Vice President Kamala Harris descended on Pennsylvania, the biggest swing state in the nation, on Wednesday night for a live, roughly hourlong town hall with CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
It could be the last major prime-time event of its kind this election cycle as both candidates look to shape their closing message to the American public with less than two weeks to go until Nov. 5.
While Harris fielded questions from voters – described by CNN as “undecided and persuadable” – on the economy, immigration, the war in Gaza and more, throughout the night, she frequently returned to warning that her GOP opponent, former President Donald Trump is a “danger to the well being and security of America.”
At the same time, she called for the country to move past the current “era” of “partisan politics” and said she is committed to working with both Republicans and Democrats to “fix problems.”
“This election in 13 days is presenting the American people with a very significant decision,” Harris said. “And on the one side, on this issue, of who is going to model what it means to use the bully pulpit of the president of the United States in a manner that, in tone, word and deed, is about lifting up our discourse, fighting against hate, as opposed to fanning the flames of hate, which Donald Trump does consistently.”
“There are certain things where we have just got to come together and realize that we do believe in the importance of healthy debate on real issues but there are certain standards we've got to have.”
CNN originally sought for the night to serve as a second debate between Harris and Trump but the former president declined the offer as well as the chance to participate in his own town hall, according to the network. The two major-party presidential hopefuls are not expected to meet on the debate stage again ahead of Election Day.
For his part, Trump was in battleground Georgia on Wednesday for campaign events.
At many points throughout the night, Harris pointed to comments from former high-level official who served in Trump’s administration, such as his chief of staff John Kelly, former Defense Secretaries Mark Esper and James Mattis as well as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, to make the case that her GOP opponent is “increasingly unstable and unfit to serve.”
Harris specifically leaned into highlighting the new reporting that surfaced on Tuesday about Kelly, Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff, telling The Atlantic and The New York Times that his one-time boss fits the definition of a fascist and said he wanted generals like the ones Adolf Hitler had. (Trump has denied the reporting.)
The vice president referenced the timing of Kelly’s comments – two weeks before the election – to argue his warnings are intended to be a “911 call.”
“I think one has to think about why would someone who served with him, who was not political – a four-star marine general – why is he telling the American people now?” Harris said. “And frankly, I think of it as he's just putting out a 911 call to the American people: understand what could happen if Donald Trump were back in the White House.”
Harris also directly said “Yes, I do” when asked if she also considers her opponent a fascist, repeating: "Yes I do."
She repeated criticisms of Trump she often cites – such as reporting, which his team has denied, that he sent COVID-19 tests to Russian President Vladimir Putin at the height of the pandemic and his recent comments about using the national guard or military against “enemies from within” – and invited voters to think of those qualities when they imagine him sitting in the Oval Office or Situation Room.
“And when they hear these facts, I think it compels a lot of people to be concerned about the future of our country with Donald Trump at the lead,” she said.
Over the last few days, the vice president has faced a slew of questions about how her presidency would look different from the one of her current boss, President Joe Biden.
The new focus stemmed from an answer she gave during an interview on ABC’s “The View” earlier this month in which she said “there is not a thing that comes to mind” when asked if there was something she would have done differently from Biden.
Harris on Wednesday stressed that her potential administration would not be a “continuation of the Biden administration,” adding that she would bring her own background and experience to the role.
“It's about a new approach, a new generation of leadership based on new ideas and, frankly, different experiences,” Harris said. “I bring a whole set of different experiences to this job, and the way I think about it than Joe Biden.”
Harris specifically pointed to her plans to address affordable housing, her policy proposal to have Medicare cover at-home care for seniors and her proposed tax cut for small businesses as examples.
Later in the evening, Harris was asked about a topic that surrounded the first few weeks of her campaign – her position on certain issues, such as fracking, shifting between her time as a presidential candidate in 2020 to now.
Harris noted that she now has the “experience and perspective” of serving as vice president, which has helped shaped her stances and made the case that America deserves a commander in chief who is open minded.
“Our country deserves to have a president of the United States who is not afraid of good ideas and does not stand on pride if a perspective needs to be informed by different points of view to build consensus and to have a common sense approach,” she said. “I'm never going to shy away from good ideas.”
Immigration is a topic that polls show has risen to be a top issue for voters this election -- and one that could be a point of vulnerability for Democrats.
Harris on Wednesday touted data released this week showing a 55% decrease in illegal border crossings since Biden implemented an executive action severely limiting asylum on June 5 and slammed Trump for urging Congressional Republicans to kill a bill dedicated to addressing the issue that a bipartisan group of senators spent months crafting.
When pressed by Cooper on why Biden did not sign such an order earlier in his presidency, when illegal crossing were reaching record highs, Harris put the onus on Congress, saying it
“We were working with Congress and hoping that actually, we could have a long term fix to the problem instead of short term,” she said, adding that Congress is the body that has the power to dedicate the resources to fix the issue.
The vice president went on to pledge that she would work across the aisle to strengthen the border and implement humane immigration polices.
She also slammed Trump for saying Mexico would pay for a wall to be built between the country and the U.S. but said “I want to strengthen our border” when asked if she wanted to build one.