Vice President Kamala Harris is headed back to her hometown this weekend to raise money for her presidential campaign, marking her first visit back to the Bay Area since becoming the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Harris's hometown may technically be Oakland, but she's coming back home to the Bay Area this weekend for a fundraiser in the city where her career got its start, San Francisco. The fundraiser is Sunday, August 11, with the time not yet announced, and the location is only being given after RSVP — the invitation from the Harris Victory Fund is here.
According to one ticket holder SFist spoke to, even those who've RSVP'd still don't know the event location. Update: Bay Area News Group reports that the location is the Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill.
Tickets range in price from $3,300 to $500,000, and all the lower-level ticket tiers are already sold out. The minimum ticket price right now would be $250,000, which guarantees one a picture with Kamala. (Even people ponying up $25K don't get a photo.)
Her newly selected running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will also be joining her at the event, per Bay Area News Group. Walz notably visited San Francisco recently and gushed about how beautiful the city is on a radio show — it was his first time here.
Harris, meanwhile, has been climbing in the polls, and has overtaken Trump in a couple of swing states, which is great news. A new Marquette Law School poll released today has Harris four points ahead of Trump, 52 to 48 percent, among registered voters, and six points ahead, 53 to 47 percent among likely voters. If you add RFK Jr. into the mix, she still leads Trump by 8 points, 47 to 41 percent, with RFK taking 9 percent.
The poll also found that voters are seeing Kamala as more likeable, all of a sudden. Since early July, she went from having 59 percent of respondents having an unfavorable view of her, to just 50 as of August 1.
The fundraiser Sunday coincides with what may be the biggest day for Outside Lands, given the immense popularity of singer Chappell Roan. Roan, originally scheduled to perform in a later slot on the secondary stage, is now scheduled for the mainstage on the Polo Field at 4 pm. And given the 100,000+ fans who showed up for her Lollapaloozza set last weekend, we should expect a similar-sized crowd to gather on the Polo Field starting around 3 pm, if not earlier.
This just means that, depending on when Harris's motorcade is rolling through or where the fundraiser is, some sudden traffic jams could occur as a whole lot of people try to get to the westside and the entrances to Outside Lands near Lincoln Avenue (Sunset side) and Fulton Street (Richmond side).
If you're trying to get to the festival, you may want to consult this SFMTA explainer, which shows where Lyft/Uber pickup and dropoff locations are (they're not right next to the park), and where a couple of new taxi stands will be located on the Fulton Street side. Also, note where the post-event pickup spot is for the Muni express shuttle buses on Fulton, at 30th Avenue.
Previously: Kamala Harris Selects Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as Running Mate
Top image: Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appear on stage together during a campaign event at Girard College on August 6, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
