Vice President Kamala Harris was in Dallas on Wednesday to address thousands of members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the oldest Greek-letter organization established by Black women, as she sought to rally them behind President Joe Biden's reelection bid.
"We know when we organize, mountains move," she said to her fellow sorority sisters. When we mobilize, nations change. And when we vote, we make history."
The remarks came as Biden continued to push back on defectors and fence-sitting statements from Democrats in Washington amid debate over whether he should be the Democratic presidential nominee.
Harris praised the sorority members past and present as being on the front lines in the fight for a better country and heralded the achievements of the Biden administration, making no note of the growing chaos in her party.
“Throughout our history, the leaders of Alpha Kappa Alpha have stood up, spoken out, and done the work to build a brighter future for our nation, including, of course, in 2020 when during the height of a pandemic, you helped elect Joe Biden president of the United States, and me as the first woman elected vice president of the United States,” Harris said, speaking at the sorority's annual convention.
Harris spoke of the Biden administration’s efforts to combat student loan and medical debt, the promise of Biden to restore the reproductive rights once enshrined by Roe v. Wade, and the threats she says a second Donald Trump administration would pose.
“All of us here are clear, while we have come a mighty long way, we have more work to do,” the vice president said. “Across our nation, we are witnessing a full-on assault on hard fought, hard won, freedoms and rights.”
She warned of the stakes of November's election, calling it "the most existential, consequential and important election of our lifetimes."
"Sorors, this is a serious matter," she said to her sorority sisters.
"So, in this moment, once again, our nation is counting on the leaders in this room to guide us forward, to energize, organize and mobilize, to register folks to vote and to get them to the polls in November," Harris continued. "Because we know when we organize, mountains move. When we mobilize, nations change, and when we vote, we make history
Biden, who approved a disaster resolution on Wednesday for parts of Texas slammed by Hurricane Beryl in recent days, will be in Austin next Monday to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act and do a sit-down interview with NBC News anchor Lestor Holt.
This week, while Biden hosts NATO leaders in Washington and works to convince congressional Democrats he has what it takes to lead the party to victory in November, Harris has been traveling across the country and continued to make the case for their ticket as it stands, even as speculation surrounds her as a potential successor if Biden were to step aside. She was in Las Vegas on Tuesday, the latest of her six visits to battleground Nevada this year, and traveled on Saturday to New Orleans — where she headlined the Essence Festival of Culture alongside some of the nation’s most prominent Black Democrats.
“The past few days have been a reminder that running for president of the United States is never easy, but the one thing we know about our president, Joe Biden, is that he is a fighter and — he is the first to say — when you get knocked down, you get back up,” Harris told the audience at an AANHPIs (Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander) for Biden-Harris event in Las Vegas.
“We all know," she said. "Many of us know what that is. So we continue to fight, and we will continue to organize, and in November, we will win.”
After that event, Harris made an unannounced visit to the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team’s practice and told the group of the NBA’s biggest American stars to “beat Canada and bring back the gold” as they prepare for the Paris Olympics later this month.
Prominent Democrats, including South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn and California Rep. Adam Schiff, have name-checked Harris as the natural replacement to Biden as presidential candidate, even as the list of Democrats who have made explicit their desires for change remains notably short.
“I think the Vice President would be a phenomenal president. I think she has the experience, the judgment, the leadership, the ability to be an extraordinary president,” said Schiff on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “I think she very well could win overwhelmingly. But before we get into a decision about who else it should be, the President needs to make a decision, whether it's him.”
As of yet, Biden continues to insist he’s staying in and Harris has offered no sign she will continue to be anything but a team player. But Trump isn’t waiting to see if Democrats end up switching candidates. On Tuesday, at a rally in Florida, Trump dubbed her “Laffin’ Kamala,” called her incompetent and blamed her for the flow of migrants across the southern border and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Wednesday, he continued attacking her in an interview on Fox News Radio, comparing her to his yet-to-be-announced running mate.
“Anyone would be fantastic. Anyone would be a lot better than Laffin’ Kamala, she's terrible. Kamala is just terrible,” Trump said. “I don't care if it's [Biden] or somebody else, it's also policies. More about policy than anything else. And these radical Democrats are all radical. Everyone that they're talking about is a radical left lunatic.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.