WASHINGTON (CN) — Vice President Kamala Harris made her final case for the White House Tuesday, telling supporters during a packed rally on the National Mall that handing former President Donald Trump the Oval Office in November would reap dire consequences for the country.
“This election is more than just a choice between two candidates,” said Harris, arguing that her candidacy represents freedom, while Trump’s is rooted in chaos and division. “It will probably be the most important vote you ever cast.”
Thousands of people crowded the Mall for the vice president’s remarks Tuesday — as many as 50,000, according to estimates from Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department. Throngs of supporters wearing shirts and toting signs emblazoned with the vice president’s face crowded the Ellipse, located just in front of the White House. An overflow crowd hundreds deep stood almost shoulder to shoulder on the National Mall, with the Washington Monument rising behind.
The venue, while a convenient location for Harris’ closing remarks, was also surely a deliberate choice on the part of her campaign. Just four years prior, Trump delivered an infamous speech from the same place that would later serve as a bookend for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
The corollaries were not lost on Harris.
“He is the person who stood at this very spot four years ago and sent an armed mob to the Capitol,” the vice president said of Trump.
She cited reports that the former president during the Capitol riot had been unfazed by the mob, some of whom had suggested they wanted to kill then-Vice President Mike Pence.
“While Donald Trump sat in the White House watching while the violence unfolded on television, he was told by his staff that the mob wanted to kill his own vice president,” Harris said. “Donald Trump responded with two words: So what?”
Harris’ remarks dialed in on Trump’s fitness for office. She argued that the former president was unconcerned with improving the lives of everyday Americans and accused him of being “obsessed by revenge,” and out for unchecked power. Trump, she added, has spent the last decade dividing the country.
“I am here tonight to say that that is not who we are,” said Harris.
The vice president also took her closer as an opportunity to once again introduce herself to the American people, acknowledging that President Joe Biden’s exit from the presidential race and her rapid ascent to the Democratic nomination was not a typical electoral situation.
But Harris argued that, if elected, she would be a consensus-builder and pledged to lead for Americans whether or not they agreed with her.
“For too long we have been consumed with too much division, chaos and mutual distrust,” she said. “It is easy to forget a simple truth — it doesn’t have to be this way.”
The vice president also made her case as an independent candidate separate from the Biden administration, saying that she would bring her own experiences and ideas to the Oval Office.
“My presidency will be different because the challenges that we face are different,” she said.
On policy, Harris’ remarks mirrored those she gave at the Democratic National Convention in August, and she established herself as a foil to Trump. The vice president promised to shield abortion rights nationwide, contending that a Republican administration would clamp down hard on reproductive freedoms. She also pledged to pursue tax cuts for middle-class Americans, adding that a second Trump administration would only slash taxes for the wealthy.
Harris also rehashed her tougher stance on immigration, telling voters that politicians should no longer treat the issue as a political football and rather address it as a “serious challenge.”
And though she reiterated promises to pass bipartisan border security legislation tanked by Republicans earlier this year, she added that her administration would work to approve an “earned path to citizenship” for certain immigrants.
In the gathered audience, enthusiastic supporters whooped and chanted as Harris spoke. Rallygoers led chants of “U.S.A.” and “we’re not going back,” now a clarion call for Democrats.
But despite Tuesday’s rambunctious crowd, the presidential race is tighter than ever. Polls have Harris and Trump nearly deadlocked nationwide, with the margins in battleground states within only a handful of percentage points.
Republican operatives have also taken steps to challenge votes in key states even before tallies begin. The Republican National Committee on Monday petitioned the Supreme Court to block Pennsylvania from counting provisional ballots cast by voters whose mail-in ballots had been rejected for clerical reasons. Attorneys for the GOP asked the justices to either bar provisional ballots from the Keystone State’s vote count altogether or force state election officials not to count provisional ballots until the case is litigated.
All this comes as Trump and his surrogates are setting the stage to once again refuse the results of the election, if the former president is defeated by Harris.
But on Tuesday, supporters of the vice president seemed largely optimistic about her chances of taking the White House.
“I’ve got a good feeling about this,” said one attendee, who told Courthouse News that he had been canvassing for Harris in several swing counties in Pennsylvania, just over the border from his native New Jersey. “I’m optimistic and hopeful, for sure.”
Another rallygoer from Virginia agreed, saying that he is maintaining a sense of optimism despite the closeness of the race.
“It’s an existential choice,” he said. “Donald Trump would be a disaster if he got in again, so the fact that it’s close just boggles my mind.”
The threat of a second Trump administration was a major theme among rallygoers. Attendees said that they were particularly concerned about the former president’s attacks on reproductive rights and expressed concern about his willingness to accept the results of the election.
Also top of mind for those at Harris’ rally was a similar event the Trump campaign held Sunday at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Several speakers at the event espoused racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric — particularly targeting Puerto Ricans.
One Harris rallygoer hailing from Maryland told Courthouse News Tuesday that he was “deeply insulted” by remarks from Trump surrogates, explaining that his family is Puerto Rican and Cuban.
“I just want our kids to be able to grow up in place that’s fair, and they have a shot,” he said, suggesting that a Harris victory may be the last shot at such a future. “This might be it, if she doesn’t win. We’re afraid that guys like Elon Musk don’t want the rest of us to have anything.”
As the event got underway Tuesday evening, Harris supporters donning the campaign’s signature camo hats and shirts emblazoned with the vice president’s face packed Pennsylvania Ave, stretching across the National Mall and up to the Washington Monument.
The patriotic energy inside the Ellipse soured in the overflow crowd, as a group of around 100 pro-Palestinian protesters accused Harris of supporting a genocide and called for an immediate arms embargo.
“Harris, Harris you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide,” the protesters chanted through megaphones, using noisemakers and banging pots and pans to drown out the rally speakers.
Most Harris supporters tried to ignore the disruption, but isolated disputes broke out, leading to at least two arrests.
Inside the gates of the Ellipse, the vice president continued her plea to voters, once again positioning herself as a candidate for all Americans.
“I am not looking to score political points,” Harris said. “I am looking to make progress.”