Vice President Kamala Harris, who hasn't been seen much in public after losing her election bid to President-elect Donald Trump, left Washington, D.C., Tuesday night with her husband to travel to Hawaii, a move that raised some eyebrows.
"She's never been the party leader," an unnamed Democrat strategist close to the White House told The Washington Examiner, the outlet reported Wednesday. "She couldn't get through a primary on her own, so it's fitting that she'd slink off to Hawaii while the party falls apart."
Harris' office wouldn't answer questions about why she will be in Hawaii or when she and her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, will return to Washington.
The Honolulu Star-Adviser reported Tuesday that the couple will vacation on Hawaii's Big Island for about a week.
The Federal Aviation Administration has imposed temporary flight restrictions for "VIP Movement" from 7:15 p.m. Tuesday through noon on Nov. 25 for the areas of Kona and Waimea.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden, who took a lower profile after he ended his reelection bid, is back in the international spotlight. He attended international meetings at the G20 and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation last week and agreed, after some months, to allow Ukraine to fire Western-supplied weapons into Russian territory.
Harris, meanwhile, has had just a handful of public appearances. She joined Biden and his wife, Jill, for two Veterans Day memorial services at Arlington National Cemetery.
The next day, she was at the White House for a private lunch with Biden and was seen speaking with administration staffers.
Harris' official schedule does not give much insight into what official duties she's been performing after her election loss and during the lame-duck period before Trump takes office in January. Instead, it says that she will be in Washington, D.C., to "receive briefings and conduct internal meetings with staff."
A Harris senior aide told NBC News that she will still be available to cast tiebreaking votes while Senate Democrats work to approve Biden's judicial nominees before Republicans take control of the Senate.
Another aide, meanwhile, said such votes will wait until next month when the vice president returns from her trip.