Kamala Harris rallies 50,000 in final push against Trump
"They didn’t lay down their lives to see us submit to the will of another petty tyrant," said Democratic candidate for U.S. President Kamala Harris on Tuesday during the culminating and largest rally of her election campaign in Washington. Harris spoke from the site where Trump encouraged a crowd of supporters to march on the Capitol in 2021.
12:19 PM EDT, October 30, 2024
A week before the American elections, Kamala Harris delivered the final speech of her campaign from the Ellipse park in Washington, urging Americans to participate in the "most important election of their lives" and support "a new generation" of leaders.
Speaking from where Donald Trump encouraged the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, Harris emphasized that she understands the fears of "ordinary Americans." She called her opponent a vengeful and chaotic "petty tyrant."
She also recalled the events of that day.
"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 an election — an election he knew he lost (...) That’s who Donald Trump is and that’s who is asking you to give him another four years in the Oval Office," said Harris.
"250 years ago America wrested freedom from the hands of a petty tyrant"
The presidential candidate called for resolving the issue of immigration instead of "scaring" people with it and announced that she would fight for women to regain the right to abortion that "Donald Trump and his hand-selected Supreme Court justice took away from the women of America."
"Nearly 250 years ago, America was born when we wrested freedom from a petty tyrant. Across the generations, Americans have: Preserved that freedom. Expanded it. And in so doing, proved to the world that a government of, by, and for the people is strong and can endure. Those who came before us... they did not struggle, sacrifice and lay down their lives, only to see us cede our fundamental freedoms. They didn’t do that only to see us submit to the will of another petty tyrant," Harris concluded.
Crowds at the rally in Washington
The Washington rally for the Democratic candidate—one of the few appearances outside the seven key states—gathered about 50,000 people and was likely her largest campaign event in the current campaign.
Participants lined up in a queue stretching over 1-mile hours before the rally, with about half unable to enter the park due to lack of space, and listened to the speech from the lawn under the Washington Monument.
