WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris was marinating in a fresh stew of commentary about her public polling that showed her home state approval numbers were almost as dismal as her national ones. Russia had just invaded Ukraine, forcing the vice president to accelerate her on-the-job training as the administration faced a defining foreign policy crisis.
It was the kind of week that has become routine for Harris, replete with stress and scrutiny. But for about an hour on Feb. 28, a cool and cloudy Monday, it felt like the old times, as she hosted 11 close friends and supporters in her ceremonial office in a building next to the White House. They checked out a new bust of Thurgood Marshall in the corner, shared pictures and hugs, and told her to stay strong.
“Of course, we addressed her as Madam Vice President, but she was Kamala to us,” said Amelia Ashley-Ward, a Harris friend who is also the publisher of the Sun-Reporter, the Bay Area Black newspaper that gave a greenhorn California politician one of her first big political endorsements. “I assured her that I still had her back.”
