Melinda French Gates endorsing Harris: 'She knows what we need in society'

Melinda French Gates, the ex-wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, threw her support behind Vice President Harris's presidential run, pointing to the need to protect reproductive rights.

"I feel like Kamala, I was happy to endorse. I've worked with her before, she knows what we need in society and she's using her voice against those issues already on the campaign trail, and I knew she would," French Gates said Wednesday on CBS's "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

"I've always been an independent voter and I 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 is, there was a candidate who believe in them from the beginning and there was a candidate who didn't and rolled them back," the philanthropist added, referring to former President Trump.

The endorsement comes after she revealed last month she would vote for President Biden, who has since withdrawn from the 2024 race and endorsed Harris as his successor. In backing Biden, Gates discussed Trump's past remarks on women and reproductive rights.

French Gates is a staunch reproductive rights advocate and committed $1 billion to women’s causes earlier this year. She spoke with Colbert about the importance of fundraising to ensure more women are running for office.

"We have to look at what actually happened in the last couple of years. Women’s rights globally and in the United States have been rolled back," she said. "Like, the fact that my granddaughter will have fewer rights right now because of the Supreme Court than I had makes zero sense to me."

"So one of the things I’m doing is making sure that we have far more women running for office, being able to raise funds for their positions, and that they are really well-trained on the legislative agenda they want to help get passed," French Gates continued. "There’s 7,000 seats at the statehouse level, and getting women into those positions, they create great policy, and it’s a great training ground then to go onto the Hill in D.C."

Reproductive rights have remained a top political topic in the two years since the conservative Supreme Court majority overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 — ending a federal right to abortion access. Trump has often taken credit for the high court's decision through the appointment of three conservative justices to the bench.

As vice president, Harris has been the White House's de facto voice for reproductive rights and has already brought new energy on the campaign trail to rally voters around the issue of abortion.