The Spin: VP Kamala Harris visits Chicago vaccination site, bakery | Lightfoot says city will meet Biden’s April 19 deadline to open vaccine eligibility | It’s Election Day in the burbs

You might have missed her if you blinked, but Vice President Kamala Harris made a short stop in Chicago today.

Billed as an event to congratulate Chicago on its efforts to equitably distribute the coronavirus vaccine, Harris arrived here as city, state and parts of the nation brace for a new surge in cases. Surrounded by local Democrats including Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Harris spoke at a vaccination site for union members set up by the Chicago Federation of Labor.

She touched on themes of lives and livelihoods lost in the last year and expanding vaccine eligibility as the nation looks ahead with the hope of reenergizing the economy. Harris also touted President Joe Biden’s recently introduced infrastructure plan that, if passed, will no doubt benefit big labor.

Planned or not, it also was a Democratic love fest — a chance for state and local elected officials and Harris to lavish praise on one another, sound bites and photos that might come in handy around election time.

Once Harris departed the event, the political choreography seemed to fall apart. The mayor and governor each had announced a news conference of state and local Democrats. Neither Lightfoot nor Gov. J.B. Pritzker attended.

Lightfoot later said she had to miss it because of a meeting with Harris. Pritzker wasn’t there, his team says, because the mayor’s office said the news conference had been “pulled down.”

U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin, Tammy Duckworth and Chicago U.S. Rep. Danny Davis held forth, briefly answering reporters’ questions over the din of protesters speaking out against Chicago police shooting and killing a 13-year-old boy last week.

It’s also Election Day today in the suburbs and across the state.

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Lightfoot says Chicago will meet President Joe Biden’s call to open vaccine eligibility to all US adults by April 19, but the city still needs more doses

Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit to Chicago came hours after President Joe Biden announced he’s moving up his timeline to make all adults in the U.S eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. It will now be April 19.

Pritzker had announced previously the state would open the door to all adults getting vaccinated on April 12, even questioning why the city couldn’t also expand eligibility on the same date.

The mayor previously said it was a supply-and-demand issue.

Today, Lightfoot said the city would expand eligibility to meet the president’s deadline. Nevertheless, Chicago needs to increase its supply, Lightfoot said. Full story here.

“We need more vaccine from the federal government, but we’re optimistic based upon conversations (that) will happen,” Lightfoot said today.

But she emphasized, “I want to be clear that when we open up on April 19, that doesn’t mean that very day everybody’s going to get access to vaccine.”

The city and the state receive separate vaccine shipments from the government.

In their coverage today, the Tribune’s Gregory Pratt and Rick Pearson write, the “White House also announced that the U.S. has reached 150 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in the first 75 days of the new Biden administration. Biden had originally pledged 100 million doses in the first 100 days of his presidency and has since doubled that goal.”

About Vice President Kamala Harris’ trip to Chicago

The Tribune’s Pratt and Pearson also write, “It was Harris’ first trip to Chicago since the former U.S. senator was sworn in as vice president on Jan. 20 and came at the invitation of Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Harris was joined at the vaccination site, the headquarters of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 399 in Chinatown, by a group of Democrats that included Lightfoot, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and U.S. Rep. Danny Davis.” Full story here.

A light moment: “At the vaccination site, Harris watched as Lucio Polanco, a window washer with Local 1 of the Service Employees International Union, was vaccinated in front of a CFL and Protect Chicago Plus banner,” Pratt and Pearson write.

“‘That’s hard work!’ she said, in response to his job. ‘That’s high-skilled work, it is, a lot of skill involved.’

“Harris asked what the tallest building he’d washed was and he said the Trump Tower. Durbin joked, ‘Bring the sign down.’”

The drama that ensued: “After the event with Harris, Lightfoot, Pritzker and other Democrats were scheduled to convene for a news conference at the field house in nearby Ping Tom Park, but it was abruptly ended when protesters arrived to demonstrate against police over the killing of 13-year-old Adam Toledo,” Pratt and Pearson note.

“Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, 25th, joined protesters in the lobby as they chanted ‘let the aldermen in’ and engaged in a standoff with police.

