ATLANTA — Vice President Kamala Harris, facing a new barrage of GOP attack ads seeking to define her as her campaign kicks off, attacked immigration and border security before a cheering crowd of thousands at a overcapacity arena on Tuesday night.
Through shouts of “Kamala” directed at her and “arrest him” directed at the former president donald trumpHarris began her line of attack by citing her experience as attorney general of America’s largest border state, California.
“In this job, I walked through underground tunnels between the United States and Mexico, on that border, with police officers,” Harris said. “I went after transnational gangs, drug cartels and human traffickers who entered our country illegally. I sued them case after case and won.”
“Donald Trump, on the other hand, has talked a lot about border security, but he hasn’t followed through. Or, as my friend Quavo says, he don’t ‘walk the walk,’” Harris said, referencing the lyrics from the Atlanta rapper, who supported her moments earlier.
Harris’ comments were her biggest effort yet to refute Republican claims that she lacks the will and experience to secure the border, that she was unable to do so as vice president and that she would again be ineffective on the issue if elected president.
“This is America’s border czar and she has failed us. Under Harris, more than 10 million are here illegally,” said the new Trump ad says of Harris. The narrator ends by saying: “Kamala Harris. Failed, weak, dangerously liberal.”
Immigration and border has been one of Trump’s strongest issues throughout the election. Harris, holding her second rally as a presidential candidate after taking office President Joe Biden This month, he took to immigration abuse, criticizing Trump for his role in the failure of a bipartisan bill that would have enacted tough border reforms, including a provision that would have allowed the president to close it if crossings reached a certain threshold.
“Our administration has worked on the most significant border security bill,” Harris said.
“Everything was ready to be approved, but at the last minute, Trump instructed his allies in the Senate to vote against it. He scuttled the bipartisan agreement because he thought it would help him win the election,” she said, to applause, before concluding: “Donald Trump doesn’t care about border security. He only cares about himself.”
She also taunted Trump for hesitating on his promise to debate her. Trump now says he will wait until the Democratic ticket is finalized following this month’s historic change of candidate.
“Well, Donald, I hope you reconsider meeting me on the debate stage,” Harris said, mocking her opponent. “Because, as the saying goes, if you have something to say…”
Harris was encouraged by a crowd that ate every word, including condemning Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, as “complete strangers.”
She spent little time actually encouraging voters to go to the polls in November — mostly because she didn’t have to. The nearly 10,000 participants in Atlanta, the campaign’s largest audience yet, were well aware of the work expected of them in November.
The crowd was pumped up by a circle of Atlanta dance classics, from Soulja Boy’s “Crank That” to “Yeah!” replicate the record turnout that propelled Biden into the White House and flipped the Senate in 2020. The House Speakers also attacked Trump, who was indicted last year on charges alleging he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election, just blocks from away, in Fulton County. Court.
“The American people are the jury, we will get the verdict right and we will send Kamala Harris to the White House,” said Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock.
Representative Nikema Williams, chair of the state Democratic Party, said: “Not only is he still a loser in Georgia, but he is also a convicted felon on 34 counts. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m ready to make him a loser again.”
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said, “Kamala Harris has proven she is prepared to prosecute the case against Donald Trump. Who better to take on a convicted criminal than a prosecutor?”
By the time Harris took the stage, the crowd was full of energy.
“If you’ve never voted before, make sure you get out and vote, because this is a real vote,” Quavo said.
Harris’ campaign office in Georgia wrapped up a weekend of events designed specifically to engage a base already excited about the woman at the top of the Democratic ticket.
Across Georgia, the campaign this weekend held more than 174 events, recruited thousands of new volunteers and opened three new field offices in an effort to increase its chances of holding on to a state that Biden won by the narrowest of margins in 2020. .
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
