In one very real sense, the new Senator from California has the second greatest level of democratic legitimacy in the U.S. Senate. Her Senate votes carry the backing of more citizens than any Senator other than the Senior member from her state, and she ranks, in my book, behind her compatriot only because seniority, rightly or wrongly, does carry clout there.
In a more realistic sense, here’s where she stacks up. She is new, she is young, she is a woman, and she is a member of the current minority party. Among many others of that self styled “elite one hundred", these things are enough to make Senator Bottom Feeder come all unglued when she legitimately tries to assert herself on behalf of the majority of the ten per cent of the U.S. population who were eligible to vote in the election which Sen. Harris won (second largest voter base in any federal election in the entire country).
So, for example, you have some ding dong from (insert State name here) who may well know the first names of every voter on his side (since many of them represent a relative handful of folks), and he will feel justified in trying to knock Sen. Harris down a peg, keep her down, really. After all, he is not young, he is not female, he is not A Democrat, and by god he is not newly elected. And our form of government is so screwed up that Bottom Feeders will be able to throw enough mud at the only other Senator with 3o,ooo,ooo constituents that Harris is going to have to spend way to much of her time and talents playing catch up, instead of swinging the clout that Californians rightly, “one person, one vote” wise, deserve.
So, Senator Harris, please, please, please bang that drum. Talk about being in the minority! Start with least populace, and stack up states until cumulative population equals the total number of souls in Cali. Those are all Senators whose total vote you (or at least the two of you) should be able to personally neutralize (since there is probably not a Progressive in the bunch).
This may so far be nowhere on your agenda Senator Harris, but a push for parity would be a push for The Second American Constitutional Convention! Would be a push finally for making all Californians first class citizens!