‘Is that Beyoncé?' Kamala Harris makes her latest cameo at a high school graduation in LA
COMPTON, California — The California Democratic Party did not make Kamala Harris' calendar — but the graduating high school seniors at Compton High School did.
It was par for the course for Harris in her post-vice-presidential limbo, as she contemplates whether to run for California governor in 2026 or try again for the White House in 2028 — or something else entirely.
More than six months after her defeat, Harris is mostly eschewing overt political gatherings, opting instead for cameos that reveal little about her political future.
On Thursday in Compton, it was an appearance — but no address — at a high school graduation, where Harris' idling black SUV attracted notice even before she did, with some wondering what VIP could be hiding behind the tinted windows.
'Is that Beyoncé?' one onlooker asked.
Harris has been tight-lipped about her plans and skipped a chance to hobnob with California Democratic faithful at her state party's convention last weekend.
She has given a handful of speeches denouncing President Donald Trump and promising to stay engaged. But mostly her public presence has been sightings about town — at Los Angeles restaurants, an Oakland food hall, Broadway shows — and an international jaunt to speak at an Australian real estate conference.
Harris didn't give a speech during her visit to Compton High School Thursday morning but spent the entirety of the hour-long ceremony on stage before the nearly 300 graduates and their families who filled the bleachers of the new campus' football field.
'It's not often you get somebody from Compton North — Oakland — hanging out with us here in the CPT,' said Micah Ali, president of the Compton Unified school board, from the stage. He later gave her an honorary degree as the 'first graduate' of the school's new campus.
Much like Harris' hometown, Compton is historically a hub for the state's Black population, though the city south of Los Angeles has seen profound demographic shifts. Compton High is now roughly 85 percent Latino and 13 percent Black.
Harris was invited to the celebration by Myshay Causey, a senior and student board member of the Compton Unified School District. In April, Causey worked at an event attended by Douglas Emhoff, the former second gentleman, and handed him a handwritten note for his wife that described how Harris had inspired her.
On a subsequent phone call with Harris, Causey, who is headed to Cornell University in the fall, invited the former vice president to attend her graduation.
In her speech, Causey said pride in her fellow graduates inspired her to scribble a 'full-page essay' about her high school experiences.
She wrote about 'how if anyone showed up here at Compton High, they would be so proud of the people coming out of and surprised because it's way different than what other people have ever said about us,' Causey said.
Harris got several enthusiastic rounds of applause from the students and their families, and she was swarmed with selfie requests once the ceremony wrapped. The crowd's response to Harris stood in stark contrast to the tepid reception her possible candidacy received among Democrats at their confab in Anaheim last weekend.
But Harris is still a major figure in California and has shown she can attract adoring crowds before: Last Easter, she attended services in Inglewood, where she was greeted by a cheering throng — the kind of support any of the current governor hopefuls would have a harder time mustering.
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