‘It is time to turn the page.’ Kamala Harris attacks Trump, lays out plans at NC rally
Kamala Harris attacked her Republican opponent Sunday in Greenville in ways that echoed Donald Trump’s own past criticism of her and Joe Biden.
A roar went up from the crowd as the vice president and Democratic presidential nominee entered the Williams Arena at East Carolina University’s Minges Coliseum. Many had waited hours to hear her roughly 25-minute speech.
Harris opened her remarks by reflecting on the damage from Hurricane Helene, noting, “in times like this, we stand together as one nation. That is who we are.”
She then launched into the differences between what she called Trump’s focus on the past and her vision for the future, and questioned why the former president has not released his medical records, appeared for a “60 Minutes” interview or agreed to a second debate. Harris appeared last week on the CBS news show and released her medical records over the weekend.
“Why does his staff want him to hide away?” Harris asked. “Are they afraid that people will see he is too weak and unstable to lead America?”
Trump and others attacked President Biden’s mental fitness when he was the Democratic candidate, then criticized Harris for ducking media interviews once she replaced Biden.
“It is time to turn the page, because America is ready to chart a new way forward, ready for a new and optimistic generation of leadership, which is why Democrats, Independents and Republicans are supporting our campaign, because they and we know we need a president who works for all the American people,” Harris said Sunday.
Harris’ rally at ECU followed visits earlier Sunday with a local church congregation and Black farmers.
Harris lays out plan, Trump fears
Harris told the Greenville crowd she has a plan, in comparison to Trump’s “concept of a plan,” a reference to his remarks at their Sept. 11 debate.
She would pass a middle-class tax cut, help first-time homebuyers and entrepreneurs, expand the federal child tax credit and add home health care coverage to Medicare, Harris said, and address other key issues, from abortion and a woman’s right to choose to gun violence, voting rights and LGBTQ+ rights.
“So much is on the line in this election,” Harris said, reminding the crowd that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled a president is in many cases immune from criminal prosecution for acts committed while in office.
“I do believe Donald Trump is an unserious man, but the effects of him being back in the White House would be brutally serious. Just imagine Donald Trump with no guard rails,” she said.
He would “weaponize” the U.S. Department of Justice against his political enemies, she added, as some of her supporters in the crowd broke into chants of “lock him up,” replicating the chant that was common at Trump rallies when he ran against Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Harris turned to the section of the crowd that was leading the chant and interrupted them, saying with a chuckle, “Hold on, here’s the thing, let’s let the courts handle that, and let’s handle November.”
Democrat in tossup race throws support behind Harris
U.S. Rep. Don Davis threw his full support behind Harris at the beginning of Sunday’s rally, to booming cheers from the crowd. State Sens. Kandie Smith and Rachel Hunt, who is running for lieutenant governor, also appeared at the rally.
As a son of Eastern North Carolina, Davis said, “the path to stop Project 2025 and the path to the White House comes through Eastern North Carolina.” Trump has been tied to the conservative plan for the next Republican president, despite denying his involvement.
“The stakes are high,” said Davis, a Snow Hill Democrat running for reelection in a swing district in the northeastern part of the state. “This election is the most consequential in our lifetimes. ... Vice President Harris and Gov. (Tim) Walz are fighting for families right here in Eastern North Carolina. They are fighting for lower costs, to protect our freedoms, and they will serve all Americans ... regardless of party.”
“But on the other hand, some who are pretty extreme running in support of a pretty extreme agenda, a manifesto called Project 2025,” he said.
Earlier, Davis greeted Harris at Pitt-Greenville Airport Sunday morning. Harris shook hands with Davis and they spoke for a few minutes after he met her at the bottom of the stairs as she got off the plane. They high-fived, and Harris got in the motorcade for the ride to a Greenville church.
Davis first gave Harris his support for the presidency in July, but not before voting with House Republicans and five other Democratic members to pass a resolution condemning Harris as a failed “border czar.”
Immigration is a key policy issue in the 2024 race, with Republicans attacking Harris on her work at the southern U.S. border, and Democrats pointing to Trump’s pressure on Republican lawmakers as the reason a bipartisan border bill wasn’t approved this year.
