WASHINGTON — As Democrats celebrated an abortion rights win last week, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke confidently from the center of an ornate room at the White House compound, surrounded by Cabinet secretaries and other top officials, with President Joe Biden chiming in remotely while sidelined by the coronavirus.
It was the kind of prominent role many expected Harris to assume when she took the oath of office 19 months ago — one that has so far eluded her.
Harris’ opportunity in the spotlight — albeit on a sleepy summer afternoon — came courtesy of voters in reliably conservative Kansas, who voted overwhelmingly in a statewide referendum hours earlier to protect the state’s constitutional right to an abortion.
