My wife Diana and I met Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, when both Kamala and I were getting ready to run for Senate. Getting ready to run meant traveling all over the country to raise money because running for the Senate takes a lot of money!

It’s kind of like running a marathon, but instead of water, you're accepting donations from people you don’t know. Kamala won her race, and I came in second in mine. Even though we were both busy, we stayed in touch and became friends, though not super close, because that’s common in politics.

After my Senate race, I took a step back from politics. For a while, I didn't have a job and was focusing on growing a beard, going to therapy, and trying to help around the house. I had a lot of work to do on my mental health after my time in Afghanistan with the Army. I’d been putting off getting help for years, and it finally caught up with me.

Even though I lost my Senate race, I was still involved in politics and was one of many Democrats thinking about running for president in 2020. But in 2018, I decided not to run for president and took a break from public life to focus on getting better.

When I made that decision, it felt like everyone I knew—whether famous or not—reached out to check on me. But after a while, those calls stopped as people moved on with their lives and I disappeared from the news and social media.

Kamala was one of the few people who kept calling. She checked in on me regularly, sometimes just to chat, and other times to ask for my thoughts before she spoke to a veterans’ group or other organizations. I don’t know how much she needed my advice, but the fact that she asked made me feel important at a time when I was feeling forgotten. I really appreciated that.

I remember one time I was shopping at Costco when Kamala called. By that time, she was deep into her 2020 campaign, and she wanted to talk to me about some veteran policy ideas. After we talked about that, she asked everyone else to hang up so we could just catch up.

Kamala was genuinely interested in how my mental health was doing. By then, I was feeling much better and had a new job helping veterans at a nonprofit. At some point, I mentioned I was thinking about helping with TV appearances for her campaign. It was a big decision for me, since I had been away from politics for almost two years.

The reason I’m sharing this story is that I’m excited about Kamala Harris not just because she’s smart, hardworking, and believes in the right things, but because she’s also a kind and respectful person. She makes people feel seen and valued, and that’s something special.

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(via Jason Kander , NBC News)