A to-do list, size matters and a ‘petite tyrant’: key moments from Kamala Harris’ speech

WASHINGTON – Kamala Harris tried to remind Americans on Tuesday what life was like under Donald Trump and then offered voters a different path if they send her to the White House, in a speech billed as her campaign finale.

“I will always listen to you, even if you don’t vote for me,” she said, Speaking in front of a massive crowd that spilled from the grassy Ellipse near the White House to the Washington Monument.

Some key moments from her half-hour speech:

Harris he chose to speak from the Ellipse on purpose. It’s the same place in Washington that the Republican Donald Trump helped incite a mob that attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. But the vice president didn’t devote much of his speech to the day’s violence, instead using the field between Constitution Avenue and the White House as more of a backdrop — a quiet reminder of the different options Americans face.

“Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other,” she said, adding that she wants to return to the White House “not to focus on your problems, but to focus on theirs him”.

Harris spent years working as a prosecutor. He was the Attorney General of California before becoming a US Senator. And she often says on the campaign trail that she’s only ever had one customer – the people. In her speech, she talked about her past work taking on con artists, violent criminals who abused women and children, and cartels who trafficked in weapons and human beings.

She said she would bring an instinct to protect with her to the White House.

“There’s something about people being treated unfairly, or being overlooked, that touches me,” she said.

A week before the election, Harris allowed that “I know a lot of you are still starting to know who I am.”

The Democratic candidate has been running for just three months in a compressed campaign launched after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. Harris still faces voters who say they want to know more about she and how she will rule. So she spent some time Tuesday talking about her career, her goals and her background.

“I’ll be honest with you: I’m not perfect. i make mistakes But here’s what I promise you: I’ll always listen to you, even if you don’t vote for me.”

Harris devoted much of her speech to talking about policies she would enact if she won the White House, including helping first-time homeowners with down payments and helping the so-called “sandwich generation” of caregiver adults . young children and older parents, allowing elder care to be funded by Medicare. She said she would push to pass a bipartisan border security bill that was scrapped after Trump encouraged congressional Republicans to let it die.

And she said she would work to bring back abortion protections. “I will fight to restore what Donald Trump and his hand-picked Supreme Court justices have taken from the women of America,” Harris said. The Supreme Court, with three justices appointed by Trump, struck down federal protections against abortion in 2022. Since then, abortion has become one of the most motivating issues for the Democratic base in the 2024 election.

“On day one, if elected, Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemies list,” she said. “When I’m elected, I’ll go in with a to-do list.”

The Ellipse is a grassy stretch between the White House and the Washington Monument that has long hosted political events and national traditions such as the annual holiday tree lighting. On Tuesday, the space was full. Crowds spilled down the National Mall back toward the Washington Monument, where giant screens and speakers were set up for people to hear and see from afar.

The cheers of the raucous crowd could be heard from the White House driveway. Harris’ campaign said it was her biggest rally yet. She has already packed stadiums and other venues with supporters during her rallies. Harris likes to grill Trump about the size of the crowd — a particular concern for the Republican front-runner, who claimed the campaign had to bring in busloads of people Tuesday to fill the space.

Harris reduced criticism of Trump to two words: “petty tyrant.”

She warned that Trump is a man ruled by resentment, one who would focus on himself and his “enemies list” when he gets to the White House. She went back to the founding of the nation when Americans fought for freedom, then sped through decades of bitter civil rights battles.

“They did not fight, sacrifice and give their lives just to see us surrender our fundamental freedoms. They didn’t do this just to see us submit to the will of another petty tyrant,” she said. “This United States of America, we are not a vessel for the schemes of would-be dictators.”

Just moments before Harris spoke, Biden was on a campaign call he was reacting to a comic who called Puerto Rico trash during a Trump’s rally last weekend. The president said, “The only trash I see floating around there are his supporters.”

He had joined a national appeal organized by the advocacy group Voto Latino. Biden urged those on the call to “vote to keep Donald Trump out of the White House,” adding, “He’s a real danger not just to Latinos, but to all people.”

Biden’s remarks were quickly picked up by Republicans who said he disparaged Trump supporters, a distraction for Harris as he tries to reach GOP voters.

Biden quickly sent a social media post seeking to clarify his remarks.

“His demonization of Latinos is unthinkable,” Biden said of Trump. “That’s all I wanted to say.”

The event was framed as a campaign finale intended to usher in the terms after the election of voters next week. But it’s far from Harris’ last campaign event. She will hit all the key battleground states as she makes her final pitch to voters.

On Wednesday, he will have headlining events in Wisconsin, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, and on Thursday he will have rallies in Arizona and Nevada. More events are expected before election day.

The campaign aims to gather voters from the crowd different demographics, hoping that a swing vote here and there might add up to a victory in a top race with Trump.