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Don Lemon Show: Kamala Harris Interview (Transcript)

The following is the full transcript of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ interview on The Don Lemon Show, June 20, 2026.

Editor’s Note: In this exclusive episode of The Don Lemon Show, Kamala Harris joins Don Lemon for a wide-ranging conversation on the state of American democracy, the significance of Juneteenth, and the challenges facing the nation. The two discuss the urgent need to protect voting rights, the future of the Supreme Court, and the broader fight for equality in a polarized political climate. Harris also opens up about her vision for the future, the necessity of bold action, and why she believes community engagement is the key to reclaiming the American dream.

Juneteenth, Voting Rights, and the Fight for Freedom

DON LEMON: Madam Vice President, good to see you. Thank you so much for doing this.

KAMALA HARRIS: Thank you, Don Lemon. It’s good to be with you. Thank you.

Juneteenth: Celebration and Unfinished Business

DON LEMON: Let’s talk some Juneteenth because you helped to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. 5 years later, we are watching what’s happening. DEI programs are being dismantled. Voting rights are being challenged. Black history has become a political battleground once again.

KAMALA HARRIS: Where they’re not trying to erase it, by the way.

DON LEMON: Yeah. So what does Juneteenth mean in that moment?

KAMALA HARRIS: Juneteenth is— there are so many layers to it. Juneteenth is a day for celebration from its inception. It is a day to remember America’s history, and with all of the truths that must be spoken about the context in which Juneteenth occurred, which, of course, is that 2.5 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, the enslaved people of Texas only 2 and a half years later found out that they had in fact been free for over 2 years but didn’t know it.

Juneteenth is a day for us to not only reflect and remember history, but to then think about how that translates to where we each are in this moment, as part of that legacy. And part of the way I think about it is that Juneteenth, of course, was a day that there was a celebration of freedom. But the freedom that they celebrated was the promise of freedom in its full context, which includes the right to vote.

And when we look at being weeks after the Callais decision, we look at what’s happening across the country in terms of this attempt to cheat around what so many of these Republican governors started, which is redistricting. And then Democratic governors had to back it up. When you look at what’s happening in the South, where there is an attempt to really marginalize Black voters, Black and brown voters in many of those states, I think Juneteenth is a moment for us to remember that the fight for justice, for equality lives on, sadly.

And we who celebrate those wonderful moments that are part of the tradition of Juneteenth, must also dedicate ourselves to the action that we all have a duty to perform to make the promise of America real.

DON LEMON: So much you said there. I want to know, we’re going to talk about delayed freedom, right? But when you look at this moment, does Juneteenth feel like a victory lap? Does it feel like unfinished business? A reminder of how fragile progress can be? Combination? What does it look like?

KAMALA HARRIS: All of the above. Don, all of the above. It is a celebration of the traditions around Juneteenth, in particular the traditions that Texans, that those formerly enslaved folks in Texas created that are celebrated in terms of the Jubilee and all of the traditions around what Juneteenth is and what has been exported from Texas to the rest of the country.

But it is, yes, about the unfinished business for sure, because again, freedom in its full meaning includes the right of everyone and all citizens to have access to the ballot box and the opportunity to vote and decide what laws they want to have as part of the rules in their society. And also who their elected representatives will be.

You know, I’ve been spending a lot of time in the South, Don. And—

DON LEMON: I see. You’ve been everywhere. You’ve been everywhere, man. You’ve been everywhere.

Voting Rights Under Threat: The Story from North Carolina A&T

KAMALA HARRIS: I’ve been talking to folks. And mostly, I’ve been listening. And in fact, there is a group of young leaders, students, who have been doing extraordinary work at North Carolina A&T. And I’d been hearing about their work and they invited me to come meet with them. So I went down to North Carolina A&T, which is the largest HBCU in America, and I met with these students and they then shared with me that the reason they are organizing is because at their school— again, I’m going to say the largest HBCU in the country— the state officials in North Carolina took the polling place away from the school.

So these young leaders who are at a stage of life where they want to participate, they have so much at stake in terms of the future of our country, and so-called elected leaders took their polling place from them. So much so, and the outrage of it, so much so that these students then went to the state capitol to go protest.

You know what happened, Don? They’re in the state capitol. They’re in the chamber. The leaders of their legislature looked at them and said, “You have 5 minutes to leave.” Not 5 minutes to speak, 5 minutes to leave. To leave.

So look at what is happening in America in 2026. These young leaders are so frightening to the powers that be that they will remove their right to vote from their campus and then kick them out of a statehouse, a public statehouse, because they’re afraid that when those young leaders take the mic, they may have to hear things they don’t want to hear.

So the unfinished business is right in front of us.