Kamala Harris-coconut tree connection, explained

What do coconut trees have to do with Vice President Harris?

The tropical fruit-bearing plant has quickly become an informal symbol of support for her presidential campaign, thanks to an anecdote about her mother that she told more than a year ago.

President Biden made the history-making decision Sunday to drop his reelection bid and endorsed Harris to take his place against former President Trump on the November ballot.

Harris, who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, has four weeks to shore up her base to secure the party’s nomination during its convention in Chicago in August and fewer than four months to make her case to American voters.

Many Democrats have already followed Biden’s lead by formally endorsing Harris, and some are leaning into the curious symbol of a coconut tree.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) posted three emojis to his account on the social platform X to express his support: “🥥 🌴 🇺🇸.”

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) posted a photo of himself climbing a tree to harvest coconuts. “Madam Vice President, we are ready to help,” he wrote.

EMILY’s List, a PAC that backs Democratic women who support abortion rights, added a coconut and palm tree emoji to its profile, as did several other supporters.

And web searches for “coconut tree” have shot up in recent days, Google trends data show.

Harris’s coconut tree connection starts with remarks she gave during a swearing-in ceremony for Hispanic educational advancement leaders.

While discussing the importance of families, communities and environment to ensure success for young people, she stressed that “none of us just live in a silo.”

“My mother used to — she would give us a hard time sometimes, and she would say to us, ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with you young people. You think you just fell out of a coconut tree?'” the vice president recalled, chuckling. “‘You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.'”

Harris has frequently inspired viral trends and internet memes.

When Harris sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, her most loyal supporters became colloquially known online as the K-Hive, or #KHive, (an homage to Beyoncé’s #BeyHive). Supporters put bee emoji in their then-Twitter feeds and would “swarm” to defend the then-junior senator from California whenever she faced criticism or mockery.

Washington Post tech columnist Taylor Lorenz noted Harris’s ability to attract “hyper-online progressive content creators” and its potential to attract young voters an in a recent article.

“Harris has won a surge of attention online from people recasting odd or awkward public moments into memes or viral video clips that often burnish her as relatable and down to earth,” Lorenz wrote.