Something really weird happened.
So most people in Washington are part of this weird incestuous in-group where you have to spend a ton of time around money-men and lobbyists and consultants to the point where you don't even know how to interact as a normal person anymore. Everything you say is fake. Every appearance is stage managed. The media and DNC and whoever are pretty good at sniffing out people who are genuine (Bernie or AOC) and shitting on them relentlessly, to the point where it's difficult for them to get anywhere near power.
Harris is different. Of course she's a politician, but she worked her way up in politics and held jobs where you had to perform for your employers as opposed to just win elections and then it was completely up to you until the next election what you wanted to do with the position or what to do on any given day. She hasn't been in that Washington machine for long enough to need to be taught how much milk costs or what "streaming" is on the internet, or anything like that. She laughs on TV during interviews. She has stepkids. That's why her tactics are so different -- it's not based on this pod-person understanding of American life or of "the voters" as if they were some kind of brain damaged alien species or advanced type of livestock or something.
It is basically only by accident that she was allowed near the levers of power. I don't know how it will turn out, but if she does get elected, it could turn out to be really, really good.