“When I first saw the invite, I thought it was some type of spam, some type of ad,” the Fort Dodge resident said.

It was neither spam or an ad. It was a real invitation that resulted in Washington representing Fort Dodge at a holiday reception at the official residence of the vice president in Washington, D.C.

“To me, the most important part was Fort Dodge having a seat at the table,” she said.

When Harris was a senator from California seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, Washington introduced her during a campaign appearance at Second Baptist Church. She said when she briefly spoke to the vice president at the reception, Harris remembered her.

-Submitted photo
Sherry Washington stands outside Vice President Kamala Harris’s residence in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 11.

“I was tongue-tied after that,” Washington said.

“Sometimes people take political office and you never hear from them again,” she added. “She wasn’t that way.”

That invitation Harris sent sat in Washington’s inbox for a day or two before she read it again. She then realized it was legitimate. She remembers thinking “Oh boy, I think this is the real deal.”

She replied and was confirmed to be admitted to the Dec. 11 event in the vice president’s official home, a mansion on the northwest side of the nation’s capital built in 1893 for the superintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory. She took her cousin, Alvin Naylor, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, as her guest.

They flew to Washington on Dec. 9. The next day, they did some sightseeing. They started at the National Museum of African-American History. Washington said a visitor would need two days to see everything in there. She said they went through one floor of the museum and about half of another.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
This booklet and Christmas ornament show the official residence of the vice president in Washington, D.C. Sherry Washington, of Fort Dodge, received them during a Dec. 11 holiday reception there.

“It is very well done,” she said, “There is so much history.”

Then they went to the Washington Monument.

The reception at the vice president’s residence was a two-hour event in the evening of Dec. 11. It was held in a ballroom on the first floor. Washington estimated that there were about 200 people there.

“Everyone was very friendly, everyone was very approachable,” she said.

“I just wanted to sit back and take it all in,” she added.

Harris came in and gave a quick speech. Then everyone got in line to get their photo taken with the vice president.

When Washington got her turn, Harris said she remembered her from her Iowa visit.

“I respect her for thinking of me and thinking of little Fort Dodge,” she said.

Everyone who attended the reception was given a Christmas ornament that is a small replica of the vice president’s home.