Vice President Kamala Harris held her first rally as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Tuesday, seeking to build on the momentum she has generated in the first two days of her campaign and to draw sharp contrasts with the Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump.
“I am so very honored,” Harris told a crowd in Milwaukee, “and I pledge to you I will spend the coming weeks continuing to unite our party so that we are ready to win in November.”
Harris said she would proudly put her record against Trump’s and went on to blast the former president in a way that also contrasted with President Joe Biden’s recent struggles to sharply articulate the case against the GOP nominee.
“As attorney general of California,” Harris said, “I took on one of our country’s largest for-profit colleges that was scamming students. Donald Trump ran a for-profit college that scammed students. As a prosecutor, I specialized in cases involving sexual abuse. Well, Trump was found liable for committing sexual abuse. As attorney general of California, I took on the big Wall Street banks and held them accountable for fraud. Donald Trump was just found guilty of fraud on 34 counts.”
Harris also criticized Trump for relying on wealthy donors and corporate backers, citing reports that he recently urged oil industry executives to raise $1 billion for his campaign and his related vow to them that he would roll back environmental regulations and save them money on taxes.
Harris told her supporters that building up the middle class “will be a defining goal of my presidency.” She then slammed the right-wing Project 2025, the 920-page policy and governing agenda put together by the conservative Heritage Foundation. Trump has tried to distance himself from the controversial plan, but at least 140 former officials from his administration contributed to the project, according to CNN, and many of those officials would likely be part of a second Trump administration.
“Can you believe they put that thing in writing?” Harris said, urging people to read it. “America has tried these failed economic policies before, but we are not going back.”
Harris spoke Tuesday after having quickly secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to ensure she will be the party’s nominee. The Harris campaign also told reporters that she had raised more than $100 million from 1.1 million donors, with more than 60% of them new contributors.
As the party lines up behind her, the top two Democrats in Congress endorsed Harris hours before her rally. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had held off on officially backing Harris for fear of making her ascension to the top of the Democratic ticket seem like a coronation.
"When I spoke with her Sunday, she said she wanted the opportunity to win the nomination on her own, and to do so from the grassroots up, not top down,” Schumer told reporters. “We deeply respected that, Hakeem and I did. She said she would work to earn the support of our party, and boy, has she done so.”
Now as Democrats look to propel Harris forward, Biden announced he would address the nation from the Oval Office tomorrow night at 8 p.m. ET to talk about “what lies ahead, and how I will finish the job for the American people.”
On Monday, Biden had called into Harris’s campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware — which had been his headquarters until a day earlier — to voice his support for his vice president.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Biden said. “I’m going to be out there on the campaign with her, with Kamala. I’m going to be working like hell, both as a sitting president getting legislation passed as well as campaigning. You know, we still need to save this democracy, and Trump is still a danger to the community. He’s a danger to the nation.”
As Trump and his campaign adjust to Harris’s emergence as their likely opponent, they indicated they would seek to tie her to Biden’s policies but also label her as more liberal and radical. “The Democrats deposing one Nominee for another does NOT change voters discontent over the economy, inflation, crime, the open border, housing costs not to mention concern over two foreign wars,” Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio said in a memo released to the media. “Before long, Harris’ ‘honeymoon’ will end and voters will refocus on her role as Biden’s partner and co-pilot.”
The bottom line: With 104 days until the election, the attacks on Harris are ramping up, but Democrats and their new candidate are enjoying a surge in energy and excitement about a contest against Trump.