“Pritzker did not show up after the mayor’s office canceled the event. Davis, Durbin and Duckworth arrived at the field house anyway and spoke briefly before it became clear Lightfoot was not attending. The mayor spoke later with reporters at City Hall.”

The mayor said later the protesters had nothing to do with her decision to skip the news conference. Lightfoot also said the fact that she and the governor didn’t show up for the event shouldn’t be seen as some kind of widening rift between the two. Pritzker in recent days signed into law to measures she opposed.

“The governor and I may not agree on every policy issue, but he and I have worked very, very hard over the time that I have become mayor to make sure that we have a very good working relationship,” Lightfoot said.

Also: Mayor weighs in on apparent road rage shooting this morning on Lake Shore Drive, near Grant Park that’s left 1-year-old injured — At the same City Hall news conference today regarding Harris’ visit, Lightfoot said it was her understanding that the shooting involved crossfire between two vehicles, the Tribune’s Paige Fry, Gregory Pratt and Charles Johnson report.

“Obviously, any time anyone is shot in Chicago it’s tragic, particularly when it’s a child,” Lightfoot said. “It’s mind boggling to me that people carry guns in the way that they do; that they use them in the way that they do; and they use them in that way when children are in the immediate proximity.” Full story here.

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Harris also meets with Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton during Chicago visit

From the Tribune’s Alice Yin: Vice President Harris joined Cook County state’s attorney Kim Foxx and Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton for a snack during Harris’ highly publicized visit to the city, Foxx says.

The three Democrats — all of them the first Black women to hold their respective offices — met in the afternoon at Brown Sugar Bakery in the Park Manor neighborhood on the South Side. For Foxx, it was the first time she spoke with the vice president since election night last year. She said she told Harris that watching her motorcade “blaze a trail” down the Dan Ryan Expressway today was “akin to her blazing the trail that she’s done for me before,” and the two shared a laugh.

During the brief meetup, Harris also applauded Illinois’ criminal justice reform efforts, President Joe Biden’s lofty infrastructure plan and the need for what she described as “water equity” for Black and Latino communities.

The visit follows a friendship between Foxx and Harris that included Harris, a former prosecutor, recording a robocall for Foxx during her heated race for a second term against Republican nominee Patrick O’Brien back in October.

Side note: Harris’ staff preordered a slice of German chocolate cake for her to enjoy at the bakery. Harris said it’s her favorite and gets that for her birthday each year. Harris said she also had been looking forward to enjoying the bakery’s specialty caramel cake.

It’s Election Day in the suburbs

Catch our roundup of the big races to watch here.

And be sure to follow our website for the latest election news and get the latest results here.

Other news: The Illinois State Board of Elections has put the agency’s executive director Steve Sandvoss on paid administrative leave “after he reported being the victim of an online extortion attempt last week,” the board wrote in a news release. Read the (Springfield) State Journal-Register’s story here.

MLB All-Star game heads to Denver after league pulls out of Georgia over new voting laws; comes after social media pitches from Gov. Pritzker, elsewhere

From The Associated Press: “Major League Baseball plans to relocate the All-Star Game to Coors Field in Denver after pulling this year’s Midsummer Classic from Atlanta over objections to sweeping changes to Georgia’s voting laws, according to a person familiar with the decision.” Full story here.

Last week, after MLB announced it would pull up stakes in Atlanta, Pritzker lauded the league’s decision and tweeted in part “our baseball stadiums are among the most storied in the world. We would welcome the All-Star Game safely and enthusiastically.” He also pointed to pointed to legislation he signed making sure secure ballot drop boxes and curbside voting — rolled out amid the pandemic — are permanent in Illinois.

House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch joined Pritzker on social media, saying Wrigley Field would be a great spot.

Maybe next time.

Other news: Former Illinois state Sen. Annazette Collins pleads not guilty to federal tax charges, the Tribune’s Megan Crepeau and Jason Meisner report.

Thanks for reading The Spin, the Tribune’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. Have a tip? Email host Lisa Donovan at ldonovan@chicagotribune.com.

Twitter @byldonovan