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 chants of “Kamala” directed at her and “lock him up” directed at Trump, Harris 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 ‘do what I say,’” Harris said, referencing the lyrics from the Atlanta rapper who supported her moments earlier.
Harris’ remarks marked her biggest effort yet to refute Republican claims that she lacks the will and experience to secure the border, that she failed to do so during her first term and that she would again be ineffective on the issue if reelected.
“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 the border have been one of Trump’s strongest issues during the 2024 election so far. Harris, holding her second rally as a presidential candidate after replacing President Joe Biden earlier this month, took umbrage on the immigration issue, criticizing Trump for his role in destroying a bipartisan bill that would have enacted tough border reforms, including a provision that would allow the president to close it if the intersections reached a certain mark.
“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.”
The vice president also criticized Trump for hesitating on his promise to debate her, with the former president now claiming he will wait until the Democratic ticket is finalized following the historic switch of candidates in July.
“Well, Donald, I hope you reconsider meeting me on the debate stage,” Harris said, mocking her November opponent. “Because, as the saying goes, if you have something to say…”
Harris was encouraged by a crowd that ate every word she uttered, including her condemnation of Trump and Vance 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, marking the campaign’s largest audience yet, were well aware of the work expected of them in November.
The crowd got pumped with a circle of Atlanta dance classics, from Soulja Boy’s “Crank That” to “Yeah!” by Usher, as well as a performance by Grammy-winning artist Megan Thee Stallion, before some of Georgia’s most prominent Democrats encouraged them to replicate the record turnout that propelled Biden into the White House and flipped the Senate in 2020. Each speaker also gave their own blow to Trump, who was indicted last year on charges alleging he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election, just blocks away at the Fulton County Courthouse.
“The American people are the jury, we will get the verdict right and we will send Kamala Harris to the White House,” said Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.
“Not only is he still a loser in Georgia,” began Representative Nikema Williams, chair of the Georgia Democratic Party, “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.”
“Kamala Harris has proven she is prepared to prosecute the case against Donald Trump,” said Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens. “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 vote because this is a real vote,” Quavo said.
Harris’ event came after her 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, Harris’ campaign this weekend held more than 174 events, recruited thousands of new volunteers and opened three new field offices in an effort to increase her chances of holding on to a state that Biden won by the narrowest of margins. in 2020.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
