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Kamala Harris is set to promise on Tuesday that she will put the country before party and herself during the final speech of her presidential campaign. She will speak from the same location where Donald Trump incited the Capitol riots, aiming to highlight the important choice voters have to make. You can watch the speech live in the player above.
One week before Election Day , the vice president is expected to use her 7:30 p.m. ET address from the grassy Ellipse near the White House to pledge to Americans that she will work to improve their lives while arguing that her Republican opponent is only in it for himself.
Trump "has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other: That’s who he is," Harris will say, according to prepared remarks released by her campaign. "But America, I am here tonight to say: That’s not who we are." Police in D.
C. are expecting nearly 50,000 people to attend Vice President Kamala Harris' speech at the Ellipse in D.C.
Officials have opened an overflow area for the crowd. She hoped to sharpen that contrast by delivering her capstone speech from the place where Trump on Jan. 6, 2021 , spewed falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election that inspired a crowd to march to the Capitol and try unsuccessfully to halt the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.
With time running out and the race tight, Harris and Trump have both sought big moments to try to shift momentum their way. "It’s a place that certainly we believe helps crystalize the choice in this election," Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said of the setting, calling it "a stark visualization of probably the most infamous example of Donald Trump and how he’s used his power for bad." Campaign aides stressed that Harris will not deliver a treatise on democracy — a staple of President Joe Biden’s own attempts to draw a contrast with Trump — or spend too much time focusing directly on the shocking imagery of that day.
Harris aides said the vice president aims to make a broader case for why voters should reject Trump and consider what she offers. Related Kamala Harris Ellipse speech: What time, how to watch, what to know Vice President Kamala Harris plans to deliver her campaign’s closing argument at the Ellipse Tuesday, near the White House, where Donald Trump helped incite a mob that attacked the U.S.
Capitol in January 2021. "He has an enemies list of people he intends to prosecute," Harris is to say. "He says one of his highest priorities is to set free the violent extremists who assaulted those law enforcement officers on Jan.
6. Donald Trump intends to use the United States military against American citizens who simply disagree with him. People he calls ‘the enemy from within.
’ This is not a candidate for president who is thinking about how to make your life better." Her campaign hoped to draw a massive crowd to Washington for the event. But, more critically, her campaign hopes the setting will help catch the attention of battleground state voters who remain on the fence about whom to vote for — or whether to vote at all.
The address comes days after Harris traveled to Texas, a reliably Republican state, to appear with megastar Beyoncé and emphasize the consequences for women after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v.
Wade. That, too, was a speech meant to register with voters far away in the battleground states. The vice president’s latest address has been in the works for weeks.
But aides hoped her message would land with more impact after Trump’s rally Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York, where speakers hurled cruel and racist insults. Harris said the event "highlighted the point that I’ve been making throughout this campaign." "He is focused and actually fixated on his grievances, on himself and on dividing our country," she said.
As for Trump, Harris said Monday, "People are literally ready to turn the page. They’re tired of it." Ahead of Harris’ speech, Trump used remarks to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Tuesday morning to accuse Harris of closing with a message that doesn’t address everyday Americans’ day-to-day struggles and kitchen-table concerns.
He said Harris keeps "talking about Hitler, and Nazis, because her record’s horrible," a reference to Harris amplifying the warnings from his former chief of staff that Trump spoke admiringly of the Nazi leader while in office. Harris’ aides, many of whom also advised Biden’s campaign before he dropped out, still believe that centering the race on who Trump is and how she’s different will be their strongest message for voters. Related DC police announce several road closures ahead of Harris speech at the Ellipse D.
C. police have announced multiple road closures that will go into effect Tuesday afternoon as the District prepares for Vice President Kamala Harris' final campaign speech at the Ellipse. "She’s already made her case, she’s presented the evidence.
She’s offering up a summation tonight, and she has faith in the wisdom of the jury," campaign communications director Michael Tyler said. Biden told reporters Tuesday that he will not attend Harris’ speech because the event is "for her," but he planned to watch it on television. Pennsylvania Gov.
Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said it was important for battleground voters to be reminded of the consequences of their choice this fall and for Harris "to really drive home the stakes of this election and the clear contrast in the race." He said Harris had the stronger argument on economic policies, reproductive freedom and the matter of chaos vs. order, adding that she "has a vision that’s going to bring more order and more hopefulness and more joy.
" Ruth Chiari, 78, of Charlottesville, Virginia, was attending the rally with her husband to "support democracy." "I think everybody understands what’s on the ballot," she said as she waited in line near the Treasury building to enter the event. "We’re either going to have an autocrat or freedom.
" Harris was spending the day ahead of her speech taping television interviews airing in Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and Spanish language radio in Pennsylvania, her campaign said. The Associated Press contributed to this report..
