Melinda French Gates, ex-wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, has thrown her support behind Vice President Harris’ presidential bid, pointing to the need to protect reproductive rights.
“I feel like Kamala, I was happy to support. I’ve worked with her before, she knows what we need in society and is using her voice against these issues already in the campaign, and I knew she would,” said French Gates. he said Wednesday on CBS’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
“I have always been an independent voter and will continue to be,” she continued. “I voted Republican, I voted Democrat. But in this election, women’s rights, our reproductive rights are so fundamental.”
“And there’s, there was a candidate who believed in them from the beginning and there was a candidate who didn’t and reversed them,” the philanthropist added, referring to former President Trump.
The endorsement comes after she revealed last month that she would vote for President Biden, who has since withdrawn from the 2024 race and endorsed Harris as his successor. In supporting Biden, Gates discussed Trump’s past comments about women and reproductive rights.
French Gates is a staunch supporter of reproductive rights and committed $1 billion to women’s causes earlier this year. She spoke with Colbert about the importance of fundraising to ensure more women run for office.
“We have to analyze what really happened in recent years. Women’s rights around the world and in the United States have been rolled back,” she said. “Like, the fact that my granddaughter has fewer rights now because of the Supreme Court than I do doesn’t make sense to me.”
“So one of the things I’m doing is making sure that we have a lot more women running for office, being able to fundraise for their office, and that they’re really well versed in the legislative agenda that they want to help pass. ,” French Gates continued. “There are 7,000 seats at the state level, and putting women in those positions makes for great policy, and it’s a great training ground for going on the hill in D.C.”
Reproductive rights have remained a hot political issue in the two years since the Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade. Wade in 2022 – ending the federal right to access abortion. Trump often took credit for the high court’s ruling through the appointment of three conservative justices to the court.
As vice president, Harris has been the White House’s de facto voice for reproductive rights and has already brought new energy to the campaign to rally voters around the issue of abortion.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
