By Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, The Daily Signal | August 03, 2026
Former vice president and presidential candidate Kamala Harris shared who she thinks have been America’s “most effective presidents,” but she did not include former President Joe Biden, her 2020 running mate.
Appearing at a July 31 event in Nashville, Harris was asked by National Urban League President Marc Morial to pick the “most effective president.” Passing over the man under whom she served as vice president, Harris selected Franklin Roosevelt.
“It was, of course, his three terms in office and it was interesting to … and of course the role of his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, and you know he did some good things. In fact, it was he who talked about the expansion of the Supreme Court and then he got ferocious blowback for that,” she said.
“He did good, Social Security it was, you know, when I think about what he did in terms of investing in the people during dire times and talking about the role and responsibility of government that it should not just be about the benevolence of community organizations or—just interpersonal relationships that the government has a role,” Harris said of Roosevelt.
After Roosevelt, Harris named John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson as second- and third-most effective presidents.
“Given more time to think about it, I credit Kennedy, of course, in terms of what he laid the groundwork for and then Johnson followed up on around having the ability,” she said.
Harris then mentioned Barack Obama, leading to cheers in the crowd.
“And of course Barack Obama and what he did with the Affordable Care Act, among many things, but in particular the—if we had one issue that has been ailing America for generations, which is a health care system that has failed anyone other than the rich and addressing that in the way that he did and took a lot of heat for it,” she said.
In Harris’ book about her 2024 presidential campaign, she blamed the White House for allowing her to take the heat for the border crisis in her role as vice president and “border czar.”
“When Republicans mischaracterized my role as ‘border czar,’ no one in the White House comms team helped me to effectively push back and explain what I had really been tasked to do, nor to highlight any of the progress I had achieved,” she wrote.
Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell is the White House correspondent for the Daily Signal.
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