№ 739. ‘I eat no for breakfast.’

Washington Post

Just this month at the Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans, Ms. Harris cut a striking figure, appearing confident and clad in an electric blue suit, as she talked up the administration’s accomplishments on issues such as student debt and Black maternal health and made a case for embracing one’s inner power and ambition, despite not looking like others in the room. “People in your life will tell you, though, it’s not your time. It’s not your turn. Nobody like you has done it before. Don’t you ever listen to that,” she said, adding: “I like to say, ‘I eat no for breakfast.’”

The news of Ms. Harris’s potential candidacy electrified the network of organizations and members who have pushed for increasing the ranks of women in politics and have prepared to support her. Ms. Harris, they said, had substantial leadership experience and offered to be a powerful voice at a time when democracy and women’s rights are under assault.

“It’s almost Hollywood — who takes on a villain who has been outed as a convicted felon, except for a prosecutor?” she said. “Who takes on this villain who has a string of extraordinarily sexist actions other than a woman? Who takes on this villain who has made racism his day and his night and scapegoating his central premise and promise but a woman of color?”