Vice President Kamala Harris received an unfriendly greeting from a spotted lanternfly after her plane landed in Pittsburgh this week.

Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato quickly neutralized the threat. She brushed the bug off of Harris’ pants suit and stomped on it.

“I’ve done several tarmac greetings now, and most of them are very official and uneventful,” she told TribLive on Thursday.

— Sara Innamorato (@Innamo) September 26, 2024

Innamorato said the spotted lanternfly initially flew on her, and Lt. Gov. Austin Davis tried unsuccessfully to brush it off. Then it landed on the vice president.

“My instincts kicked in, and I swatted it off her pant leg and crushed it,” Innamorato said. “I looked up, saw her quizzically and kind of mildly horrified looking at me. I said, ‘Welcome to Allegheny County.’ ”

The two then laughed and embraced.

The encounter went viral on social media, of course.

“It was my honor to brief our next president on the importance of killing spotted lanternflies,” Innamorato said when she reposted a video on the X social media platform.

Harris took to TikTok to replay the video.

Spotted lanternflies: If you see them, stomp them. Great to be back in Pittsburgh!

♬ original sound - Kamala Harris

“Spotted lanternflies: If you see them, stomp them,” Harris wrote in the caption of the post. “Great to be back in Pittsburgh!”

During a photo op at Harris’ appearance at Carnegie Mellon University on Wednesday, Innamorato said Harris asked if she could retell the spotted lanternfly story.

“Can I tell people what just happened? Because I just googled spotted lanternflies, and they’re really bad,” she said the vice president told her.

Spotted lanternflies were first discovered in Pennsylvania in 2014 in Berks County, and the invasive species has since quickly expanded geographically. Populations are in 17 states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and several states have quarantine areas in place to prevent spread.

According to Penn State Extension’s online quarantine map, spotted lanternflies are found in 51 of the 67 counties statewide — all of which are under a state- imposed quarantine. All counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania, including Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, are included.

Though they’re still a pest in Western Pennsylvania, populations are trending lower in certain regions.

Innamorato said Harris was a good sport about the swat-stomp incident.

“(Harris) said, ‘I was staring at this very pretty thing that was on your jacket, and I thought it was a brooch, and then it started moving,” Innamorato said. “Sorry that she had to have one fly at her in order to kind of get an understanding of what spotted lanternflies are and the harm that they can cause to our ecosystems.”

However, she said she’s glad Harris is now aware of the invasive species.

“I’m happy to do my patriotic duty and protect the vice president from spotted lanternflies and educate her in the process,” Innamorato said.

Her family is very proud.

“I did something that was equal parts hilarious and horrifying to the vice president today,” Innamorato said she told her friend and work circles. “I’ve been getting texts.”

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