Vice President Kamala Harris is making the “closing argument ” for her presidential campaign Tuesday from the same site where former President Donald Trump held his Jan. 6, 2021, rally that preceded the Capitol riot. When will she speak and how can you watch it?
Harris' speech comes just after Trump took the stage Sunday night at New York’s Madison Square Garden to deliver his campaign's closing argument.
Here's what to know about Harris' speech:
What time is Harris speaking?
The event is scheduled to run from 4-8 p.m. CT ( 5-9 p.m. ET), according to the Democratic National Committee, though gates are set to open as early as 2 p.m. CT (3 p.m. ET). Harris' address is estimated to start around 6:30 p.m. CT (7:30 p.m. ET).
Where is Harris speaking?
The rally will be held at the Ellipse, near the White House, in Washington, DC.
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The site is the same spot where Trump held his Stop the Steal rally, encouraging a crowd to march to the Capitol just before thousands tried unsuccessfully to halt the certification of Democrat Joe Biden's victory.
Harris hopes the location offers a stark visualization of the alternate futures that voters face if she or Trump takes over the Oval Office in just three months.
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“It’s a place that certainly we believe helps crystalize the choice in this election,” said Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon of the setting, calling it “A stark visualization of probably the most infamous example of Donald Trump and how he’s used his power for bad.”
Tomorrow, I will speak to Americans about the choice we face in this election—and all that is at stake for the future of this country that we love.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) October 29, 2024
Join us on the Ellipse in Washington, DC as we chart a new way forward: https://t.co/IuEwtPvPoB
How can you watch the address?
Little information has been released on how the event can be watched outside of the Ellipse.
Previous rallied have streamed live on the Kamala Harris YouTube page, however.
What will Harris say?
With time running out and the race razor-tight, Harris and Trump both have been looking for big moments to try to shift the momentum one way or the other. But after her speech in the nation's capital, Harris will be back to furiously scouring for votes one rally and one event after another in the battleground states.
Campaign aides stressed that she will not be delivering a treatise on democracy or spend too much time focusing directly on the shocking imagery of Jan. 6. 2021. Harris aides said the vice president aims to make a broader case for why voters should reject Trump and consider what she offers.
“There’s a big difference between he and I,” Harris told reporters Monday in previewing her speech. “If he were elected, on day one he’s going to sit in the Oval Office working on his enemies list. On day one, if I am elected, which I fully expect to be, I will be working on behalf of the American people on my to-do list.”
Her campaign was hoping to draw a massive crowd to Washington for the event. But, more critically, her campaign is hoping the setting will help catch the attention of battleground state voters who remain on the fence about whom to vote for — or whether to vote at all.
The Harris campaign has amended its permit application to accommodate more than 40,000 people at the speech, a National Park spokesman told NBC News. The change nearly double the initial estimate of 20,000 people.
Harris' address comes days after she traveled to Texas, a reliably Republican state, to appear with megastar Beyoncé and emphasize the consequences for women after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. That, too, was a speech meant to register with voters far away in the battleground states.
The vice president’s latest address has been in the works for weeks. But aides hoped her message would land with more impact after Trump’s rally Sunday at Madison Square Garden in New York, where speakers hurled cruel and racist insults. Harris said the event “highlighted the point that I’ve been making throughout this campaign.”
“He is focused and actually fixated on his grievances, on himself and on dividing our country,” she said.
Harris was expected to use her speech to lay out a pragmatic and forward-looking plan for the country, including reminding voters about her economic proposals and pledging to staunchly work for access to reproductive care, including abortion.
“That stark contrast has real power when she’s delivering solutions and Trump is sowing division and hate,” said O'Malley Dillon.
Also central to her message: positioning herself as a “new generation” of leader after Trump and even her current boss, Biden. She's going to be “talking about what her new generation of leadership really means and centering that around the American people and what they care about," O’Malley Dillon said.
What has Trump said?
Trump was set to use planned remarks to reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Tuesday morning to attempt to preemptively rebut Harris’ speech, according to a person familiar with the matter. He is also slated to deliver remarks Tuesday evening in Pennsylvania, which his campaign billed as his final message to voters.
Trump took the stage Sunday night at Madison Square Garden to deliver his campaign's closing argument with the election nine days away.
The Republican nominee began by asking the same questions he’s asked at the start of every recent rally: “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?” The crowd responded with a resounding “No!”
“This election is a choice between whether we’ll have four more years of gross incompetence and failure, or whether we’ll begin the greatest years in the history of our country,” he said after being introduced by his wife, Melania Trump, whose rare surprise appearance comes after she has been largely absent on the campaign trail.
Several speakers earlier on Sunday crudely insulted Harris, and a stand-up comedian made lewd and racist comments about Latinos, Jews and Black people, all key constituencies in the election.
“I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico,” said comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, whose joke was immediately criticized by Harris’ campaign as it competes with Trump to win over Puerto Rican communities in Pennsylvania and other swing states. Shortly after Hinchcliffe’s appearance, music superstar Bad Bunny, who is from Puerto Rico, endorsed Harris.
Trump on Sunday added a new proposal to his list of tax cuts aimed at winning over older adults and blue-collar workers, which already includes vows to end taxes on Social Security benefits, tips and overtime pay: A tax credit for family caregivers.
He also repeated familiar lines about foreign policy and immigration, calling for the death penalty for any migrant who kills a U.S. citizen and saying that the day he takes office, “The migrant invasion of our country ends.”
