Kamala Harris promises “a new generation of leadership” at D.C. rally

With one week until the election, Vice President Kamala Harris delivered her campaign’s closing argument at the Ellipse outside the White House, the site of former President Donald Trump’s speech that incited the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. In the address she laid out a different path from Trump’s “chaos and division,” pledging to “build consensus and reach compromise to get things done.”

“I will speak to everyone about the choice and stakes in this election,” Harris said Tuesday night. “Look, we all know who Donald Trump is. He is the person who stood at this very spot nearly four years ago and sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol to overturn the will of the people in a free and fair election that he knew he lost.”

“It is time to stop pointing fingers and start locking arms,” Harris said. “It is time to turn the page on the drama and conflict, the fear and division. It is time for a new generation of leadership in America.”

The Harris campaign estimated that 75,000 supporters attended the rally, with the crowd stretching from the Ellipse to the Washington Monument, where spectators watched on jumbotrons.

Starting around 1 p.m., people, including college students from across the District, began gathering to hear the Vice President speak. Volunteers distributed light up wristbands and water, and a “Family Fun” tent offered cotton candy and “Future Voter” coloring books. As the sun set, a long DJ set blasted hits by Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, and Stevie Nicks.

Ignacio Loaiza Sandoval (CAS ’28), a first-time voter from California, attended the rally with the Georgetown University College Democrats. 

“It was just really exciting to feel the energy of everybody there,” he said. “It was cool to be around young people, first time voters and having her acknowledge that as something that’s important.”

The rally opened with a rendition of America the Beautiful, and continued with speakers delivering personal stories on the Harris campaign’s core issues, including abortion access, lowering costs, and protecting democracy.

Photo by Connor Martin Performance of “America the Beautiful”Photo by Connor Martin

Amanda Zurawski, alongside her husband, shared her story of being denied an abortion after learning her fetus would not survive. Citing Texas’ abortion laws, Zurawski’s doctors refused to terminate the pregnancy until after she developed sepsis three days later. Her fallopian tube was permanently damaged from a potentially life-threatening infection, diminishing her chances of being able to conceive again.

“Donald Trump is responsible for what happened to our family,” Zurawski said.

Photo by Connor Martin Amanda Zurawski, along with her husband, Josh, speaking at the rally’s openingPhoto by Connor Martin

Abortion access was top of mind for many in attendance. Sharon Roland, a mom and grandma from Waldorf, MD, teared up as she described what a future without reproductive rights would look like for her daughters and granddaughters. 

“We have to make a change. There’s no going back,” she said.

Shortly after 7:30 p.m., Harris walked on stage to deliver her remarks. 

She echoed speeches from previous rallies outlining her policy positions: protecting access to abortion and reproductive healthcare, lowering the cost of housing and groceries, capping the price of insulin, and limiting out-of-pocket prescription drug costs. Harris also spoke about her plans for an expanded child-tax credit and lowering the cost of childcare, passing a border security bill, and allowing medicare to cover in-home care.

Harris used the speech to cement the contrast she’s been drawing between herself and Trump throughout the race, describing Trump as “unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance, and out for unchecked power.” Throughout, Harris painted Trump as a threat to democracy while underlining her own biography and values.

“I pledge to listen: to experts, to those who will be impacted by the decisions I make, and to people who disagree with me,” Harris said. “Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at the table.”

As Harris pledged to listen, pro-Palestine protesters chanted on Constitution Ave and 17 St NW, at times forcing event organizers to raise the volume of speakers so rally attendees could hear the Vice President. The Voice witnessed security guards remove at least 10 protesters from the Ellipse while they chanted, “Arms embargo now.”

After the rally, at least 150 pro-Palestine protesters gathered outside the security gates, slowing the exit of attendees and prompting some to climb the security fence in order to leave.

Protesters at the rally demanded Harris include an arms embargo on Israel in her platform.

“It can’t wait until after the election season, because then she’s already in office. What would she do? What, just like Biden has, ignore us,” Sara Soliman, an organizer for the Palestinian Youth Movement, said. 

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking another 250 people hostage in Gaza. Since then, the Israeli government has invaded and bombarded Gaza, killing over 42,000 people, displacing nearly the entire population, and destroying 60% of the buildings.

Protesters outside the D.C. rally shared how their demands were not being heard by Harris.

“After one year of genocide, I’m feeling really angry and disheartened, disheartened that people have been calling their representatives,” Soliman said. “They’ve been going through the channels that they believe are supposed to work, going through the system and constantly, their cries have been ignored.” 

The protests at Harris’ D.C. address came one day after her rally in Ann Arbor, Michigan was interrupted by more than a dozen pro-Palestine protesters. On that occasion she stopped her speech and spoke to them directly, but did not do so during her D.C. rally. 

In her address at the Ellipse, Harris argued that her presidency will embrace opposing views and “robust debate.”

“Our democracy doesn’t require us to agree on everything. That’s not the American way,” Harris said.

“Donald Trump has spent a decade trying to keep the American people divided and afraid of each other. That’s who he is,” Harris said. “But America, I am here tonight to say: that’s not who we are.”

The U.S. election is Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. For information on how to vote from college, read our explainer here.