Vice President Kamala Harris said on Saturday that former President Donald Trump gives hard work a bad name, delivering a closing argument with Jon Bon Jovi to North Carolina voters who could make or break her presidential bid.
Ms. Harris, speaking in Charlotte, said America is ready to move on from a GOP nominee stewing over his enemy list instead of a to-do list.
“We’re done with that. We’re exhausted with it,” Ms. Harris said. “We know who he is, he tells us every day. But Charlotte, that’s not who we are.”
Ms. Harris vowed to defend Obamacare and abortion access while bringing down the overall cost of living. She pledged to surmount inflation and other hurdles, recounting her fights against criminals and big banks as California’s top prosecutor.
“I’m not afraid of tough fights. There is nothing in the world that will stand in my way,” she said.
North Carolina is the quintessential purple state, with a Democratic governor and GOP-led legislature. Yet Democratic presidential candidates haven’t won North Carolina since Barack Obama did it in 2008.
Ms. Harris and Democrats are desperately trying to increase turnout among Black and young voters in the cities and suburbs to counter an impressive rural turnout machine that’s served the GOP well in recent cycles.
The Democratic effort runs through the Research Triangle in Raleigh-Durham and Mecklenburg County, home to Charlotte.
“Charlotte — are we ready to do this? Are we ready to vote? Are we ready to win?” Ms. Harris said as she took the stage to loud cheers. “It is good to be back, it is good to be back.”
Ms. Harris made Charlotte her first stop after an impressive debate performance in September, underscoring its importance.
On Saturday, she went out of her way to promote young, first-time voters, saying they cannot wait for action on climate change and gun violence.
“You all are rightly impatient for change,” Ms. Harris said.
Winning the state’s 16 electoral votes could secure victory for Ms. Harris, especially if she loses one of the “blue wall” swing states up north.
Polling averages show Mr. Trump leading by 1 or 2 points in the Tarheel State, making the race a statistical tie within the margin of error.
Mr. Trump held a pair of rallies in North Carolina on Saturday, in Gastonia and Greensboro. He pointed to a recent jobs report that said the U.S. only added 12,000 jobs in October.
The Biden White House said hurricane and strikes hamstrung job creation, though Mr. Trump wasn’t buying it.
“We lost nearly 30,000 private sector jobs. Think of that. And the jobs created were mostly government jobs. That’s easy. You just call up hire 100,000 people this month,” Mr. Trump said.
Ms. Harris is hoping for a boost from changing demographics in North Carolina, including a tide of people from the Northeast looking for a lower cost of living. She got a helping hand from a famous New Jersey man — Mr. Bon Jovi — who strummed a song with other musicians before warming up the crowd with supportive words.
Ms. Harris revved up the crowd by praising early voters and leaning on them to tell their family and friends to vote. Statistics from the state elections board show around half of the state’s registered voters have already cast their ballot.
“In less than 90 days, it’s either going to be him or me sitting in the Oval Office,” Ms. Harris said.
The vice president said it would be her.
“Make no mistake — we will win,” Ms. Harris said. “We will win because when you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for.”
• Kerry Picket contributed to this report.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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