70 | Rolling Stone | August 2019
SHAYAN ASGHARNIA/AUGUSTKamala’s
Moment
M
ANNY’S, A POPULAR RESTAURANT and community space in San Francisco’s Mission District, is
packed on Pride Weekend, just two days after the first Democratic debates. A perspiring crowd
pours out of the doors and bay windows, buzzing about the homecoming of a Bay Area daughter
who triumphed on the debate stage and is suddenly the talk of the political world. But the guest
of honor is making them wait. She’s huddled with the owner of the place, Manny Yekutiel, in an office that lit-
erally used to be a broom closet — not the most picturesque setting for a heart-to-heart with a potential future
president of the United States. ¶ Sen. Kamala Harris listens to Yekutiel, the son of a Brooklyn-born lawyer and an
Afghan Orthodox Jewish rabbi, as he tells his story about how his family reacted to his coming out. ¶ “She held
my hand, and we had a very powerful moment,” Yekutiel tells me later. “Like a lot of politicians, real emotional
connection is what fuels her. Selfies and stump speeches, that’s not what gives them energy. What does is being
in a broom closet with a small-business owner who is disowned by his father, and being able to look him in the
eye and say, ‘I got you. I’m Kamala Harris, I’m running for president. I’m one of the most powerful women in pol-
itics, but I’m here for you.’ ” ¶ Since the first Democratic debate, something different is happening with Harris.The California senator is rising
fast in the polls — will her past as
a prosecutor sink her campaign
or be her biggest strength as she
makes her case against Trump?By Jamil Smith