Washington, DC – It was United States Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s “closing argument” to the nation, one closing massive enchantment to voters earlier than the November 5 election day.
And it happened in a extremely symbolic venue: the Ellipse, a park simply south of the White Home in Washington, DC.
Lower than 4 years earlier – on January 6, 2021 – the Ellipse had been the location of a unique deal with from Harris’s Republican rival, then-President Donald Trump. There, he whipped up false fears of election fraud, main hundreds of his supporters to attack the US Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of the 2020 election.
That discord, Harris advised the sprawling crowds on Tuesday, was the other of what she would carry to the White Home if elected.
“Tonight, I’ll communicate to everybody in regards to the alternative and the stakes on this election,” Vice President Harris mentioned. “We all know who Donald Trump is.”
“He’s the one that stood at this very spot practically 4 years in the past and despatched an armed mob to the USA capitol to overturn the desire of the folks in a free and honest election.”
That symbolism was the defining message of the night time, and the centrepiece of a speech meant to be an exclamation level on the finish of an atypically transient marketing campaign.
“It’s a alternative about whether or not we’ve a rustic rooted in freedom for each American or dominated by chaos or division,” Harris mentioned.
With precisely seven days earlier than Election Day, it stays unclear whether or not Harris’s message shall be sufficient to present her the sting over Trump, with whom she is locked in a good race. Polls have proven the candidates stay neck and neck each nationally and in a handful of key swing states.
With not less than 50 million voters having already solid their ballots, the end result is basically seen as a toss-up.
‘Very anxious and on edge’
However among the many crowd at Harris’s rally, her most ardent supporters expressed steadfast – if anxious – optimism.
“We’re one week out however I all the time say, ‘All palms on deck’,” mentioned Lauanna Lison, a 60-year-old navy retiree who was among the many hundreds who spilled from the Ellipse onto the gaping garden in entrance of the Washington Monument.
“I’m excited, very excited, for Kamala Harris to develop into the primary lady president,” she added. “We’re right here to point out this has been a marketing campaign of pleasure, and we aren’t going again.”
Luci Garza, a 19-year-old scholar at George Washington College in Washington, DC, advised Al Jazeera she is “clearly been very anxious and on edge about this election”.
She famous that, in her dwelling state of Texas, lots rides on the end result, with immigration and abortion rights among the many prime election points.
“This election is so essential to me as a lady, as a Latina, as a Texan,” Garza mentioned.
“However popping out right here and seeing all of those folks dancing and excited, it’s good to see there are individuals who do care, and do present up and do need to be human.”
Chatting with the group, Harris revisited the coverage proposals which have outlined her transient marketing campaign, which started in July after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
She pledged to create an financial coverage aimed on the center class, with a ban on worth gouging, efforts to spice up the housing market and monetary help for brand spanking new dad and mom.
She additionally promised to guard the Inexpensive Care Act, a legislation that has expanded medical health insurance for US residents, whereas increasing Medicare to cowl dwelling care.
On abortion rights, she reaffirmed her intention to signal a federal invoice defending entry if one have been to land on her desk.
Nonetheless, all through her speech, Harris repeatedly returned to the topic of Trump, repeating the stark warnings which have outlined the ultimate weeks of her marketing campaign.
“That is somebody who’s unstable, obsessive about revenge, consumed with grievance and out for unchecked energy,” Harris mentioned, invoking Trump’s current reference to political opponents because the “enemy inside”.
“The truth that somebody disagrees with us doesn’t make them the enemy inside,” she mentioned. “They’re fellow Individuals, and as Individuals, we rise above collectively.”
‘Folks coming collectively’
Fifty-year-old supporter Jason Vaughn, a nurse practitioner from North Carolina, mentioned he hoped Harris’s extra unifying message would join with the voters who stay on the fence within the election.
Vaughn identified that Trump lately sparked outrage with a rally at Madison Sq. Backyard in New York on Sunday, throughout which a comic in contrast Puerto Rico with a “floating island of rubbish”.
Trump has since brushed off the fallout, telling reporters on Tuesday that the weekend rally was “lovely” and “an absolute love fest”.
Vaughn, nonetheless, mentioned that Tuesday’s Harris rally supplied a stark distinction to the Madison Sq. Backyard occasion.
“The distinction between this and the Trump rally? That is about fellowship, folks coming collectively,” mentioned Vaughn, who wore a “White Dudes for Harris” hat.
“I feel she’s received the momentum proper now.”
He predicted that the Madison Sq. Backyard rally might damage Trump within the closing stretch of the race.
Trump was in the important thing swing state of Pennsylvania on Tuesday, visiting the city of Drexel Hill, the place he warned that the nation was “being destroyed by incompetent fools”.
“I feel the white guys are divided proper now,” mentioned Vaughn. “There’s loads of misogyny, loads of bravado, and my message is, you don’t should be that method to be a person.”
‘A whole lot of reservations’
However whereas Harris’s hovering speech in Washington, DC was meant to be a show of political energy, it additionally testified to her political vulnerabilities.
From the periphery of the occasion, a pro-Palestine protest may very well be heard from the road.
Such protests have been comparatively widespread at Harris’s occasions, and so they underscore the continued outrage over the Democrat’s continued help of Israel amid its war on Gaza and now, Lebanon.
Harris has refused to decide to stopping arms shipments to Israel or putting situations on navy help, if elected. She has, nonetheless, mentioned {that a} ceasefire should be reached.
That place has threatened to erode her help amongst Arab, Muslim and progressive teams alike, which may very well be significantly damaging within the swing state of Michigan, which boasts a big Arab American inhabitants.
Chatting with Al Jazeera, Sumaiya Hamdami, a 62-year-old professor from Maryland, mentioned she has wrestled with voting for Harris, regardless of being a “lifelong Democrat”.
She mentioned she solid an “uncommitted” ballot throughout the main season to protest the Biden-Harris administration’s stance on the battle. Biden was nonetheless the Democratic candidate on the time.
“Clearly, I’ve loads of reservations about voting for this candidate, as a result of she hasn’t had the power and doesn’t appear inclined to do something” to chop off weapon shipments to Israel, Hamdami mentioned.
“However I feel the choice is lots worse, so right here I’m.”
Others within the crowd indicated that their fears of a second Trump presidency led them to help Harris.
“We’re feeling scared however hopeful,” mentioned Marsha Tripp, a 73-year-old retired occupational therapist from Ohio. “If Trump have been to win, it could simply be a catastrophe.”
Harris completed the speech with a pledge that she could be a unique president than Biden.
Nonetheless, she sought to hammer dwelling the same theme to Biden’s message throughout the 2020 race: unity.
“Right here’s my promise to you,” Harris mentioned.
“I’ll all the time hearken to you, even if you happen to didn’t vote for me. I’ll all the time inform the reality, even when it’s tough to listen to. I work on daily basis to construct consensus and attain compromise to get issues finished. And if you happen to give me the possibility to combat in your behalf, there may be nothing on the earth that may stand in my approach.”