“Dreaming Massive,” by Abby Aguirre was initially printed within the April 2018 concern of Vogue.
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It is a chilly January night time in D.C., and I am on the Hart Senate Workplace Constructing, trailing U.S. Senator Kamala Harris right into a convention room. Inside, a gaggle of younger Latino congressional staffers has gathered to satisfy the Democratic star from California. When she enters, flanked by aides, and wearing a navy swimsuit, matching ruffled shirt, black pearls, and stilettos that give her petite five-feet-four body a number of further inches of top, the staffers instantly rise from their chairs.
Harris has an air of superstar that, beneath regular circumstances, a freshman senator would not have had time to amass. However this yr has been something however regular. She greets the 20-somethings as if they’re kinfolk at a household reunion: “Hello, everyone! Hello, guys!” Then she notices that one of many staffers remains to be seated, and her voice drops a full octave: “Stand up, man!”
The startled staffer springs to his ft. “Kevin,” he says, extending a hand.
“What’s your final identify?” calls for Harris.
“Figueroa.”
“Thank you!” She shakes his hand. “Kamala Harris.” (That is pronounced “comma-la,” by the best way, and also you’d higher get it proper.)
Harris is a courtroom litigator. Because of this, though she is heat and humorous, she can be snug with confrontation—at house with it, even—and an off-the-cuff dialog can turn out to be a rapid-fire deposition with out warning. However exchanges like this one are additionally tutorials. In Figueroa’s case: Right here is the way you greet an elected official. He will have to know this, you see, if he runs for workplace, or applies to legislation college, or makes any of the life selections Harris expects of him.
She settles right into a chair and tells the group—they’re all coverage fellows with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute—that, in her sophomore yr of faculty at Howard College, she labored as an intern for the senior senator from California on the time, Alan Cranston. “So that you’re taking a look at your future,” Harris says. “He was succeeded by Barbara Boxer, and I succeeded Barbara Boxer. So that you nevaknow!”
Tonight is the State of the Union. In two hours, on the Capitol Constructing, President Trump will deal with the destiny of DACA—the authorized protections that the Obama administration granted to some 700,000 undocumented immigrants, and which Trump rescinded in September. Harris reads the room. “You guys reside in a pivotal second within the historical past of our nation, and also you’re witnessing one thing we have by no means seen earlier than.” The group nods solemnly. Harris says she’s resolved to depart anger behind. “On the finish of the yr, I assumed again to 2017, and I used to be like, ‘Bye, Felisha.’ ” The Friday reference attracts huge laughs. “This yr, I am simply gonna be a joyful warrior.”
Harris calls on the staffers to say what they’re engaged on. It is a heavy listing: deported veterans, bail reform, Puerto Rico reduction, inexpensive housing. One staffer from Arizona stories that she is investigating the hazards posed to pregnant girls in immigration detention facilities. “Arpaio—is he working?” Harris asks, referring to Joe Arpaio, the previous sheriff of Maricopa County recognized for vigilante-style roundups. Sure, the staffer responds, Arpaio has introduced his marketing campaign for Senate. “One more reason to be a joyful warrior!” Harris exclaims.