Day starts with church service in Greenville
Ahead of the rally, Harris extolled members and visitors at a Greenville church on Sunday to keep their faith and help others in need.
The congregation at Koinonia Christian Center Church stood and cheered as Harris took the stage. The vice president, recounting her conversation with the pastor prior to Sunday’s noon service, said “It does my heart and soul good” to be with the congregation.
“In times of crisis — and we’re looking at the images of the aftermath of the hurricane — it is easy in these moments of crisis to question our faith, to sometimes lose our faith for a moment, because what we see is so hard to see that we lose faith,” Harris said.
She also addressed rumors rampant on social media after the remnants of Hurricane Helene battered Western North Carolina, saying the people behind those rumors are “trying to gain some advantage for themselves.”
“The problem with this, beyond the obvious, is it’s making it harder to get people life-saving information if they’re led to believe they cannot trust” those trying to help, Harris said.
Former U.S. Rep. Eva Clayton, the first Black woman in Congress from North Carolina and a longtime advocate for Eastern North Carolina, attended the service.
Rally at ECU draw support, critics
Supporters of the vice president began lining up outside the 7,100-capacity arena early on Sunday morning.
Jordyn Strupp, a senior studying political science and business management at ECU who is active with College Democrats on campus and at the state and national levels, said this year’s presidential race feels like the “closest it’s ever been in North Carolina.”
Strupp, 21, who has been knocking on doors around Greenville since last month for N.C. House candidate Claire Kempner, said she believes Harris has a “really good shot” of winning the state.
She said that on campus, very few students — next to none — were still undecided about who they were voting for.
U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy, a Republican from Greenville, called attention to rising inflation, illegal immigration and “two major wars” abroad in a statement issued before Harris arrived. Harris is “tied to the hip of President Biden,” he said.
“Her appearance is a reminder that we need to return President Trump to the White House. Eastern North Carolina knows Kamala Harris is not fit for the job and will vote accordingly,” Murphy said.
Koinonia Senior Pastor Rosie O’neal noted in introducing Harris that everyone may not have the same political opinions.
“There are things on all sides that we don’t agree with, but what I’ve asked you to do over the years is listen to the issues, then try to get a sense of the direction that the person would take our country in. Then, look at their service history, pray and ask the Lord,” O’neal said.
Election Day is 23 days away
Harris warned the crowd before wrapping up Sunday that she is “running as the underdog” in North Carolina at this point. The latest polls show Trump still has a slight lead in North Carolina, which he won in 2016 and 2020.
“Remember always that your vote is your voice, and your voice is your power,” Harris said.
The visit to Greenville is part of a sweep this week in Eastern North Carolina that will also include former President Bill Clinton. On Saturday, Harris met with Black faith leaders, politicians and supporters for a private event at The Pit Authentic Barbecue in downtown Raleigh, helping to pack several aid-relief boxes for storm-ravaged Western North Carolina.
North Carolina is one of seven major battleground states that Harris and former President Donald Trump have been crisscrossing in recent weeks. Early voting starts Thursday in North Carolina and runs through Nov. 2. Harris’ Greenville visit came 23 days before the Nov. 5 election.
Trump held a town hall in Fayetteville on Oct. 4, where he blasted the Biden administration’s response to the storm.
Harris and Trump, and their vice presidential picks — Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance — have included the Tar Heel State in multiple campaign stops this year.
Those visits have been ramping up in the last few weeks, with Vance holding a town hall Thursday with voters in Greensboro, and attending the Bank of America ROVAL 400 race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday.
On Saturday, the Trump campaign announced that Vance will hold a rally in Wilmington on Wednesday.
And on Sunday, the Harris campaign announced that Walz will make stops in Durham and Winston-Salem on Thursday as early voting begins, The News & Observer’s media partner, ABC-11, reported.
As of Friday, the RealClearPolitics polling average showed that Trump has a very slim lead over Harris in North Carolina. The state has only supported Democratic presidential candidates twice in the last 50 years — former President Jimmy Carter in 1976 and former President Barack Obama in 2008.
This story was originally published October 13, 2024 at 10:55 AM with the headline "‘It is time to turn the page.’ Kamala Harris attacks Trump, lays out plans at NC rally."
