Elections 2024

In an energized first campaign speech, Kamala Harris makes her pitch for 2024

The vice president's speech in Milwaukee marks the first campaign event she’s held since President Biden ended his campaign Sunday.

NPR, Elena Moore

July 23, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris campaigns for president as the presumptive Democratic candidate during an event at West Allis Central High School, Tuesday, July 23, 2024, in West Allis, Wis. (AP Photo/Kayla Wolf)

Vice President Harris has been out on the campaign trail countless times over the last year, but in Milwaukee on Tuesday, she was stumping, for the first time, as a presidential candidate.

The song “Freedom” by Beyoncé played as Harris greeted an excited crowd, holding up white and blue signs that read “Kamala” and chanting her name.

“So, Wisconsin, I am told, as of this morning, that we have earned the support of enough delegates to secure the Democratic nomination,” she said through applause.

“I am so very honored,” Harris added. “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’s speech marks the first campaign event she’s held since President Biden ended his campaign on Sunday. It comes as Democratic leaders have largely rallied around Harris to be the nominee as they launch a new party ticket just weeks ahead of their convention and around 100 days until Election Day.

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Harris dedicated the beginning of her remarks to thanking Biden, praising both his presidential record and decades-long political tenure. The president is expected to deliver a primetime address on his decision to drop out of the race Wednesday evening.

“It has truly been one of the greatest honors of my life to serve as vice president to our president, Joe Biden,” she said.

“Joe’s legacy of accomplishment over his entire career and over the past three and a half years is unmatched in modern history,” Harris added. “In one term as president, he has already surpassed the legacy of most presidents who served two terms in office, and I know we are all deeply, deeply grateful for his continuing service to our nation.”

The campaign event in Milwaukee comes less than a week after Republicans gathered downtown for their own party convention – where former President Donald Trump officially accepted the GOP nomination and selected his running mate, Ohio Republican Sen. J.D. Vance.

Trump has already ramped up verbal attacks on Harris on social media, criticizing her intelligence and mannerisms. The Trump campaign is also attempting to link Harris to Biden’s record on immigration and rising prices — key parts of Republican messaging to voters.

But on Tuesday in Milwaukee, the vice president didn’t shy away from going on the offensive against the former president. Referencing her work as a prosecutor before entering elected office, she likened Trump’s legal woes to cases she worked on.

“I took on perpetrators of all kinds — predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain,” she said. “So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type.”

Harris also reflected on the momentum her campaign has had since launching, highlighting their record-breaking grassroots fundraising. In just over one day after she announced, her campaign recorded raising $100 million.

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“Because we are a people-powered campaign,” she said. “That is how you know we will be a people-first presidency.”

Broadly ticking through her policy platform, Harris argued her campaign offers a vision of the future of the country, stressing the need for affordable health care, child care and paid family leave. She also raised issues she’s repeatedly championed throughout Biden’s presidency, including curbing gun violence and safeguarding reproductive access.

“We have to remember the shoulders on which we stand — generations of Americans before us led the fight for freedom. And now, Wisconsin, the baton is in our hands,” Harris said.

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