Yes, Kamala Harris Loves Wearing Converse Sneakers As Much As You Do
Your favorite shoes just made it on the campaign trail. That’s right, 2020 vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris loves Converse sneakers just as much as you do. She's rocked the iconic style throughout her campaign trail, and I’m so here for it. Not only is it a huge change for women’s political fashion, but it’s also great to see a politician wear something that’s in my own closet for once.
As if being the first Black and South Asian woman on the presidential ticket for a major U.S. party wasn’t enough, Harris is also breaking the norm with her fashion sense. “This is minuscule in the grand scheme of things, but seeing Kamala Harris campaign in Converse makes me smile,” Becca Brubaker, the deputy director for Online Communities for Joe Biden, tweeted on Sept. 7. “Women were not allowed to wear pants on the Senate floor until 1993. We’re taught to push through the pain of wearing heels. Now our VP candidate is rocking sneakers.” And Harris is truly rocking her Converse at a ton of different events.
For her visit to Milwaukee on Sept. 7, Harris went simple with a pair of black, lowtop Chucks ($50, Converse) that she wore from the plane to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ training facility. She’s worn the same pair marching for Black Lives Matter and while cooking in her home. But, the VP candidate owns more than one pair of Converse — in fact, she told The Cut in 2018 that she has a “whole collection of Chuck Taylors: a black leather pair, a white pair, I have the kind that don’t lace, the kind that do lace, the kind I wear in the hot weather, the kind I wear in the cold weather, and the platform kind for when I’m wearing a pantsuit.” Honestly, I’m a bit jealous I don’t have access to Harris’ shoe closet.
I’m not the only one, either. People on Twitter love Harris' footwear so much that #ChuckTaylors started trending on Sept. 7 after she posted photos of her wearing Converse in Milwaukee. A tweet from her husband, Doug Emhoff, reading, "The Kamala Harris I know wears Chucks and jeans...and now you all know too" racked up over 72,000 likes.
Converse aren't the only shoes Harris wears, of course, but it's refreshing to see a female politician in something so common and relatable. And in all honesty, if I had to bounce from campaign event to campaign event, I'd want to be in something more comfortable than high heels. With election day on Nov. 3, America may just see its first Chuck Taylor-wearing Vice President.