Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday urged voters to pray alongside her days after she belittled religious protesters at one of her rallies and slammed religious exemptions for abortion.
Ms. Harris appeared on gospel singer Erica Campbell’s radio show, where she sought to play up her appeal to religious voters. The vice president talked about how faith shaped her career and life.
Ms. Harris, who is Baptist and raised by a Hindu mother, concluded the interview by offering a prayer and calling upon listeners to join her.
“I would ask you to join me in a prayer for the nation, for bringing us together, for people having a sense of hope and optimism and to remind us all that our faith teaches us to believe in things that we may not yet see, but what we know is possible and what we know is right and good, and that would be the prayer I’d ask you to join me in,” Ms. Harris said.
Ms. Campbell said she would ask all her “prayer warriors” to join in and “pray for the next president of the United States.”
The prayer was Ms. Harris’ latest effort to court voters, especially Black voters, by making campaign stops at churches and religious podcasts.
Ms. Harris’ call for prayer comes a week after she mocked two pro-life protesters as being “at the wrong rally” when they said “Jesus is Lord” and “Christ is King” at a campaign stop in Wisconsin.
Ms. Harris also skipped the Al Smith dinner, a Catholic charity event in New York and a traditional campaign stop for presidential nominees. Instead, she sent a widely criticized video message.
Last week, Ms. Harris angered pro-life groups after she took an uncompromising position on abortion rights, telling NBC’s Hallie Jackson that she doesn’t support religious exemptions for abortion and wouldn’t make any concessions on that issue if elected.
“I don’t think we should be making concessions when we’re talking about a fundamental freedom to make decisions about your own body,” she said.
• Valerie Richardson contributed to this story.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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