Remarks by Vice President Harris at a Campaign Event | Harrisburg, PA
Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
4:30 P.M. EDT
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hello, Pennsylvania! (Applause.) Good afternoon. (Applause.)
All right. All right. Oh, we got the band in the house. (Applause.) Good. (Laughs.) Okay. We got some work to do. (Applause.) All right. All right. Okay. Okay.
AUDIENCE: We’re not going back! We’re not going back! We’re not going back!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: All right. Okay. All right. Okay. Let’s settle down. We — we got some work to do. We got some work to do.
But can we give it up, please, for Chris? Thank you so very much — (applause) — for all your leadership. And, Mikayla, I was looking for you. I don’t know where you are, but I’m saying hello to you too, because you are part of the reason I do what I do. Thank you. (Applause.)
All right, Harrisburg. Are we ready to do this? (Applause.)
Are we ready to vote? (Applause.)
Are we ready to win? (Applause.) Yes, you are right.
Oh, it is good to be back in Pennsylvania and with so many incredible leaders, including your extraordinary Lieutenant Governor Davis — (applause); State Representative Kim — (applause); and Mayor Williams. And let’s send Bob Casey back to the United States Senate. (Applause.)
All right. Okay. So, this election is underway, and I want to thank everyone for taking the time out of your busy lives to be here this afternoon for us to all be under one roof together, sharing this moment of commitment to our country and each other. I thank you all for the time that you are taking for us to all be here together. (Applause.)
All right. So, now is the time to remind our neighbors and our friends to make a plan to vote in person on Election Day — (applause) — or to return your mail ballot.
And, Pennsylvania, if you still have a mail ballot, you can take it to a ballot drop box or an election office in your county by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day. Let’s spread the word and ask folks to go to IWillVote.com if they need more information. (Applause.)
So, I’m visiting with you this afternoon because we need you to vote, Pennsylvania. We need you to vote — (applause) — because we have just six days left in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime. And we have work to do. We still have a lot of work to do, but we like hard work. (Applause.) Hard work is good work. (Applause.) Hard work is joyful work. (Applause.)
And make no mistake, we will win. We will win. (Applause.) We will win.
And part of the reason — and part of the reason we will win is because I do believe when you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for. (Applause.)
And we know we have an opportunity in this election to turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump trying to keep us divided and afraid of each other. (Applause.) That is who he is, but, Pennsylvania, that is not who we are. (Applause.)
And I know plenty of folks are just exhausted with it all and know that it is time to stop pointing fingers and to start locking arms. It is time — (applause) — it is time for a new generation of leadership in America. (Applause.) And together, with you, we will do this. And I am ready to offer that leadership as the next president of the United States of America. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Kamala! Kamala! Kamala!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you.
AUDIENCE: Kamala! Kamala! Kamala!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And let me just say, Pennsylvania, you know my background. I am not afri- — I am not afraid of tough fights. For decades as a prosecutor and the top law enforcement officer of our biggest state, I won fights against the big banks that were ripping off homeowners — (applause); against for-profit colleges that scammed veterans and students; against predators who abused women and children; and cartels that trafficked in guns, drugs, and human beings. (Applause.)
And if you give me the chance to fight on your behalf as president, there is nothing that will stand in my way of working for you. (Applause.)
And, look, we know who Donald — Donald Trump is, right? So, this is someone who is not thinking about how to make your life better. This is someone who is unstable —
AUDIENCE: Yes!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — obsessed with revenge —
AUDIENCE: Yes!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — consumed with grievance —
AUDIENCE: Yes!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — and out for unchecked power.
AUDIENCE: Yes!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And, look, in less than 90 days, either he or I will be in the Oval Office.
AUDIENCE: You!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: But — (laughs) — but — okay. A- — (laughs) —
Because here’s the thing we know: If he is elected, on day one, Donald Trump would walk into that office with an enemies list.
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: When I am elected, I will walk in with a to-do list. (Applause.) And at the top of my list is bringing down your cost of living. That will be my focus every single day as president. (Applause.)
I will give a middle-class tax cut to a hundred million Americans, enact — (applause) — enact the first-ever federal ban on price gouging on groceries — (applause) — and fight to make sure that hardworking Americans can actually afford a place to live. (Applause.)
If you are caring for an elderly parent, my plan will co- — cover the cost of home care under Medicare — (applause) — so seniors can get the help they need and the care they need to stay in their own homes. (Applause.)
It’s about dignity. It’s about dignity, which is why my plan will also lower the cost of childcare — (applause) — cut — cut taxes for small businesses, and lower health care costs, because I believe health care should be a right and not just a privilege of those who can afford it. (Applause.)
On the other hand, Donald Trump’s answer to financial pressures is for you to face the same deal you —
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)
AUDIENCE: Booo —
Kamala! Kamala! Kamala!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Here’s the thing. Let me say — let me say something. Let me say something. We are — ho- — we are six days out of an election. We are six days away from an election, and ours is about a fight for democracy and your right to be heard. (Applause.) That is what is on the line in this election. That is what is on the line in this election.
Look, everybody has a right to be heard, but right now, I am speaking. (Applause.)
And one of the biggest issues that folks around the country want to talk about and hear is about how we are going to bring down the price of living for working people. And people know that Donald Trump’s answer to the financial pressures that you face is the same as the last time: another trillion-dollar tax cut for billionaires and big corporations.
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And this time, he will pay for it with a 20 percent national sales tax on everything you buy that is imported —
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — clothes, food, toys, cell phones. And a Trump sales tax would cost the average family nearly $4,000 more a year.
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: These are some of the issues that are on the line in the next six days, and that’s why we are here, saying, “We will not stand for it.” We stand for working people. (Applause.) We stand for middle-class growth and strength.
