No ‘shrinking violet.’ After 20 years of friendship, NC’s Ross throws support behind Harris

On the day the door opened for a new Democratic presidential nominee, Rep. Deborah Ross didn’t hesitate to offer her endorsement for Vice President Kamala Harris to lead the country.

That wasn’t just because Harris was the Democratic Party’s favorite to win.

It was because of a relationship that stretches back 20 years.

“I like that what you see is what you get, and she absolutely puts her heart and soul into what she does,” Ross said.

Ross said she finds it comical that former President Donald Trump insults Harris’ intelligence because she has always seen Harris as “whip smart.”

“The thing about her is, there are a lot of smart people, there are a lot of policy people, there are a lot of good manipulators in politics,” Ross said. “She cares. She has this fundamental desire to make something better, to figure out what’s wrong with it and to right that wrong, and that served her well as a prosecutor, as an attorney general, but I don’t think she just does it as a job or to say, ‘I succeeded and I’m the best.’ I think she does it because she really cares.”

Meeting Kamala Harris

Ross got a near front-row seat to Harris’ career progression in the early 2000s after they both attended the Rodel Fellowship, a leadership development program for elected officials offered by the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank.

At the time, Harris was district attorney of San Francisco. Their fellowship also included several other rising stars in the Democratic Party: Eric Garcetti, future mayor of Los Angeles, future Rep. Greg Stanton, a Democrat from Arizona, and future Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was considered a favorite to be Harris’ running mate..

As part of the fellowship, the group traveled to Aspen, Colorado, and New Orleans, as well as the Middle East, China and India.

“She and I had a good connection,” Ross said. “When we were there, there were more men than women. Both of us were lawyers, and so we traveled together, but we also did some little side trips together, like we went jewelry shopping in the Arab market in Jerusalem together.”

Ross was quick to note that she and Harris are not “besties” and she’s not in Harris’ inner circle, but they have a relationship that has continued. Harris ran for Senate the year of Ross’ failed campaign against former Sen. Richard Burr. Harris and Ross often saw each other on the campaign trail.

Once they marched from Shaw University, in Ross’ congressional district, to the polls.

And Ross has met with Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff in both Washington and North Carolina.

“She has always been very clear about her values, always willing to express what is important in the moment,” Ross said, of Harris. “A lot of the leadership training had all this reading and talking about moral dilemmas, talking about how to bring people together. She wasn’t a shrinking violet. There were some people who didn’t do the reading or talk, and she was always completely engaged.”

Hearing that Harris could become the next president, after President Joe Biden abruptly ended his campaign, was not a shock to Ross.

“I think in that group, we all saw each other doing something more,” Ross said. “So I am not surprised at all.”

A ‘supercharged’ Democratic National Convention

This week marks the third time Ross has gone to the Democratic National Convention during her political career.

She attended the 2012 convention in Charlotte and the 2016 convention in Philadelphia.

But this convention is different, Ross said.

“There is just something supercharged about this convention,” Ross said. “The energy is over the top. The people are coming in to show their support, coming in from everywhere. There are people who are coming without credentials because they just need to be there for this historic moment.”

Ross said during her first convention there was an excitement about reelecting President Barack Obama, and a lot of people attended the convention because of that, but this gathering is on another level.

“I think we’ve been pretty much pent up since 2016 … and in 2020 there was no convention,” Ross said. “I think it’s a combination of eight years and getting through the trauma of the Trump presidency, getting through the trauma of the pandemic, getting through the trauma of Jan. 6, and there’s just, it’s true, there’s joy and there’s energy and there’s excitement, and people want to be part of turning the page in history, and people want to be part of electing the first woman president. It’s just been unbelievable.”

Ross said, for her, she was excited for the possibility that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could become the first female president, but with Harris there’s a different level of excitement.

“She’s my generation,” Ross said. “To have somebody who is the first female president, but also somebody who I know, who is my contemporary, I just feel real pride for my generation.”

Winning North Carolina

Democrats see North Carolina as a key state for Harris to win to maintain the White House.

Ross said that’s been clear just attending North Carolina’s delegation breakfasts at the convention throughout the week. The meal has brought in big names to address the state’s Democrats.

“North Carolina is definitely an attraction,” Ross said.

Throughout this campaign cycle Democrats have invested time and resources into North Carolina, bringing in surrogates on a regular basis to stump for Biden, and then Harris. That includes the president, vice president and their spouses as frequent visitors.

Ross said the state seems to be at play in a way she’s never seen before. Looking back at the 2008 election, when Obama won North Carolina, the first time for a Democrat since 1976, that took Ross’ party by surprise. This time, Ross said, Democrats already believe it can happen.

She added that having statewide elections with open seats, including the governor, the lieutenant governor, the superintendent of public instruction and the attorney general, has brought together people from every level of campaigning to work together to drive voters to the polls.

Ross said Democrats now need to take the excitement and energy they felt at the convention and bring it back to North Carolina.

“What we should be doing in Chicago is getting the energy, to bring it back and put it on the streets, and put it on the streets until the polls close on Election Day, because it’s going to be a close election,” Ross said. “We know that there are going to be a lot of election disputes, and the only way, really, to make this clear is to win by a big margin, and so we have work to do.”

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