Harris says she's ready if Trump tries to declare victory early and isn't worried about sexism

WASHINGTON (AP) – said Vice President Kamala Harris On Tuesday, she announced that her team is ready to challenge Donald Trump if he tries to declare victory early in the 2024 election – but she is focused on beating the Republican candidate first.

Harris just spoke to NBC News two weeks before election dayas part of a media campaign to make her closing argument to as many persuadable voters as possible. She said she was not concerned about the role sexism could play in the election as she is expected to be the first woman elected to the White House and again defended President Joe Biden's fitness for office.

Harris said Democrats have “the resources and expertise” should Trump try to undermine the election.

“This is a person, Donald Trump, who tried to undo the — a free and fair election — who still denies the will of the people, who incited a violent mob to attack the United States Capitol, and about 140 police officers attacked.” Some were killed. “This is a very serious matter,” she said.

Trump is accused of trying to overturn the 2020 election and he refuses to admit he lost to President Joe Biden. After a legal attempt to overturn the results failed, there was a riot outside the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, with a group of Trump supporters attacking law enforcement to prevent the certification of the race.

At Harris' rallies, some of her supporters chant “Lock him up,” something Trump often said about his former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Harris often replies, “The courts will take care of it.” We’ll take care of it in November.”

At a campaign stop on Tuesday, Biden said, “We have to lock him up,” but Biden quickly added, “Lock him up politically. Lock him out, that's what we have to do.”

“No president has ever been like this guy,” Biden said. “He is a real threat to our democracy.”

Speaking to supporters on Tuesday, Trump criticized Harris for spending the day conducting interviews, apparently sowing distrust in the election. “She knows something we don’t know,” he said. “I think she knows an outcome that we don’t.”

While partisan disputes over voting rules have long been part of presidential campaignsElection law disputes have increased sharply in recent years. With money flowing into litigation and the number of outside groups involved in election disputes increasing, the disputes are unlikely to subside anytime soon.

Harris told NBC that she wasn't interested in emphasizing the historic nature of her candidacy, saying, “I'm clearly a woman, I don't have to explain that to anyone.”

She added that she wasn't worried that sexism would hurt her candidacy and said she was focused on appealing to all voters.

“I never assume that anyone in our country should elect a leader based on their gender or race, but rather that that leader must earn the vote based on their substance and actions to address challenges and inspire people,” she said .

The vice president also defended Biden, whose disastrous debate against Trump forced him to abandon his re-election campaign and paved the way for her to become the Democratic presidential nominee.

Harris said she still believes Biden is “every bit capable” of becoming president, saying “you'd have to ask him if that's the only reason he dropped out of the race,” but she has “no resentment” when he says he is ready for the job.