An Evening of Bipartisanship: Vice President Harris’ Women Of The Senate Dinner

On Tuesday night, Vice President Kamala Harris hosted the women of the U.S. Senate at her residence. Twenty-one of the twenty-four of us — Republicans and Democrats — were able to attend and honored to learn that our event was the first official event that the Vice President hosted at her new home. While many of us worked with Vice President Harris when she was in the Senate, to come together for the first time with a woman Vice President made for a historic and meaningful night.

While it may be hard for some to believe, we didn’t spend the evening talking politics. It was a night for building relationships. While we might not always see eye to eye, the evening was a chance for all of us to connect and a reminder that there’s a lot that we all agree on, and that our constituents have much in common.

Sitting around the table, I was struck by the trailblazers before me. Senator Joni Ernst is the first female combat veteran to serve in the Senate joined by Senator Tammy Duckworth, also a combat veteran and the first disabled woman elected to Congress. Their heroism never ceases to inspire me. Senator Tammy Baldwin is the first openly LGBTQ person to serve in the Senate while Senator Catherine Cortez Masto made history as the first Latina in the Senate. Senator Fischer is the first woman to serve from Nebraska and to my knowledge, the only female cattle rancher to serve in the Senate too, and my friend and senior Senator Jeanne Shaheen is the first woman to be elected both Governor and Senator.

Tuesday night was a powerful testament to what it means to be an American and what we can do to get results for the people of our country when we come together.