WASHINGTON – Vice President Kamala Harris drew sharp contrasts between herself and former President Donald Trump during a speech dubbed her “closing argument” on Tuesday in an appeal to voters a week before the election.
At the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., Harris highlighted the dangers of a second Trump term and presented herself as a candidate of change, combining a core message of President Joe Biden’s 2020 strategy with a trademark of her own campaign.
“America, we know what Donald Trump has in mind, ” Harris said. “More chaos, more division and policies that help those at the very top and hurt everyone else. I offer a different path.”
The Harris campaign reported on X that over 75,000 people attended the speech, held at the same venue where former President Donald Trump rallied supporters on January 6, 2021 — a site associated with the political turmoil. Within minutes of Harris’s speech, she referenced the riots and Trump’s inciting address.
A poll from the New York Times updated Oct. 30 shows that Harris is leading the national polls by less than one percent, while Harris and Trump are within 3 percent of each other in several swing states.
After warning that Trump would use the office to pardon rioters and attack his enemies, Harris lamented the division and mistrust pervading the country.
“It doesn’t have to be this way,” she repeated twice, which was met with cheers and applause from the crowd.
Debora Oh, a 33-year-old who traveled from the Bronx, New York, said being at the location of January 6 was a “nerve-wracking” experience.
“It also symbolizes that we can overcome anything that happens, and as long as we come together and we support the bigger cause, anything is possible at the end of the day,” Oh said.
Harris also emphasized the need for unity, promising to prioritize the country over herself or political party. She added that she would give people who disagree with her “a seat at the table.”
“On day one if elected, Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemies list,” Harris said. “When elected, I will walk in with a to-do list.”
In a sweeping appeal to history, Harris connected her campaign to the nation’s roots, reminding the crowd of America’s founding ideals. “America was born when we wrested freedom from a petty tyrant across the generations,” she said. Harris said Americans have long fought to protect democracy, and it is important to ensure its preservation for future generations.
Attendee Scarlet Courtois, a 35-year-old from Fairfax, Virginia said she appreciated Harris’s bipartisan appeal.
“As someone who comes from a family that was very Republican growing up, and I still have Republican family members, it was really nice to hear,” Courtois said.
Speaking for just under 30 minutes, Harris rehashed familiar policy issues, weighing her plans against Trump’s. Harris said Trump would repeal the Affordable Care Act, while she would expand it; Trump would further limit abortion access, while she would fight to protect it;and that Trump would cut taxes for the wealthy, while she would cut taxes for the working class.
Already familiar with Harris’s policies, Courtois said she enjoyed hearing Harris touch on a lot of the subjects she cared about throughout the speech, including abortion and immigration.
“I thought she had a lot of the key points that have made me really excited for her,” Courtois said. “And a lot of things that also I feel like on a personal level I can connect to, about just being a regular person trying to get by in life and how hard things are right now.”
Jason Claman, a 28-year-old from Virginia, expressed optimism for a Harris campaign. He said he came to the event because he wanted to do something other than look at the polls at home.
“I think she hit all the notes she needed to…to both make the case for why Donald Trump is unfit, but also offer a lot of forward looking policies and plans,” Claman said. “But, frankly, any functioning adult who isn’t Trump would be fine.”
Claman echoed the concerns raised by several speakers who took the stage before Harris. They criticized Trump’s stances on key policy issues such as abortion access, cost of living, and the economy, urging voters to “turn the page on Donald Trump.”
Harris reiterated this statement, concluding her speech by asking attendees to “start writing the next chapter in the most extraordinary story ever told.”
