When JD Vance, his wife Usha and their three young children move into the Naval Observatory residence on Jan. 20, it will be their first time inside the white Queen Anne-style mansion that has been home to vice presidents since the 1970s.
Vice President Kamala Harris has not extended an invitation for a formal sit-down or tour, multiple Democratic and Republican sources told CBS News.
In November, Usha Vance, via intermediaries, reached out to staff for the home’s current occupants, Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, seeking details including what they would need to childproof it. Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel Vance are all under the age of eight.
The questions were initially rebuffed by a Harris political appointee. But there has since been communication between the Vance team and Navy aides who oversee the residence.
Before Christmas, Navy officials provided an overview of the house to discuss the layout of the residence, logistics and practicalities of the move-in, and to help answer any questions the Vances had, a person familiar with the call said.
Usha Vance spoke with Emhoff for about 40 minutes last week, sources said. Harris sources said that arrangements are underway to accommodate the Vance children.
Spokespeople for Vance and Harris declined to comment.
But people close to Harris say she was never afforded an opportunity to visit the home before she was sworn in in 2021. However, she took office during the COVID outbreak, just after the Capitol riot — and Donald Trump had refused to admit he had been defeated in the election.
Advisers to then-Vice President Mike Pence dispute that an invitation was never offered. They say he quietly gave Harris and Emhoff a chance to visit in the waning days of the Trump administration. The invitation came discreetly because Trump resisted accommodating the incoming administration.
No formal sit-down between Pence and Harris ever took place, Democratic and Republican sources said.
People close to Harris defended her decision not to invite Vance to visit, a tradition that was broken during the Trump-Pence administration. Harris’ team has been focused on an overseas trip that was canceled and on the California wildfires.
In 2016, then-Vice President Biden and his wife Jill hosted the Pences at the Northwest Washington residence not long after the election.
“We’re just very grateful for the hospitality today of the vice president and second lady,” Pence said at the time.
Harris did not move into the Naval Observatory residence until April 2021, about three months after being sworn in, because the house was in need of repairs.
