Key moments of Kamala Harris’ speech

WASHINGTON – Kamala Harris tried to remind Americans on Tuesday what life was like under Donald Trump, and then in a speech that was the closing argument of her campaign, he offered voters a different path if they sent her to the White House.

“I will always listen to you, even if you don’t vote for me,” she said, speaking before a huge crowd that spilled from the grassy ellipse near the White House to the Washington Monument.

Some key moments from her half-hour speech:

The location of the speech reinforced her message

Harris he deliberately chose to speak from the Ellipse. This is the same place in Washington where the Republicans are Donald Trump helped incite the mob that attacked the US Capitol January 6, 2021. However, the vice president did not devote much of her speech to the violence of that day, instead using the field between Constitution Avenue and the White House as a backdrop – a quiet reminder of the different choices Americans face.

“Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other,” she said, adding that she wanted to return to the White House “not to focus on your problems, but on my own.”

Prosecutor Kamala Harris presented her position

Harris released years of work as a prosecutor. Before becoming a U.S. senator, she was attorney general of California. During the campaign, she often repeats that she had only one client – people. In her speech, she talked about her previous work, in which she dealt with fraudsters, brutal criminals who abused women and children, as well as cartels involved in arms and human trafficking.

She said she would take her protective instinct with her to the White House.

“There is something about people being treated unfairly or left out that just strikes me,” she said.

It’s me, hello. I am a candidate for president. It’s me.

A week before the election, Harris admitted that “I know many of you are still learning who I am.”

The Democratic candidate has been running for just three months in a compressed campaign that began later President Joe Biden withdrew from the race. Harris continues to confront voters who they say they want to know more about it her and how she will rule. So she spent some time on Tuesday talking about her career, goals and background.

“I’ll be honest with you: I’m not perfect. I make mistakes. But here’s what I promise you: I will always listen to you, even if you don’t vote for me.

To-do list for your first day in the White House

Harris spent much of her speech discussing policies she would implement if she won the White House, including helping first-time homeowners with down payments and aid for so-called the “sandwich generation” of adults caring for children. She said she would work to pass the bipartisan border security bill, which died last year after Trump encouraged Republicans in Congress to let it die.

She also said she would work to restore protection against abortion. “I will fight to restore what Donald Trump and his chosen Supreme Court justice took from America’s women,” Harris said. A Supreme Court panel of three Trump-appointed justices struck down federal abortion protections in 2022. Since then, abortion has become one of the most motivating issues for the Democratic base in the 2024 elections.

“On day one, if Donald Trump had been elected, he would have walked into this office with a list of enemies,” she said. “When I get elected, I will come with a to-do list.”

Size matters on the campaign trail – especially for Trump

The Ellipse is a grassy area between the White House and the Washington Monument that has long hosted political events and national traditions, such as the annual Christmas tree lighting. On Tuesday, the hall was full. Crowds moved onto the National Mall toward the Washington Monument, where giant screens and speakers were set up so people could hear and see from a distance.

The cheers of a raucous crowd could be heard from the White House driveway. The Harris campaign said it was her largest rally yet. During its rallies, it has already filled stadiums and other facilities with fans. Harris loves to tease Trump about crowd size, which was a particular preoccupation of the GOP leader, who claimed the campaign had to bus people on Tuesday to fill empty seats.

Harris called Trump “unhinged” and “unstable.” Now he adds “little tyrant”

Harris boiled down Trump’s criticism to two words: “little tyrant.”

She warned that Trump is a man full of grievances who, once he enters the White House, will focus on himself and his “enemies list.” It harkened back to the nation’s origins when Americans fought for freedom, then moved through decades of fierce battles for civil rights.

“They didn’t fight, they didn’t sacrifice and they didn’t give their lives just to see us slip away from our basic freedoms. They didn’t do it just to see us submit to the will of another petty tyrant,” she said. “These United States of America, we are not a vessel for the plans of would-be dictators.”

Meanwhile, complications related to Biden are emerging

Moments before Harris spoke, Biden participated in a campaign call to which he responded comics who called Puerto Rico trash during There was a Trump rally this past weekend. The president said, “The only garbage floating there is his supporters.”

He joined a national conversation organized by the advocacy group Voto Latino. Biden urged attendees to “vote to keep Donald Trump out of the White House” and added: “He is a real threat not only to Latinos but to all people.”

Biden’s remarks were quickly seized upon by Republicans, who said he was denigrating Trump supporters, distracting Harris as she tries to reach out to GOP voters.

Biden quickly took to social media to try to clarify his remarks.

“His demonization of Latinos is unwise,” Biden said of Trump. “That’s all I wanted to say.”

Much work remains to be done after what Harris called her “closing speech.”

The event was designed as a campaign finale to clearly present next week’s choices to voters. But this is far from the last event for Harris’ campaign. In his final blow to voters, he will hit all the key battleground states.

She will headline events in Wisconsin, North Carolina and Pennsylvania on Wednesday, and will have rallies in Arizona and Nevada on Thursday. More developments are expected before Election Day.

The campaign aims to attract voters from many countries different demographic groups in the hope that changing votes here and there could result in victory in the razor-sharp race against Trump.