We are here together because we know what’s on the line. We know that Donald Trump will try, like he has so many times, to get rid of the Affordable Care Act —
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — which would throw millions of Americans off of their health care and take us back to when insurance companies could deny people with preexisting conditions. You remember what that was?
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, we are not going back. (Applause.) We are not going back.
AUDIENCE: We’re not going back! We’re not going back! We’re not going back!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: We’re not going back.
AUDIENCE: We’re not going back! We’re not going back! We’re not going back!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And we are not going back, because ours is a fight for the future — (applause) — and it is a fight for freedom, like the fundamental freedom of a woman to be able to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do. (Applause.)
And we remember how we got here. Donald Trump, when he was president, hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court —
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — with the intention that they would do just as they did and overturn the protections of Roe v. Wade. And now, in America, one in three women in America lives in a state with a Trump abortion ban, many with no exceptions even for rape and incest, which is immoral — immoral.
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And, look, Donald Trump is not done. He would ban abortion nationwide — yes, even here in Pennsylvania, if he were successful.
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: He would restrict access to birth control, put IVF treatments at risk, and force states to monitor women’s pregnancies.
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Just google Project 2025. Read the plans for yourself.
And let us agree: One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government shouldn’t be telling people what to do — (applause) — not the government — not the government. If she chooses, she will talk with her priest, her pastor, her rabbi, her imam, but not the government or Donald Trump telling people what to do. (Applause.)
And I — I pledge to you, when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom, as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law. (Applause.) I will proudly sign it into law.
So, Pennsylvania, I am asking for your vote. (Applause.) And here — here is my pledge to you. And here is my pledge to you. As your president —
AUDIENCE MEMBER: You’re war criminals! You’re (inaudible) —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — I pledge to seek common ground and commonsense solutions to the challenges you face.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)
AUDIENCE: Kamala! Kamala! Kamala!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. And let me say — look, I’ll repeat it — we are fighting for our democracy. We love our democracy. (Applause.) It can be complicated at times, but it is the best system in the world.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)
AUDIENCE: Booo —
THE VICE PRESIDENT: It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay. All right.
So, look, I will continue with my point. I pledge to you that, as president of the United States, I will not be looking to score political points. I will be looking to make progress. (Applause.) And I pledge to listen to experts, to those who will be impacted by the decisions I make, and to the people who disagree with me. (Applause.)
And at this particular moment, it should be emphasized that, unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the “enemy from within.” (Applause.) He wants to put them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at the table. (Applause.)
And I pledge to be a president for all Americans and to always put country above party and self. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yeah. That’s right.
AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: That’s right.
So, Pennsylvania, look, it all comes down to this. We are all here together and you have taken so much time out of your life to be here because we love our country. We love our country. (Applause.) And when you love something, you fight for it. (Applause.)
And I do believe it is one of the highest forms of patriotism, an expression of our love of our country, to then fight for its ideals — to fight for the ideals of our country and to fight for the promise of America. (Applause.) That’s what this is about.
I have always believed in our nation’s promise because I have lived it. I grew up a child of the Civil Rights Movement. (Applause.) My parents would take me to marches when I was in a stroller, where people from all walks of life, all kinds of backgrounds, came together to fight for the ideals of our country, the ideals of freedom and opportunity.
I’ve lived the promise of America. I saw how hard my mother worked to give her daughters the same chances our country gave her. Growing up — (applause) — growing up, I was blessed to have family by blood and family by love — (applause) — who instilled in me — like all of us, who instilled in me the values that have always defined our nation at its best, like the value of community, of compassion, and faith.
I’ve lived the promise of America. I’ve spent my life fighting for people who have been hurt and counted out but who never stop believing that, in our country, anything is possible. (Applause.)
I’ve lived the promise of America, and I see the promise of America in this beautiful assembly of people, of you who understand — (applause) — what is at stake and also what we have yet to do. That’s what this is about. This is about our joy and our optimism, about what has yet to be done that we can do together as one community of people who love their country. (Applause.)
And I see, then, the promise of America in, for example, the women who refuse to accept a future without reproductive freedom. (Applause.) I see it — I see it in the men who support them. (Applause.) I see it in Republicans who have never voted for a Democrat before but put the Constitution of the United States before party. (Applause.)
I see the promise of America in all the young leaders who I know are here right now, voting for the first time. (Applause.) Let me see your hands. Right?
And I love this generation of leaders, because, listen, you are rightly impatient for change — (applause) — you who are determined to live free from gun violence, to tackle the climate crisis, and shape the world you inherit. (Applause.) For these young leaders, let me tell you, no- — none of this is theoretical for them. It’s not political for them. For the young leaders, this is their lived experience. And I see you, and I see your power, and I am so proud of you. (Applause.)
Let’s hear it for our first-time voters. Let’s h- — (applause). I see you.
So, Pennsylvania, we have six days to get this done. (Applause.) No one can sit on the sidelines. Let’s spend the next six days so when we look back, we will know that we’ve done everything we could. It’s time to knock on doors, time to text and call voters, time to reach out to family and friends and neighbors and classmates and coworkers.
And please, in these next six days, let us be intentional about building community. (Applause.) In these next six days, let us please be intentional about building coalition. (Applause.) And let us remember, we all have so much more in common than what separates us. (Applause.)
So, remember, your vote is your voice, and your voice is your power. (Applause.)
And I will end by asking you: Pennsylvania, are you ready to make your voices heard? (Applause.)
Do we believe in freedom? (Applause.)
Do we believe in opportunity? (Applause.)
Do we believe in the promise of America? (Applause.)
And are we ready to fight for it? (Applause.)
And when we fight —
AUDIENCE: We win!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — we win.
God bless you. And God bless the United States of America. God bless you. (Applause.)
END 4:55 P.M. EDT
