Vice President Kamala Harris broke some bipartisan bread with 21 of the 24 women serving in the U.S. Senate Tuesday night, hosting them for dinner at her Naval Observatory home.
The women noshed on a ‘summer garden tower,’ roasted Mahi-mahi, paired with California wines and for dessert had warm strawberry rhubarb croustades and vanilla ice cream, according to a menu tweeted out by Sen. Deb Fischer, a Nebraska Republican.
Harris, who’s known for her love of cooking, made the women cheese puffs as an appetizer, shared Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat.
The vice president is coming off a week of bad press over her handling of questions about why she hasn’t visited the U.S.-Mexico border.
She was tasked by President Joe Biden to run point with the Northern Triangle countries and Mexico – and deal with the underlying conditions of the migration surge.
Biden also put in her in charge of protecting voting rights, with legislation currently sitting in the U.S. Senate.
However at least one key vote, Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, wasn’t in attendance. Sinema broke her foot running a marathon on Sunday. Additionally two Republicans skipped the dinner – Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming.
Vice President Kamala Harris hosted 21 of the 24 female U.S. senators to dinner at her Naval Observatory home Tuesday night
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (left) takes a group shot of the bipartisan group of female senators who gathered at the vice president’s residence
The residence of the vice president is on the grounds of the Naval Observatory in Northwest Washington, D.C. The house was recently updated before Vice President Kamala Harris could move in
Dinner consisted of a ‘summer garden tower,’ roasted Mahi-mahi and warm strawberry-rhubarb croustades with vanilla ice cream, with California wine pairings
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (left) shared a photo of herself with Vice President Kamala Harris (right) on Twitter
Sen. Debbie Stabenow shared several images from the dinner, including the cheese puffs which she said were made by Vice President Kamala Harris
‘Senator Hyde-Smith appreciated the Vice President’s invitation, but regretted due to a previous commitment,’ a spokesperson for Hyde-Smith told DailyMail.com.
Representatives for Lummis and Sinema have yet to respond to DailyMail.com’s requests for comment.
Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn described the dinner as a ‘lovely event’ and an ‘evening of relationship building,’ telling Fox News’ Sean Hannity that it ‘wasn’t a policy discussion at all.’
‘But if she had brought up policies, I would’ve loved to have said, “Madame Vice President, you need to get to the border. You need to talk to the Border Patrol,”‘ Blackburn added.
Last week, Harris went on her first international trip – to Guatemala and Mexico – and was pilloried for her responses on why she also hadn’t made a trek to the border yet.
Republicans have attacked Harris for weeks for not visiting border states, with former President Donald Trump announcing Tuesday he would make the trip to Texas at the end of the month.
Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will visit the border region on June 30.
‘We went from detain-and-remove to catch-and-release. We went from having border security that was the envy of the world to a lawless border that is now pitied around the world,’ Trump complained in a press release. ‘Biden and Harris have handed control of our border over to cartels, criminals, and coyotes,’ the ex-president said.
Senators attending included (from left) Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Debbie Stabenow, Dianne Feinstein, Susan Collins and Maria Cantwell
Another group shot of the women of the Senate dinner hosted by Vice President Kamala Harris. These women-only Senate dinners have been happening for years
Harris’ Tuesday night fete was part of a longstanding tradition as the women of the Senate have been gathering together for bipartisan dinners for years.
Before being picked by Biden to be vice president, Harris served in the Senate since 2017.
She now serves as the Democrats’ tie-breaking vote.
Over the years, the female senators have credited the dinners of helping them make progress across the aisle on legislation they favor.
They’ve also occasionally given out details about the gatherings.
In 2013, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, divulged to Washington Whispers that she had been tasked to buy Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, ‘wedding night lingerie’ as a gift from the group.
Collins married Thomas Daffron in August of 2012.
‘I bought a beautiful piece, but no, I can’t describe it because that’s private,’ Gillibrand said giggling. ‘It was elegant, like Susan, she deserves something elegant and beautiful, exactly like she is.’