Senator JD Vance Calls Vice President Kamala Harris a ‘Phony’ Over Canadian Upbringing

Senator JD Vance’s Remarks on Vice President Kamala Harris

During a recent campaign event, Senator JD Vance of Ohio referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as a “phony,” claiming that she “grew up in Canada.” His comments echoed the ongoing narrative promoted by former President Donald J. Trump, the leading Republican presidential nominee, who has been raising unfounded and provocative questions regarding Ms. Harris’s racial identity.

“Kamala Harris grew up in Canada,” Senator Vance stated while campaigning in Arizona on Wednesday. “They don’t talk like that in Vancouver or Quebec or wherever she came from.” These remarks have stirred discussions about the Vice President’s background and identity.

In reality, Ms. Harris did spend her formative years in Montreal, moving there with her sister at the age of twelve in 1976. This transition was prompted by their mother, Shyamala Gopalan, who was recruited to conduct groundbreaking breast-cancer research at Jewish General Hospital and to teach at the medical school of McGill University.

Throughout the following five years, Kamala Harris frequently traveled between Quebec and California, where she stayed with her father, Donald J. Harris, an esteemed economist at Stanford University, as well as with family friends during holiday breaks and summer vacations.

In her memoir, Ms. Harris reflects on this significant period of her life, describing it as a time filled with a deep sense of longing for California. While her campaign did not provide a comment on her upbringing in Canada, she has openly shared her feelings about this experience.

“I’d gotten used to most of it,” she writes, recalling her adjustment to life in a predominantly French-speaking city characterized by harsh winters, far removed from her extended family. “What I hadn’t got used to was the feeling of being homesick for my country. I felt this constant sense of yearning to be back home.”