy with Alex Cooper, just days after the leading female podcaster and her network Unwell kicked off a new deal with SiriusXM.
Key moments from the episode include:
10:38 – HOW KAMALA HARRIS DEALS WITH DOUBT
Cooper: “When people tell you no, when people look at you and doubt you, what does that ignite in you?”
Harris: “So, I have been told that many times. And through the course of my career, I’ve been told you know, at one point, you’re too young. I’ve been told, no one like you has ever done that before, oh they’re not ready for you, oh (and this is the one that kills me) it’s going to be a lot of hard work. Right, as though we don’t like hard work. And here is my response: I don’t hear no. I don’t hear no. And I urge all of the daddy gang, don’t hear no. Just don’t hear it.”
11:35 – HARRIS REACTS TO ATTACKS MADE ON HER CHARACTER
Cooper: “Throughout this election, your identity has been called into question many times. Your opponent has called you crazy, weak, fake and dumb. How does that affect you?”
Harris: “I think it’s really important not to let other people define you. And usually those people who will attempt to do it don’t know you.”
11:54 – HARRIS ON WHY THE TOPIC OF SEXUAL ABUSE IS IMPORTANT & PERSONAL TO HER
Harris talks about when she realized at a young age her friend Wanda was being sexually assaulted and when she made the decision to protect vulnerable people and women.
15:03 – SEXUAL ABUSE IN AMERICA TODAY
Kamala thanks Alex for talking about sexual abuse on her platform. “Part of the issue is that people don’t talk about it. I don’t mean the survivors of it, I mean nobody does. And the more that we let anything exist in the shadows, the more likely it is that people are suffering and suffering silently and we need to talk about it. We have to talk about it,” said Harris.
Added Harris: “Child sexual assault is something that affects far more people than the public discourse about it acknowledges and the more we talk about it, the more we will address it and deal with it, the more we will be equipped to deal with it, in terms of schools, in terms of society at large and to not stigmatize it.”
“We still have so far to go on the issue of child sexual assault, just like in a previous time, the issue of domestic violence. People didn’t talk about domestic violence. And part of it was this really warped idea that what happens in the home is none of our business, but if it happened on the street, it would be our business. So the point being that abuse of anyone is something we should all take seriously as opposed to saying it’s not our business. It’s something that we have to agree should not happen and whatever resources and whatever attention we can put into reducing the likelihood that it happens is worthwhile.”
17:19 – HARRIS ON HOW TO MAKE THE COUNTRY SAFER FOR WOMEN
Harris: “When a woman and particularly if she has children, if she is economically reliant on her abuser, she is less likely to leave, because most women will endure whatever personal, physical pain they must in order to make sure their kids have a roof over their head or food.”
“So one of the ways we know that women are able to walk away from abuse, and there are many layers to her being able to do that, but one of them is does she have the economic freedom to be able to do that.”
“So one of the ways we know we can uplift the ability of women to have choices is uplift women the ability to have economic wealth and wellbeing.”
18:44 – HARRIS RESPONSE TO TRUMP TELLING WOMEN, “YOU WILL BE PROTECTED, AND I WILL BE YOUR PROTECTOR”
Harris: “So he, who, when he was president, hand selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe V. Wade and they did just as he intended and there are now 20 states with Trump abortion bans, including bans that make no exceptions for rape or incest, which we just discussed, which means that you’re telling a survivor of a crime with a violation of their body, they don’t have a right to make a decision about what happens to their body next, which is immoral. So, this is the same guy that is now saying that, this is the same guy that said women should be punished for having abortions. This is the same guy who uses the same kind of language he does to describe women? So yeah, there you go.”
19:41 – ABORTION ACCESS IN THE U.S. TODAY AFTER ROE V. WADE OVERTURNED
Cooper: “Can you explain and talk about what is actually happening to abortion access right now in this country?”
Harris: “On public policy I often tell my team, look, I don’t want to hear about public policy, it’s a fancy kind of speech or paper. Tell me how it will affect a real person. So let’s talk about how it will affect a real person. The majority of women who receive abortion care are mothers. So, if she is in a state, and by the way, every state in the south except for Virgina, has an abortion ban. So imagine she is in a state with an abortion ban (1 out of 3 women in our country are, by the way) and she’s a mom. So she is going to have to figure out one, god help her if she has affordable childcare, god help her if she has paid leave, and then she is going to have to, go to the airport, stand in a TSA line, sit on a plane next to a perfect stranger, to go to a city where she has never been, to receive the care she needs. She’s going to have to probably get right back on that plane because she’s got those kids. Her best friend’s probably not with her because that’s who is taking care of the kids. To get back in that TSA lane, to get back on a plane to go home.”
Cooper: “And that’s all if they can afford the plane ticket or the bus ticket.”
Harris: “Exactly.”
Added Harris: “Here is the thing, you don’t have to abandon your faith or deeply held beliefs to agree, the government shouldn’t be telling her what to do. If she chooses, she’ll talk to her priest, her pastor, her rabbi, her imam, but not the government telling you what to do and that’s what is so outrageous about it. A bunch of these guys up in these state capitals are writing these decisions because they somehow have decided that they are in a better position to tell you what’s in your best interest than you are to know what’s in your own best interest. It’s outrageous.”
23:36 – HARRIS SAYS SHE WAS THE FIRST VICE PRESIDENT OR PRESIDENT TO EVER IN OFFICE GO TO A REPRODUCTIVE HEALTHCARE CLINIC
Harris: “I was the First Vice President or President to ever in office go to a reproductive health center, ever.”
