Maya Rudolph Reacts to Kamala Harris' Presidential Campaign Announcement

It’s going to be a busy election cycle for Maya Rudolph.

The actress and comedian revealed her phone "hasn’t stopped blowing up" amid Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. "It was wild!" Rudolph, who has famously played Harris several times on Saturday Night Live, shared in a new interview with Variety.

"On top of the excitement I felt, I received so many GIFs that had me laughing: LeBron [James] waiting to get in the game, Roman Roy watching his emails pour in," she added.

Rudolph made her debut as Harris in SNL‘s season 45 premiere in September 2019, returning to 30 Rock to play the future vice president when she was a candidate vying for the Democratic nomination in the primaries in the 2020 presidential election. She won a guest actress Emmy for her portrayal the following year.

Harris, for her part, is a fan of Rudolph’s impersonations. “I grew up watching Saturday Night Live,” she told Seth Meyers in 2019. “The thought that anyone would be in any way depicting me on Saturday Night Live was just — I was a bit overwhelmed.” She quipped, "I will tell you that I fully intend to make sure she has a good eight years of work on SNL."

When President Joe Biden announced in July that he would not seek re-election and endorsed Harris in the 2024 presidential race against Donald Trump, Rudolph quickly began to trend on the internet as fans expressed excitement over her inevitable return to the NBC sketch comedy. Fans have also been campaigning for Steve Martin to play Harris’ VP pick Tim Walz.

Rudolph was an SNL cast member between 2000 and 2007 and has returned as host three times since her departure, including for this year’s Mother’s Day episode. She picked up two Emmy nominations at the ceremony set to be held later this year for the episode, including a nod for original music and lyrics for her viral "I’m Your Mother" musical monologue.

"I believe my reaction was, ‘Holy shit!’" Rudolph told Variety of her Emmy noms, which also included nods to her work on Loot and Big Mouth. “And all for things that are so close to my heart. The best actress nomination is particularly exciting because it’s my first time; that felt really cool! And I’m particularly proud of the song we wrote for my SNL [Mother’s Day] monologue. That one just feels like a huge personal achievement."