Why Kamala Harris' “closing argument” took place in front of the White House

• Harris gave a “final speech” at the same location where Trump held his rally on January 6th.
• It was the vice president's last chance to clearly convey the message of her short-lived campaign.
• But it also highlighted some of the challenges her campaign faced.

On Tuesday evening, exactly a week before the end of the 2024 race, Vice President Kamala Harris gave a speech in the heart of Washington, D.C., that her campaign described as her “closing statement.”

By the conventions of modern presidential campaigns, this was a strange place. DC is obviously not a battleground state. Under the country's electoral system, it is difficult to imagine an American city where citizens' votes count fewer in a presidential election.

But it wasn't about winning votes in Washington, DC, but rather about the capital serving as a stage for a message to be conveyed to the rest of America. Their decision to hold the rally at the Ellipse, a 52-acre park between the White House and the Washington Monument, was crucial. The last time a major political figure held a rally here, part of that crowd marched a mile east and breached the U.S. Capitol to prevent the certification of the 2020 election.

Harris spoke about Jan. 6 at her rally, noting that former President Donald Trump “stood in that exact spot” when he gave his speech that day. She described Trump as “unstable” and “obsessed with revenge.” But January 6th was not the focus of her speech. She used the word “democracy” only once. The location of your speech should make the crucial contribution to making this point clear.

“It's like something terrible is happening in your own home,” Victoria Leacock Hoffman said. The 61-year-old D.C. resident, who works in theater production, said she felt a “little feeling of dread” in her stomach when she first learned that Harris' rally would be held at the same location as Trump's infamous speech took place. “But then I said, 'Oh, she's taking it back.'

That seemed to be the point of Tuesday night's rally. In the hours before Harris took the stage, attendees waved miniature American flags and “USA” signs to the rhythm of songs like Taylor Swift's “Shake It Off,” Missy Elliot's “Lose Control” and Blacked's “I Gotta Feeling.” Eyed Peas. It was an attempt to recapture the feeling of “joy” that prevailed at the start of Harris' campaign in July. Although most of the participants were believed to be from the Washington area, at least one voter said she came all the way from Florida .

“It's a once-in-a-lifetime event,” said Mitzi Maxwell, a 69-year-old retired nonprofit arts manager from Orlando who brought her mother to the rally. “And it’s compelling that it’s in this location.”

Using the White House as a backdrop, Harris dramatically gestured toward the building as she noted that “in less than 90 days, either Donald Trump or I will be in the Oval Office.”

But the building's presence was also a reminder of its current occupant, President Joe Biden, and his conspicuous absence from Tuesday's rally. Eager to portray himself as a clear departure from the past, Harris has created some distance from Biden as his disastrous performance in the debate sparked a pressure campaign to get him to drop out of the race.

Shortly after Tuesday's rally ended, a clip of Biden appearing to disparage Trump supporters went viral on social media, underscoring why he was largely kept in check.

“It is an honor to serve as Joe Biden's vice president, but I will bring my own experiences and ideas to the Oval Office,” Harris said during her speech. “My presidency will be different because the challenges we face are different.”

As the vice president began her speech, the sounds of chants and sirens from pro-Palestinian protests could be heard about a hundred meters away, a reminder of discontent within the Democratic coalition over Biden and Harris' support for Israel amid the war in Gaza .

Harris' speech also aimed to bring a sense of focus to a candidate who had to do many different things at once – reintroduce herself as a separate person from Biden, lay out a series of policy proposals (while also explaining why she did it). have done). (not yet issued) and file a lawsuit against the opponent – all within just three months.

After initially addressing Trump, Harris quickly turned to the economy in her speech, attacking Trump's tariff plan as a blanket tax on Americans. “Think about it: clothing, food, toys, cell phones,” Harris said, listing a variety of consumer goods that are often imported from overseas.

She reiterated her proposal to enact a federal ban on price gouging and spent a lot of time on her housing plans. “For years we've heard excuses about why America can't build enough housing. Stop the excuses,” Harris said. “I will cut red tape and work with the private sector and local governments to speed up construction.” Get it done.”

This led to a variation of her typical short speech with references to abortion: “You don't have to give up your faith or your deeply held beliefs to just agree to this.” Government “shouldn’t tell her what to do with her body” — and a series of statements that appear to be aimed more at undecided Republicans than at her own base, including her promise to enact bipartisan border security legislation and a she reiterated that under her leadership the United States would have the “strongest and deadliest fighting force in the world.”

As for the closing argument, it could work — especially if her opponent's own “closing argument” speech at Madison Square Garden was drowned out by a comedian's offensive joke about Puerto Ricans.