WASHINGTON – A week before Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday urged Americans to “turn the page” on the division caused by former President Donald Trump, delivering her campaign’s closing argument opposite the White House.
Harris, the Democrats’ standard-bearer, spoke before a massive crowd from the Ellipse, the same place where Trump delivered the speech that helped incite his supporters’ attack on the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The setting was a visual rebuke to Republican Trump, who Harris called a “petty tyrant” and repeatedly depicted as an agent of chaos and a threat to democracy.
“America, this is not a candidate for president who is thinking about how to make your life better,” Harris said. “This is someone who is unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance and out for unchecked power.”
She reiterated her warnings over her 100 days of campaigning that Trump poses a danger to democracy.
“We are not a vessel for the schemes of wanna-be dictators,” the vice president said. “The United States of America is the greatest idea humanity ever devised. A nation big enough to encompass all our dreams. Strong enough to withstand any fracture or fissure between us. And fearless enough to imagine a future of possibilities.”
Before Harris took the stage, Craig Sicknick spoke to the crowd about his brother Brian Sicknick, a U.S. Capitol Police officer who died after responding to the insurrection. Brian Sicknick is one of nine people whose deaths have been linked to the attack.
“My family knows how dangerous Trump is,” Sicknick said.
Tens of thousands of supporters gathered on the Ellipse to listen to Harris’ address. Even more attendees gathered in an overflow area on the National Mall that stretched back to the Washington Monument.
Some supporters waited in line for more than four hours to see Harris speak. Despite not getting into the event, people on the National Mall were in high spirits. They danced, clapped and cheered throughout the rally.
Pro-Palestinian protesters both on the Ellipse and on Constitution Avenue waved Palestinian flags and chanted for Harris to take a more aggressive stance against Israel’s violence in Gaza. Harris did not mention the conflict in her speech.
In most polls, Harris and Trump are within the margin of error of each other nationwide and in the battleground states. The event served as a last-ditch attempt to convince remaining undecided voters, including Republicans and independents, to vote for the Democratic ticket.
Two farm owners from Chester County, Pennsylvania, Bob Lange and Lisa Chadwick Lange, preceded Harris at the rally to talk about their change in political allegiance. A lifelong Republican, Bob Lange told the audience he voted for Trump twice, remarks that received overwhelming boos from the crowd before he said the attack on the Capitol changed his position.
“I watched that on TV,” Lange told Capital News Service after the rally. “I was just in utter disbelief, saying ‘I can’t believe this.’ And (Trump) was doing nothing … that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
Lange said he’s also grown supportive of Harris’ policies since meeting her and introducing her at other campaign events.
Key policies Harris listed Tuesday were lowering costs for families, expanding reproductive freedoms, preventing price-gouging by big businesses and protecting the middle class from tax cuts intended to bolster billionaires while leaving America’s workers scraping by.
Harris, 60, said in her address that “it’s time for a new generation of leadership in America.”
Howard University freshman Casaya Achampong was in the crowd on Tuesday. The 18-year-old, who calls Harrisburg, Pennsylvania home, told CNS that she’s optimistic but nervous ahead of Election Day.
“I’m so glad that I get to…have a voice in my future,” Achampong said.
She said she feels influential as a swing state voter and is hopeful that the new generation of Pennsylvania voters will make the state more Democratic.
Harris contrasted her vision for America with what another Trump presidency could look like.
“In less than 90 days, either Donald Trump or I will be in the Oval Office,” Harris said as she pointed to the White House behind her. “On day one, if elected, Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemies list. When elected, I will walk in with a to-do list.”
“…It is a choice about whether we have a country rooted in freedom for every American or ruled by chaos and division,” she said.
The “freedom” theme was echoed throughout the night, with the word displayed on screens before and after Harris’ speech and in her campaign walk-off song, “Freedom,” by Beyoncé.
Linda Ekizian, a lifelong Democrat, stood in line for the event surrounded by fellow supporters clad in Harris merchandise. She told CNS she believes Harris is the right candidate to lead the country to a better future.
“The biggest issue is not getting Trump in the White House again,” Ekizian, who lives in Rockville, Maryland, said about her priorities this election.
If elected, Harris said she would focus on unifying the nation. She told voters it is necessary to “stop pointing fingers and start locking arms.”
“Here’s what I promise you,” she said. “I will always listen to you. Even if you don’t vote for me, I will always tell you the truth, even if it is difficult to hear. I will work every day to build consensus and reach compromise to get things done.”
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