Vice President Kamala Harris told supporters gathered at her campaign event in Fayetteville, North Carolina, that the convention speech delivered this week by Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, this week was “a compelling story — and it was not the full story,” The New York Times reported.
Harris wasted no time in addressing the brass tacks, condemning former President Donald Trump and his pick for vice president, claiming they will undermine the middle class and eviscerate the rights of women and minorities. In her first campaign appearance since Vance formally accepted his position on the Republican ticket, Harris took direct aim what she described as an extremist agenda.
“Frankly, what’s very compelling is what he didn’t talk about on that stage. He did not talk about Project 2025, their 900-page blueprint for a second Trump term. He did not talk about it because their plans are extreme, and they are divisive,” she said of Vance, PBS News reported.
President Biden, Harris said, is someone who will “fight” for the common people, noting that he comes from a middle-class background in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and “he has never forgotten where he came from.”
The vice president warned against the dangers of a Trump-Vance administration for reproductive rights, social programs, as well as health care and education policies pursued by the the Biden-Harris administration. She also critiqued Republican claims that they are genuinely in favor of “unit.”
“In recent days, they’ve been trying to portray themselves as the party of unity,” Harris said. “If you claim to stand for unity, you need to do more than just use the word. You cannot claim you stand for unity if you are pushing an agenda that deprives whole groups of Americans of basic freedoms, opportunity, and dignity.”