Vice President Kamala Harris brought her newly minted presidential campaign to Georgia Tuesday night, promising to build up the middle class and daring former President Donald Trump to debate the issues.
In a 20-minute speech to a roaring crowd of supporters at the Georgia State University Convocation Center in downtown Atlanta, Democrat Harris characterized Republican Trump’s bid to return to the White House as a campaign of the past and described her effort as a campaign of the future.
Calling out Project 2025, a playbook for Trump’s second term developed by the conservative Heritage Foundation, Harris accused the former president of planning to cut Medicare and Social Security, give tax breaks to billionaires that would raise taxes on middle-class families, repeal the Affordable Care Act then-President Barack Obama steered through a Democratic Congress more than a decade ago, and enact a nationwide abortion ban.
“America has tried those failed policies before, and we’re not going back!” she said.
In contrast, Harris pledged to defend voting rights and women’s right to choose and fight gun violence by pushing Congress to pass legislation requiring background checks and banning assault weapons.
Harris, a former prosecutor and California attorney general, attacked Trump’s criminal record in what already has become a familiar theme since she stepped forward to declare her candidacy just nine days ago when President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
“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, so hear me when I say, ‘I know Donald Trump’s type,’ ” she said.
The crowd followed immediately with chants of “Lock him up! Lock him up!” in a reprise of the chants Trump supporters aimed at Hillary Clinton, his Democratic opponent in 2016.
Harris also took on Trump on the issue of immigration, accusing the former president of intervening to kill immigration reform legislation that had the backing of Democrats and even conservative Republicans.
“He tanked the bipartisan bill because he thought it would help him win an election,” she said. “Donald Trump does not care about border security. He only cares about himself.”
The Republican National Committee, responding to Harris’ visit to Georgia, turned the tables on the immigration issue, accusing Harris of failing to solve the problem in her role as “immigration czar” for the Biden administration.
“If she really cared about Georgia, she would end the border bloodbath that led to the brutal murder of Laken Riley, who was killed at the University of Georgia,” RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said. “A vote for dangerously pro-criminal Kamala is a vote for another four years of soft on crime and open border policies that are making our communities around the country less safe.”
Harris chastised Trump for waffling over a previous commitment to a second debate in September, a pledge he made back when the presumptive Democratic nominee was Biden, who Trump trounced in the first debate last month in Atlanta. She noted that Trump and Republican running mate J.D. Vance have been highly critical of her.
“As the saying goes, ‘If you’ve got something to say, say it to my face,’ ” she said, addressing Trump directly.
Harris acknowledged that she’s the underdog in the race, even though she has pulled closer to Trump in Georgia and a handful of other battleground states since Biden abandoned the campaign.
“We have our work cut out for us,” she told the crowd. “But when we fight, we win!”
Georgia will remain the focus of the presidential contest as July turns to August. Trump and Vance are scheduled to address a rally Saturday inside the same venue on the Georgia State campus.
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