Like many D.C. dwellers, Jasmine Clemons never saw the need to venture north to visit the nation’s Capital Beltway neighbor, Baltimore.

“The closest I ever got was going to BWI airport,” the 40-year-old said, laughing.

A burgeoning senator named Kamala Harris changed all of that.

Clemons dropped her life in the nation’s capital for a downtown apartment in Charm City filled with long workdays sprinkled in with visits to local haunts recommended by native-Baltimore staffers during her time working for the campaign.

The goal was clear: Get the first woman of Black and Asian descent elected president of the United States. Even though Clemons and the rest of the bright-eyed, idealist crop of Harris staff were unsuccessful in that campaign, they knew Harris was bound for bigger and better things.

And while many of the staffers left Baltimore when Harris dropped out of the race — opening the door for her to make that same history as vice president — a handful of folks like Clemons decided to remain in the Baltimore area. They’re now applying the infectious, youthful energy they captured working on the Harris campaign throughout Maryland — often in the political sphere.

“The campaign took a chance on me and put a lot of Black and brown people in leadership roles. Them believing in me doing that kind of work gave me a level of confidence in my talent that I didn’t have before,” said Clemons, who was Harris’ southeast political director. She now works as Board of Public Works director for Comptroller Brooke Lierman after a three-year stint working with Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr.

Many of Harris’ former staffer who worked out of her Baltimore headquarters, which was nestled near the corner of Charles and Lombard streets downtown, acknowledge that while being disappointed Harris dropped out of the race in 2020, they knew she had a bright political future.

“I’m just thankful now that folks are seeing now what I knew in 2019. What a lot of folks believed in in 2019,” said Julian C. Hamer, co-founder and co-owner of Fearless Video Productions, a Baltimore and Seattle-based video production company. Hamer worked as a senior producer and road cinematographer for Harris’ campaign.

Baltimore was a great location for Harris’ campaign headquarters, former staffers said: It was important to be on the East Coast for the news cycle; it was affordable for staff to stay while living on tight campaign budgets; it was in good proximity to “battleground” states; and it was so close to D.C. so that staff based there could easily commute.

Roger Hartley, dean of the College of Public Affairs at the University of Baltimore, said he’s not surprised by the former Harris staffers who remained in Baltimore — especially those who already had connections to the region prior to her campaign.

“Many of the staffers — who were from Baltimore — weren’t interested in leaving and they wanted to stay home and make home better,” he said. “They also had regional networks here. It’s home. And it’s also familiar. They know that they can do that here. And a lot of the federal work they could do was only 35 miles away.”

Hartley sees many parallels between Harris’ former staffers making an impact on local political landscapes to what happened with Barack Obama staffers following his first presidential election.

“They wanted to change the world. They wanted to change America. They worked for his campaign and afterwards they wanted to do it themselves. You would find that they are all leading everywhere,” Hartley said.

Harris was able to attract both national and local talent to Baltimore — many who previously had election and political experience. The fast-paced expectations and best practices at the national level were absorbed by many of the staffers, better preparing them for future jobs, Hartley said.

“Only high-level people get those positions to begin with. When they come back, they are even better than they already were,” he added.

Donovan Hatcher, 34, fondly remembers the “motivating” energy of the 2020 Harris campaign.

He worked as part of Harris’ advance team, which scouted locations before visits from the then-upcoming candidate.

Hatcher jumped at the opportunity to work for Harris, who he had supported during her earlier successful California attorney general run.

“I’ve only supported women candidates on national politics. I’ve followed very dominant women,” Hatcher said, touting names like Elizabeth Warren, Hillary Clinton and Harris. “I’ve always felt like America is racist and sexist. It’s time to change history. It’s an opportunity for America to change the page. It’s against where we typically go — and that’s voting for men.”

A desire to better support his hometown of Baltimore made the Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School and University of Baltimore grad stay after his stint with the Harris campaign.

“I just feel there is a lot of work to be done in my city. There are a lot of things that need addressing. With the right leadership, Baltimore can turn that ship,” said Hatcher, who has worked in government relations for the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s office for four years. Hatcher said he intends to volunteer on the weekends to help Harris campaign in Pennsylvania, perhaps the most important state in the presidential race.

Clemons, the Washington, D.C., transplant, said she immediately fell in love with Baltimore, and that’s why she stayed.

“You can be yourself in Baltimore ... It’s a good personality fit for me. I stand ten toes down,” she said. “It wasn’t my intent to stay. I thought it was going to be a small stint. But I’m still here.”

The rigors of the Harris campaign better prepared Clemons for future jobs — the first under the Olszewski administration during the beginning of the pandemic response and most recently for Lierman, the state’s first elected woman comptroller.

“I have a tireless boss and I can keep up with her because of working on the campaign,” Clemons said.

Keenen Geter, 33, continued to work with Harris and the Biden administration following her dropping out of the race.

“I was sad, it was hard, but afterwards I was ready to support Joe Biden,” said Geter, who also worked with the 2020 Democratic National Convention before eventually joining the Biden-Harris 2020 campaign.

“Working on the campaign was great, the candidate was amazing and inspiring,” said Geter, who being a Baltimore native would organize outings for other staffers in addition to twice hosting staffers at his house for a holiday event and team bonding. “The energy felt like family; it was also a diverse campaign.”

Geter, who managed Harris’ travel logistics and handled payment of advance staff, vendors and venues, translated those skills to his current job as advance for the secretary of defense.

The Harris campaign provided Fearless Video Productions’ Hamer the opportunity to launch her production company six days after the inauguration — mostly focusing on “progressive storytelling” while trying to work with a network of Black and brown women and femme-presenting people.

“It was just a really special and unique experience to be a part of something so historic. And monumental. And scary at the same time,” said Hamer, who was responsible for directing Harris’ intro video at the DNC.

Hamer has continued to work in political circles on event coverage and storytelling projects for the DNC, Biden, and Obama.

“We still have a continued relationship with some of our friends from this experience,” she said in reference to the 2020 campaign.

Many of the former staffers keep in contact.

“All of our group chats have been blowing up with excitement about her candidacy, and I think we all recognize that it’s unlikely she would be in the position she is in now if not for the work we all did together on the 2019 campaign from the Baltimore office on Charles Street,” said Patrick Denny, 28, who worked as a finance associate, a junior fundraising role, during the Harris campaign. Denny fondly remembers hanging out with other staffers after work at the nearby Water Street Tavern on Light Street.

Shekinah Henderson, who worked as a postproduction coordinator for Harris’ digital team, said she would jump at the chance to work with Harris again — especially with the same team that she worked with then. Many of those staffers Henderson keeps in contact with via the KDH Alumni email group.

“I get a lot of updates on VP Harris from there, too,” the 32-year-old Baltimore native said. Henderson now lives in Upper Marlboro and works as a video editor in Washington, D.C.

“It would be great if we could finish what we started, which is help get VP Kamala Harris as the first Black woman to become president of the United States,” Henderson said.

Denny, who is now is the finance director for Gov. Wes Moore’s administration, recalled the 2020 campaign being an exhilarating experience — particularly as a junior staffer where there was “a lot quickly” in a “great environment.”

“We were all really proud of the work we were doing, and the candidate we were working for, and all really believed in her leadership,” he said. “We all left with our heads held high, and proud of Senator Harris for the campaign she ran.”

Shortly after Harris’ campaign wrapped, Denny left Baltimore for another job, but was “thrilled to have the opportunity” to return to Baltimore to work for Moore’s campaign in the spring of 2021.

As to Harris’ chances of winning? Denny said the “groundswell of energy across the country” speaks for itself.

“She’s going to win,” he said.