The Woman Behind the Kamala Harris Presidential Campaign Is Ann Richards’s Granddaughter

[Draggingtree]

Texas Monthly

The Woman Behind the Kamala Harris Presidential Campaign Is Ann Richards’s Granddaughter

By Maria Recio Date Jan 31, 2019

 California Senator Kamala Harris had what many consider a boffo kickoff last week for her Democratic presidential campaign—a huge rally in Oakland, the most widely viewed CNN candidate town hall ever, and kudos from pundits. While Harris was everything her handlers could hope for—poised, polished, prepared—there’s always someone behind that kind of success, someone who helped plan and pull together the events, a strategist with a steely vision. In this case, it was a Texan with a political pedigree: Lily Adams, the 31-year-old granddaughter of Texas icon and former Governor Ann Richards, and daughter of former Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards.

 Adams is Harris’s communications director.  She demurred from talking about herself to Texas Monthly, saying she wanted the focus to be on the candidate, but, asked if she was a Texan, wrote that she sure was. “I was born in Los Angeles, California but we moved to Texas when I was 18 months when my grandmother was going to run for governor.” Adams says she grew up in Austin, Texas and went to Matthews Elementary until the family moved to D.C. for her father’s career.