Harris brings upbeat message to Allentown on eve of presidential election
Harris brings upbeat message to Allentown on eve of presidential election
Vice President Kamala Harris delivered an upbeat closing message of hope for the future and a vow to be a president to all people during a speech at Muhlenberg College in Allentown on the eve of Tuesday’s presidential election.
“I have lived the promise of America. And today I see the promise of America in everyone who is here. We are the promise of America,” she said.
Harris’ Allentown visit was among five stops she was making in Pennsylvania on Monday in her final push in the race against former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate.
The Democrat began her day in Scranton, the hometown of President Joe Biden. After Allentown, she was visiting a Puerto Rican restaurant in nearby Reading with U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
Then she was heading to Pittsburgh before ending the night in Philadelphia for a rally on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, made famous in the 1976 movie “Rocky.”
Trump started Monday in North Carolina, then was making stops in Pennsylvania as well, going to two cities on Harris’ itinerary – Reading and Pittsburgh. It was his second visit to Reading in less than a month. He was ending his day in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with his running mate J.D. Vance.
It’s no coincidence that Harris and Trump focused on the Keystone State the day before the election.
Harris holds a 49% to 47% lead over Trump in Pennsylvania, a Muhlenberg College/Morning Call poll released Sunday showed. A New York Times/Siena College poll has the race tied at 48% each.
With 19 Electoral College votes, Pennsylvania is seen as key to winning the White House. According to the Associated Press, the presidential campaigns made 80 visits to the state through Monday, by far the most to any state. Michigan was second with 63.
Trump supporters, Hispanic protesters offer contrasts before Trump rally
In her speech before 3,500 enthusiastic supporters at Muhlenberg’s Memorial Hall, Harris never mentioned Trump by name.
She did make an oblique reference to her opponent when she cast the presidential election about the future of democracy and seeking common ground.
“It's my pledge to you to listen to those who would be impacted by the decisions I make, to listen to experts and to listen to people who disagree with me because I don't believe people who disagree with me are the enemy,” she said.
“We are fighting for a democracy, which is why I say that I am not going to be a leader who thinks that people who disagree with me should be put in jail.”
Harris also made a reference to Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in New York City on Oct. 27, where warm-up speaker comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” More than 50% of Allentown’s residents are Latino with half of the Latinos identifying as Puerto Rican.
“I stand here proud of my long-standing commitment to Puerto Rico and her people, and I'll be a president for all,” Harris said.
Other speakers brought up Hinchcliffe’s remark as well, including warmup speaker Fat Joe, a rapper whose family is Puerto Rican and Cuban.
“That was no joke and it was filled with so much hate,” he said. “If I'm speaking to some undecided Puerto Ricans, especially in Pennsylvania, [I ask] what more do they gotta do to show you who they are?”
Trump’s campaign has distanced itself from Hinchcliffe’s remark. During his speech last week at the PPL Center in Allentown, he made no reference to it.
“I’m getting support from Latinos like never before. No one loves our Latino community and our Puerto Rican community like I do,” he said.
Besides Fat Joe, other Harris speakers included Gov. Josh Shapiro, U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, who is running for reelection in the 7th Congressional District, and Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk.
Amid cheers of “we can’t go back,” Harris told the crowd that they held the power to make change with their votes. She spoke directly to the college students who filled much of the bleachers.
“I see the promise of America in all the young leaders who are voting for the first time … and we must, must, must recognize how bright the future of our nation is because of you,” she said.
The students broke out in cheers.
Crowds form early to see Harris
Harris’ stop at the picturesque college campus in the city’s West End was her first in the Lehigh Valley since replacing Biden as the Democratic nominee.
By 8:30 a.m., people, many wearing Harris hats and T-shirts, were lining up along Liberty Street where Memorial Hall is located. Vendors stood by tables ready to sell fan gear. The crowd included senior citizens, college students, couples, groups of women and parents with their children, including toddlers and at least one baby.
Hundreds didn’t make it in to see her.
Among those in line were Muhlenberg students Molly Nyankun, 18, and Sharae Brookins, 19.
Brookins pointed to Harris’ support of reproductive rights as one reason to vote for her.
“I feel like a woman should have the rights to her body and what she does with it,” she said. “And there's so many factors that play into why women want abortions and for that to be cut off completely, when it could be a medical condition or something traumatic. I feel like they shouldn't take that option away from them.”
Nyankun, a first-time voter, said she was surprised to see classmates, even Black students, support Trump, acknowledging a group of several dozen Muhlenberg students wearing MAGA hats and Trump shirts across the street. Nyankun is Black.
“It's embarrassing that I sit in class with these people, honestly. So I'm just excited to see her on her last day [before the election] and I actually go to a college where this is really happening,” said
Andrea Warren, 78, a retired nurse who lives in Allentown near the college, said, “I'm supporting Kamala because I think she knows how to bring people together and not to be divisive.”
Warren was standing in line hoping to get into the rally. A lifelong Democrat, she wore a “Dump Trump” button, a Kamala Harris hat and a pair of socks from 2020, one for Harris and one for Biden.
She said abortion is one of the issues that motivates her to vote for Harris.
“I feel no man has any business telling a woman what to do,” Warren, a mother of four, said. “I thought these people were anti-government, but they're going to come into my bedroom, my private life and tell me what to do with my body?”
Among the Trump supporters on Liberty Street was junior Robert Terreros, 21, of Harrison, N.J. Terreros, who was holding a “Latinos for Trump” sign.
Terreros, who said he is Puerto Rican, Dominican and Ecuadorian, brushed aside the uproar over Hinchcliffe’s remarks, saying “there is a lot of support” among Latinos for Trump.
Vincent Hoffman, a 20-year-old Muhlenberg junior from Howell, N.J., was another student in the group of Trump supporters.
“We're coming out here just to show love,” he said, adding that his parents were squeezed by the high inflation that hit the nation a couple years ago.
He added, “He's putting America under God again.”
Harris spoke for about 20 minutes, ending her speech with a plea to her supporters.
“Allentown, I ask you, are you ready to vote? So remember, your vote is your voice, and your voice is your power. Are you ready to make your voices heard?”