Kamala Harris rallies voters in Raleigh to ‘fight to realize the promise of America’
With Election Day less than a week away and her presidential campaign in the homestretch, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris returned to North Carolina on Wednesday.
Harris rallied voters at Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek in Raleigh, encouraging them to vote during the state’s early voting period, which ends Saturday, Nov. 2.
“We need you to vote early, North Carolina,” Harris said, “because we have just six days left in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime. And we have work to do.”
More than 3 million North Carolina voters have already cast their ballots. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was also in North Carolina on Wednesday, making stops in Charlotte, Asheville and Greensboro. Walz was in Durham for campaign stops last week and the week before.
Fifty-five miles away and half an hour after Harris, former President Donald Trump took the stage at the Rocky Mount Event Center for his own rally. And Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, Trump’s running mate, was set to appear Thursday at a town hall in High Point, less than a week after his last trip to the state.
Recent polls, including one by Elon University released Tuesday, show Harris and Trump deadlocked in North Carolina ahead of the election. The Elon poll, which surveyed 800 registered North Carolina voters, found that an equal number of voters — 46% — planned to cast their ballots for the candidates.
North Carolina, which carries 16 electoral votes, is considered to be one of seven battleground states that could swing the election for either candidate. President Joe Biden narrowly lost North Carolina’s votes in 2020, finishing behind Trump by about 1.3% of the vote.
Hours before Harris spoke at Wednesday’s event, thousands of people descended on the amphitheater park. The rally was underway at 11 a.m. with loud hype music and dancing.
Harris took the stage around 1 p.m. and spoke for about 20 minutes.
Much of Harris’ remarks mirrored those from the previous night, when she gave her “closing argument” in the campaign at the Ellipse in Washington, the site where, on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump spoke to protesters before they descended on the U.S. Capitol as the 2020 election results were being certified.
Harris told the crowd that the election is an opportunity to “turn the page” on Trump, whom Harris described as “unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance and out for unchecked power.”
Harris said her “to-do list” if elected includes bringing down the cost of living, which she would accomplish by giving a tax cut to middle-class Americans, enacting a federal ban on price gouging on groceries and ensuring that “hardworking Americans can actually afford a place to live.” She also said she would defend reproductive rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade during Trump’s presidency.
Harris finished her speech around 1:20 p.m., exiting the stage to “Freedom” and going into the crowd to greet supporters.
She asked the crowd to “fight to realize the promise of America.” She said she has “always believed in the nation’s promise, because I have lived it.”
Harris also said that as “your president, I pledge to seek common ground and common sense solutions to the challenges you face.”
Harris’ campaign stop in Raleigh marked her 20th visit to the Tar Heel State since becoming vice president nearly four years ago.
Harris left the amphitheater with her motorcade at 1:38 p.m. She departed from Raleigh-Durham International Airport aboard Air Force Two in Morrisville at 2:14 p.m. She did not make any stops besides the rally during her time in Raleigh.
Later in the day, Harris was set to rally voters at campaign events in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — both of which are swing states, like North Carolina.
Read below for live updates from the event on Wednesday:
‘Vote is my power’
2 p.m. update:
After the rally, Carline Jules told The News & Observer that, “as Kamala said, that vote is my power, and I’m going to make it work.”
“I am a Haitian-American who has lived in Durham for 28 years, and I’ve been a registered voter in Durham, North Carolina, since 1996 — basically since I moved here,” Jules said.
She said if she had been on the fence about who to vote for before, Republican candidates Trump and his running mate Sen. JD Vance made up her mind with what they’ve said about Haitian immigrants, including the false statement that they have eaten animals.
She said she owns her home and her car, pays her taxes and has paid her dues. “I’ve never been convicted, like (Trump), and yet people are still looking at me like I am an alien.”
She said she wants people to know that, “Haitian people, we do not eat animals, but we do vote.”
Harris describes her ‘to-do list’
1:15 p.m. update:
Harris said that on day one of the next presidency, either she would “walk in with a to-do list,” or Trump would “walk in with an enemies list,” echoing what she and supporters have said in previous campaign speeches.
She then described that to-do list, which included covering in-home care under Medicare, ensuring the Affordable Care Act remains intact and protecting a woman’s “freedom to be able to make decisions about her own body.”
Talking about reproductive freedom, Harris said “the government should not make that decision,” garnering some of the loudest cheers so far in her speech.
“As your president, I pledge to seek common ground and commonsense solutions to the challenges you face,” Harris said. Immediately after, a man in the crowd shouted, “I appreciate you, Kamala!”
A protester then shouted from the crowd that Harris has “disrespected the Palestinian community.” As he continued to yell, the crowd drowned him out with chants of “We’re not going back” and Harris’ name. The man was escorted out of the crowd.
Harris didn’t address the protester directly, but said: “Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in jail, I want to give them a seat at the table.”
Harris then spoke about her upbringing, saying she has “always believed in our nation’s promise.”
Harris: ‘We will win’
1 p.m. update:
After taking the stage, Harris thanked supporters, including local officials, for attending the event, and encouraged attendees to vote early.
Harris said the election is consequential and an opportunity for the country to “turn the page” on Trump.
“Make no mistake, we will win,” she said.
Trump is trying to divide the country and make Americans afraid of each other, Harris said.
“We know that is who he is, but North Carolina, that is not who we are,” she said.
After Harris noted that either she or Trump will be in the White House in less than 90 days, the crowd erupted into chants of Harris’ name.
Harris takes the stage
12:50 p.m. update:
Jennifer Bell, an engineer who lives in Raleigh, introduced Harris just before 12:50 p.m.
