Twenty years ago, inside a humble one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, Kamala Harris might’ve one day dreamed of running for president.
Last week, a group of Harris supporters gathered in the same apartment — now an Airbnb rental — to watch her first debate as the Democratic nominee, according to a report from The New York Times.
Before she was in the national spotlight, Harris purchased the one-bedroom condo for $489,000 in 2004, according to an old Zillow listing.
Harris served as the city’s district attorney from 2004 until 2011. She was attorney general of California, then a senator. She sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, but dropped out. Joe Biden tapped her to be his running mate later that year.
In 2021, software engineer Zhengtao Ji, who goes by David, paid for $860,000 for the apartment to use as an investment property, but he wasn’t told until late in the process that Harris was the seller, according to the Times.
Ji has listed the apartment on Airbnb with a minimum of 30-night stays and advertises the “amazing opportunity to live inside the home previously owned by Vice President Kamala Harris.”
He’s even added a commemorative wall with photos from her career, including the day she was sworn in as vice president, according to the listing.
The short-term rental runs around $6,000 for a minimum 30-night stay and is currently available for the month of October, according to the Airbnb listing.
The home is largely undecorated, with plain beige walls and simple blue-and-white furniture. The outdoor patio space is only big enough for a table with one chair.
That hasn’t stopped at least one Harris supporter from booking it.
The Times reported that venture capitalist Lata Setty booked the former Harris residence this past month, using the space as an informal hub to support the campaign.
Setty served South Indian dishes to guests as they watched Harris debate former President Donald Trump, the Times said.
Setty, a former lawyer and intellectual property officer, is the founder of the How Women Invest funds I & II, which puts money into the financial services, energy, and information technology sectors, according to Pitchbook.
The Times reported that Setty called Harris a “rock star” when talking with other supporters at the debate party.
Harris has owned homes on both coasts, including a one in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles and a condo in downtown Washington, DC. She currently lives in the vice president’s official residence: the Naval Observatory in DC.
Read the full article here