“It’s [also] about IVF treatments and access, it’s about access to contraception which is very much at risk with these folks. Back to the point about reproductive health clinics, do you know what those clinics also do? They do paps, they do breast cancer screenings, they do HIV testing, and they are having to close in many places with these bans. So think about the fact that for anyone who has gone to one of these clinics you understand it is sometimes the most trusted place where people receive that kind of health care because they walk into those places that are generally staffed by people who create a safe place for people to come in without judgement… and many of them are having to close because of these laws.”
25:17 – HARRIS CLAIMS PEOPLE WHO WERE ANTI-ABORTION HAVE NOW CHANGED THEIR STANCE IN THE LAST TWO YEARS
Harris: “…What I’m finding as I travel, people who before two years ago, before Roe V. Wade was overturned, people who felt very strong about that they are anti-abortion, anti-abortion, are now seeing what is happening and saying, hm, I didn’t intend for all of this to happen. And I think that’s also why in state after state, so-called red states and so-called blue states, when this issue has been on the ballot, the American people are voting for freedom. Because ultimately it’s about, look, this is not about imposing my thoughts on you in terms of what you do with your life or your body. It’s actually quite the opposite, it’s saying the government should not be telling people what to do.”
29:34 – HARRIS ON TRUMP’S CLAIMS THAT STATES ARE “EXECUTING BABIES AFTER BIRTH”
Harris: “That is not happening anywhere in the United States. It’s a bold face lie. Just a boldfaced lie that he is suggesting. Can you imagine he’s suggesting that women in their ninth month of pregnancy are electing to have an abortion? Are you kidding? That is so outrageously inaccurate and it’s so insulting to suggest that that would be happening and that women would be doing that. It’s not happening anywhere. This guy is full of lies. I mean, I just have to be very candid with you.”
35:12 – HARRIS RESPONSE TO CRITICISMS ABOUT HER NOT HAVING CHILDREN
Cooper reads a quote from the Governor of Arkansas, “My kids keep me humble. Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn’t have anything keeping her humble.”
Harris responds: “I feel sorry for her and I’m going to tell you why because I don’t think she understands that there are a whole lot of women out here who one, are not aspiring to be humble, two, a whole lot of women out here, who have a lot of love in their life, family in their life, and children in their life and I think it’s very important for women to lift each other up.”
Added Harris: “One of the things that I have really enjoyed about where the discussion has gone, one of the places it’s gone is about, I feel very strongly, we each have our family by blood and then we have our family by love. And I have both. And I consider it to be a real blessing. And I have two beautiful children: Cole and Ella, who call me ‘Mamala’, we have a very modern family, my husband’s ex-wife is a friend of mine, you know, and also I’ll tell you, look, I’m a child of divorced parents, and when I started dating Doug, my husband, I was very thoughtful and sensitive to making sure that until I knew that our relationship was something that was going to be real, I didn’t want to form a relationship with the kids and then walk away from that relationship. My own experience tells me that children form attachments and I wanted to be thoughtful about it. So I waited to meet the kids and they are my children and I love those kids to death. Family comes in many forms and I think that increasingly, all of us understand that this is not the 1950’s anymore. Families come in all shapes or forms and they are family nonetheless.”
38:34 – ON REPUBLICAN VICE PRESIDENT NOMINEE, JD VANCE’S QUOTE: “CHILDLESS CAT LADIES”
Harris: “I just think it’s mean and mean spirited. And I think that most Americans want leaders who understand that the measure of their strength is not based on who you beat down, the real measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up.”
39:29 – HARRIS ON FINANCIAL OBSTACLES YOUNG PEOPLE FACE & HER PLAN TO HELP
Harris: “First of all, it’s a very real issue and we need to take it seriously and I do take it very seriously. So there are a number of issues that contribute to that feeling. One is housing is too expensive and we need to increase the housing supply, so part of my plan is to work with home builders in the private sector to create tax incentives to build by the end of my first term 3 million more housing units. Second piece is $25,000 down payment assistance for first time home buyers because a big issue in terms of the barrier to being a homeowner is just having enough to actually put that down payment down, to get your foot in the door. The other piece of it is we need to give tax credits and really understand that middle class and working people need a break and so part of my plan is to give 100 million more people who basically are middle class, working people tax cuts, including for young parents, a $6,000 tax cut for the first year of their child’s life, which helps them buy a crib or a car seat or clothing and just get through that first year which is such an important and critical stage of their child’s development.”
41:02 – HARRIS ON EXPANDING STUDENT LOAN FORGIVENESS AND HER VISION FOR THE FUTURE
Harris: “We are fighting and I’m going to continue to fight for student debt relief. I mean, student loan debt is a huge issue and to your point, it’s a barrier to people being able to even think about starting a family, buying a home, and we just need to give people relief. Part of the work that we’ve done, when I’ve been Vice President, is to forgive student loan debt for millions of people by this point, I think over 5 million, including doubling the amount of student loan forgiveness for public servants like nurses and teachers and firefighters, but we have to do more. Debt is a big issue. The other piece I’ve been pushing for is helping people in terms of medical debt not being on their credit score because you know, if you rack up debt because you have medical bills and it can be used against your credit score which is going to impact your ability to get an apartment lease or a car loan or a small business loan.”