Bell said she considered herself an “outspoken Republican” for more than 20 years. Bell said she was “honored” to be at the event and had a “very important message” for other Republican and conservative voters who “haven’t quite been able to take the leap” and vote for Harris. Bell invited those voters to join her and put “country before party.”
Bell said she voted for Trump in 2016 and said she mostly supported him because she considered herself a “fiscal conservative” and Trump is a businessman. But Trump “systematically destroyed the Republican Party” when he was in the White House, Bell said.
Today, Bell said, Trump is “increasingly unstable” and would be a dictator if he is elected again.
As Bell mentioned Trump throughout her remarks, some in the crowd tried to drown out his name by chanting “Kamala! Kamala! Kamala!”
Bell said Harris offers hope and will “fight for our freedoms,” including “the ability for women to control their own bodies.” Bell said she has struggled with infertility, and the issue is especially important to her given how much time, money and emotion she has invested in medical processes like IVF.
Bell said she is “counting on you, North Carolina,” to ensure that Trump is not elected.
Harris is “fighting for a new way forward, and it’s going to bring us back together,” Bell said. She encouraged attendees to vote early and, speaking to conservative voters, encouraged them to “be proud of this choice” when they vote for Harris.
Harris took the stage at 12:58 p.m.
Motorcade arrives at Walnut Creek
12:41 p.m. update:
Harris’ motorcade arrived at the rally venue at 12:18 p.m.
The crowd danced and sang to songs like “Love Train” as they waited for the vice president to take the stage, and cheered as a Secret Service agent placed the vice presidential seal at the lectern.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein mingled with supporters in the crowd before Harris took the stage.
Attorney General Josh Stein: ‘Victory is right in front of us’
12:10 p.m. update:
The Democratic nominee for governor, Attorney General Josh Stein, talked about “building a better future” and choosing “hope over hate.” He criticized Trump as well as Stein’s gubernatorial opponent, Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.
“Donald Trump and Mark Robinson’s vision is one of division, violence and hate,” Stein said.
He said that “freedom is on the line” on Election Day.
“The stakes could not be higher, and the choice could not be clearer: two competing visions. Our vision, Kamala Harris’s vision, is positive, forward looking, welcoming. It is about fighting for every person, creating opportunity for every person, tapping the potential of every person, so that together we build a better, brighter future for all of us,” Stein said.
He asked who had already voted, and most hands in the crowd went up. He then urged them to remind others to vote, too.
“Victory is right in front of us. We just have to seize it,” he said.
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper spoke after Stein and talked about what Harris will do for them, contrasting it with what he says Trump will do for himself. The speech mirrored what Cooper told reporters on Tuesday after voting early in Raleigh.
Cooper said Trump is “too focused on his own power and his own revenge, to care about your own life ... But Kamala Harris cares about you.”
Senate leader speaks
11:45 a.m. update:
Harris’ motorcade is on its way to the event.
On stage, Senate Democratic Leader Dan Blue, of Wake County, said that growing up, he learned “the promise of America meant opportunity.”
Blue said that Trump is “simply too extreme for North Carolina.”
Raleigh mayor talks about reproductive rights
11:30 a.m. update:
Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin urged people to “vote for a future where our rights and freedoms are protected,” and praised Harris and the Democratic candidate for governor, Attorney General Josh Stein.
“You know, I remember being a young woman marching for reproductive rights,” Baldwin told the crowd.
She said that after Roe v. Wade, “we thought everything was cool. Dammit, it wasn’t, and now we’re stuck. We have to change this. I see the sign: make pregnancy safe again.”
After Baldwin, U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel said that “Donald Trump isn’t fighting for you, he’s fighting for himself” and “called political opponents like me, ‘the enemy within.’”
Nickel asked for a show of hands for “who has already voted,” and hundreds of hands went up. He also said they needed to defeat Trump “and his MAGA allies like Mark Robinson,” which was followed by boos.
Harris lands at RDU
11:20 a.m. update:
Air Force Two landed at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in Morrisville at 11:16 a.m. Those there to greet her included U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross, U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee and Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams, as well as Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam, who brought her baby. Harris held the baby.
Traffic delays, hype music rallying crowd at Walnut Creek
11:08 a.m. update:
Hype music like the “Cupid Shuffle” and a DJ got the crowd dancing and cheering more than an hour before the rally was set to begin. There’s a party atmosphere, with the music so loud you’d need to shout to talk to someone standing next to you. Rally-goers waved signs and paper hand fans bearing Harris’ name and image.
Many people in the crowd were here to see Harris in person for the first time. The amphitheater seats were filled by 11 a.m., with overflow crowd on the grassy lawn behind it.
Toby Bullock of Tarrboro came to see Harris because the event was so close to home. She said the main issue driving her support for Harris is “my body, my choice,” referring to reproductive rights.
Syeeda Rose said she was “so excited to see her this time.”
Erica Jin of Cary also arrived at Walnut Creek to see Harris for the first time, other than just on television. Jin said she is “so much against Trump” that she was inspired to come out and support Harris and “meet with all these wonderful people” at the campaign rally.
Awaiting Harris at RDU
10:55 a.m. update:
Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams, Morrisville Mayor TJ Cawley and state Auditor Jessica Holmes are at Raleigh-Durham International Airport awaiting Harris’ arrival, scheduled for shortly after 11 a.m.
Drivers can expect possible traffic snarls before and after Harris’ speech planned for 12:30 p.m.
At 10 a.m., traffic was backed up on Sunnybrook Road in Raleigh outside the music park as thousands of supporters slowly edged their vehicles toward the entrance.
This story was originally published October 30, 2024 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Kamala Harris rallies voters in Raleigh to ‘fight to realize the promise of America’."
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