Kamala Harris holds Charlotte rally with musical guests, Kerry Washington
Vice President Kamala Harris held a rally in Charlotte Saturday evening ahead of Election Day, bringing with her Kerry Washington, Jon Bon Jovi, Brittney Spencer, Khalid and The War And Treaty.
The Democratic nominee for president appealed to voters on the last day of early voting in North Carolina. More than 3.8 million have already voted statewide, and the latest polls show a tied race. She spoke for about 30 minutes.
In addition to musical guests, Harris was joined by Gov. Roy Cooper, Attorney General Josh Stein, US Rep. Alma Adams, other Democratic candidates on the ballot this year and Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles.
Harris wasn’t the only presidential candidate in North Carolina this weekend. Former President Donald Trump is holding events in Gastonia and Greensboro on Saturday.
Below are live updates from the Harris rally.
Harris speech ends
5:14 p.m. Harris said she will support tax cuts for the middle class, pass a ban on corporate price gouging on groceries, work to make sure Americans can afford to buy homes, help small businesses and fight for reproductive rights.
Harris referenced Project 2025 when she said Trump would force states to monitor women’s pregnancies. Project 2025 is a conservative platform Trump has repeatedly tried to distance himself from.
“Here is my pledge to you: As president I pledge to seek common ground and commonsense solutions to the challenges you face,” Harris said. “I am looking to make progress.”
Harris said the county has much to be optimistic about and asked voters in the next three days to knock on doors, vote, make texts and calls and encourage others to vote for her.
“Your vote is your voice, she said. “And your voice is your power.”
Harris left the stage at 5:15 p.m. to “Freedom,” by Beyonce. Her speech lasted about 30 minutes.
Protesters interrupt
4:50 p.m. Harris’ speech was interrupted by multiple small groups of protesters, some of which had pro-Palestine banners. They were escorted out by security and drowned out by the crowd who chanted back.
The first outburst appeared to be pro-Trump, and Harris addressed them by saying that “this is what democracy looks like.”
She responded more specifically to the pro-Palestine group.
“We all want that war in the Middle East to end. We want the hostages home, and when I am president I will do everything in my power to make it so,” Harris said.
Prior to the rally, a collection of pro-Palestine groups, including UNC Charlotte’s Students for Justice in Palestine and Charlotte United for Palestine, asked people to sign up for tickets to rally to let Harris know she “is not welcome in Charlotte.”
Harris starts with a question
4:42 p.m. Harris took the stage with a question for attendees.
“Are we ready to win?” she asked.
With three days left before the election, Harris said there is still hard work to do.
“We have an opportunity in this election to turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump trying to keep us divided and afraid of each other. We’re done with that,” Harris said. “We know who he is. He tells us everyday.”
Harris called Trump ”increasingly unstable,” and “obsessed with revenge,” before the crowd erupted into the now-familiar chant: “we’re not going back.”
“Trump will be sitting in that office stewing over his enemies list,” Harris said. “When I’m elected I will walk in on your behalf working on my to-do list.”
Johnson C Smith student introduces Kamala Harris
4:38 p.m. Tyson Bates, a student-athlete at Johnson C. Smith University, said he voted in his first presidential race Friday for Harris.
He said Harris is the best president for young voters because she will protect reproductive rights, decrease gun violence, lower costs and protect democracy.
“It’s up to us to fight for the future we deserve. It’s up to us to vote for the future we deserve.” he said. “As president, young voters can trust her to vote for us. I want to own a home one day and she’s going to make it more affordable.”
Bates then introduced Harris.
Jon Bon Jovi
4:13 p.m. Jon Bon Jovi took the stage accompanied by band The War and Treaty to play “The People’s House.”
Attendees danced, cheered and clapped along to the performance. Bon Jovi said he wrote the song after the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Bon Jovi also played “Livin’ on a Prayer.”
“I have one simple question for you,” Bon Jovi asked . “Who can we count on to unite us?”
He encouraged attendees to vote for Harris, saying she’s a leader who will help unite people and create positive change for future generations.
“The American dream is very much alive and well,” Bon Jovi said. “Because we the people hold the power to change our futures.”
Gov. Roy Cooper
4:00 p.m. Even mother nature doesn’t stop this election from moving onward, Gov. Roy Cooper said after talking about the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene.
He said that Trump has an “enemies list” and would seek revenge against people. Harris has a to-do list she’ll use to help people, Cooper said.
“Donald Trump is too focused on his own power and grievances to care about your life, your cost of living, your family, your freedoms, you futures,” he said.
Actress Kerry Washington
3:49 p.m. Actress Kerry Washington took the stage and recalled a conversation with a woman she met en route to Charlotte for the Harris rally. Washington played the character Olivia Pope in the popular political TV show “Scandal.” In the series, Pope works as a crisis manager.
“Olivia Pope, are you going to fix this? Olivia Pope, are you going to save the day?” Washington recalled the woman asking.
But the “soul of this democracy” is not in Pope’s hands, Washington told the crowd. “It’s in yours.”
She encouraged people to vote for Harris, talk to their family members, babysit family members’ kids so they can vote and give people a ride to the polls.
Josh Stein speaks
3:40 p.m. Attorney General Josh Stein, the Democratic nominee for governor, pledged to veto “any further restrictions on women’s reproductive freedoms” if elected.
“Governing is not that complicated. Put the people first and then fight for them. That the job of the attorney general,” Stein said before touting Harris’ work as California attorney general and his own in North Carolina.
Stein called the vision of Trump and Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor, “division, violence and hate.” Then, Stein reminded the crowd about Robinson’s controversial statements about women, teachers, LGBTQ+ people and the Holocaust.
Trump, Harris planes back-to-back at CLT airport
Mayor Vi Lyles, Rep. Alma Adams
3:20 p.m. Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles told a story about her father, who built roads during World War II and dug graves for soldiers. That was at a time in American history when Black Americans faced major barriers to purchasing a home or going to college, Lyles said.
“But my dad came back with a skill and he made it impossible for us to ignore that things could be better and different. That is what Kamala Harris embodies, that things will be better and different for working families — cutting taxes for the working class, lowering these grocery prices and capping the price of insulin and other drugs that are necessary for us to be successfully healthy.
Lyles was followed by U.S. Rep. Alma Adams, a Charlotte Democrat. Adams claimed that, if elected, Trump would try to ban abortion nationwide and threaten access to reproductive health care, including birth control.
“This election is all about freedom and all about power,” she said. “And, you know, power is what makes the difference in lives and communities, but the first thing you have to understand about power and how to get it is that you don’t ask somebody how to get it ... you take it. And once you’ve taken it, you use it.”
Adams said that voters can use their power to send Harris and Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, to the White House.
‘We are the down-ballot races’
3 p.m. “Don’t you let your friends skip Mo Green on that ballot,” said Jeff Jackson, a Democratic congressman who’s running for attorney general. “Friends don’t let friends skip Mo.”
Green is the Democratic nominee for superintendent of public education — one of several statewide races on the ballot this year. Green faces Republican nominee Michele Morrow.
Jackson was joined on stage by a collection of the Democratic nominees for those council of state races — Elaine Marshall for secretary of state, Braxton Winston for labor commissioner, Natasha Marcus for insurance commissioner and Wesley Harris for state treasurer.
“You’ve heard a lot about down-ballot races. We are the down-ballot races,” Jackson said.
This story was originally published November 2, 2024 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Kamala Harris holds Charlotte rally with musical guests, Kerry Washington."
