GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — The vice president made an impassioned plea for voting at a campaign stop in North Carolina.
The visit was announced earlier this week, along with stops in Texas and Nevada, the same week that First Lady Jill Biden visited North Carolina for a stop in Wilmington.
Harris has visited North Carolina a few times, most recently in April when she discussed climate change and during North Carolina’s primary season to discuss healthcare alongside President Joe Biden.
Thursday’s visit brought Harris to James B. Dudley High School, which was the first Black high school in Guilford County. She arrived at Piedmont Triad International on Air Force Two just after 1 p.m. and was greeted at the airport by Gov. Roy Cooper among others.
Harris was accompanied by Cooper, Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan, state Sen. Gladys Robinson (D-Guilford) and civil rights activist Shirley Frye to Dudley High School, where Dudley High School cheerleaders opened the festivities.
“We are very glad to have Vice President Harris back here,” Vaughan said to kick off the event.
Vaughan mentioned Harris’s last visit to Greensboro, a college tour in September, where she spoke at North Carolina A&T State University. She then lauded this administration’s accomplishments, saying, “President Biden and Vice President Harris have kept down insulin costs, which is very important to me as a Type 1 Diabetic.”
“Now it is time that we show up for them,” Vaughan said, praising the Biden campaign’s focus on North Carolina. “We have the power. We can vote four more years of progress with Biden-Harris.”
Robinson spoke after Vaughan and insisted that North Carolina “must deliver” for the Biden-Harris campaign.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris have sent nearly 1 million jobs to our state,” she said.
Robinson noted record-low unemployment among Black residents and soaring Black entrepreneurship rates.
“Meanwhile, what is the other candidate offering us?” Robinson asked. “Donald Trump’s presidency resulted in massive job losses. He talks about something called ‘Black jobs.’ What are those? … Donald Trump is not right for working families and he’s not right for North Carolina. Donald Trump is threatening our very democracy.”
Robinson describes America as a country of “overcomers,” talking about her time growing up in segregated Georgia and her work helping register citizens to vote while she was at Greensboro’s Bennett College.
“We can win in North Carolina. The future of North Carolina and America is at stake. The future of our democracy is at stake,” Robinson said, urging the crowd to register to vote and speak to their friends and family about registering to vote.
Shirley Frye, an NCAT alumna who is married to Henry Frye, the first Black North Carolina Supreme Court justice, spoke about her long-time and ongoing fight for civil rights as a lifelong educator. She described herself as “honored” to be introducing Harris.
“I will never forget how I felt when my vote helped elect the first Black woman as vice president. Kamala Harris has been a champion for our communities across this nation,” she said.
Shirley Frye praised the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to increase college affordability and bring student loan debt relief to students across the country.
“Trump is trying to take us backwards,” she said, calling the former president’s campaign “racist” and declaring that he does not care about the average citizen. “Trump doesn’t want a better country for our families. He wants a country that only works for himself.”
Field organizer Avi Dintenfass emphasized the need to register to vote, saying, “Our freedoms, our healthcare, our very democracy are on the line here. … The path to the White House, to the Governor’s mansion and beyond, all runs right here through Greensboro.”
Cooper said, “North Carolina welcomes Vice President Kamala Harris back to Greensboro. It’s fitting we welcome her right here at historic Dudley High School because she knows something about blazing trails.”
Cooper spoke about their personal history, both serving as state attorneys general, and emphasized his belief that Harris is a fighter that will help get the job done if reelected.
“We must, and we will, come together,” he said. “This election is not about what kind of president we want to have. This election is about what kind of country we want to be. Now, Donald Trump’s America is where the wealthy get the breaks, and the working families get the shaft. Do we want Donald Trump’s America? Donald Trump’s America is where the end of Roe v. Wade is a ‘great thing’ and politicians police women’s bodies. Donald Trump’s America is where the president is a convicted felon, the chronic liar and the king of chaos. Do we want Donald Trump’s America?
“Donald Trump’s America is where the president incites an angry mob to burn down our democracy and then calls them patriots.”
He goes on to call Trump a “significant threat” to our democracy and our country, describing the Biden-Harris administration’s accomplishments as “extraordinary,” highlighting the efforts with the infrastructure bill and North Carolina’s Medicaid expansion.
“Donald Trump is not going to stop at overturning Roe v. Wade,” he said.
Cooper notes Project 2025, a controversial collection of proposals by the Heritage Foundation for a potential Trump second presidency that include cutting Social Security, repealing the insulin cap and eliminating the Department of Education altogether.
Cooper then described Biden’s election as “saving the country” from another Trump presidency.
Dudley High School student Devin Mims, who was described in a news release as “Mister Dudley High,” introduced the vice president, receiving Harris’s applause.
“I said ‘Roy, you tore it up,'” Harris said as she began thanking the previous speakers.
A group of what appeared to be pro-Palestinian protestors were escorted out of the event shortly after Harris began speaking. She continued to talk about her experience with civil rights and her parents, saying, “They taught us that we could do anything.”
“We are today 117 days out from the election,” she said. “This here? This is the one. The most existential, consequential and important election of our lifetime. Now we always knew that this election will be tough, and these past few days have been a reminder.”
Harris went on to talk about Biden, describing him as a “fighter.”
“We will continue to fight, we will continue to organize and, in November, we will win. In the election, there can be no doubt who fights for you. It’s simple, President Biden and myself fight for the people. Donald Trump fights for himself,” Harris said, describing Trump’s attempts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. “Access to healthcare should be a right and not just a privilege for those who can afford it.”
Harris says that the campaign “listens” to the people that it represents, highlighting accomplishments in medical debt and student loan debt and the establishment of the Office of Gun Violence, which Harris leads.
“Donald Trump opposed reasonable gun safety reforms and cut funding for gun violence prevention,” she said. “We simply know we cannot count on Donald Trump to keep America and Americans safe, not here and not on the world stage.”
She then touched on Thursday night’s NATO conference hosted by Biden, emphasizing their commitment to NATO and opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom she calls a “dictator.”
“Trump bows down to dictators and makes America weak,” Harris said. “That is disqualifying!”
She concluded by emphasizing how much is at stake in the election, bringing up the recent Supreme Court immunity decision and stating that his comments about becoming a “dictator” if re-elected are an indication he should never be “allowed” to hold office again.
Then, she addressed Project 2025.
“Project 2025 outlines a plan to limit access to contraception and a nationwide abortion ban even without an act of Congress” she said. “One does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held religious belief to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with her body.”
Harris highlights the court’s overturning of Roe and how it has impacted the South, where all southern states except Virginia have some sort of limitation on abortion. She affirmed the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to passing a law that protects nationwide abortion.
“We have worked too hard and too long to have our daughter grow up in a world with fewer rights than our mothers,” Harris said.
As she concluded the speech, she asked the crowd, “Do we want to live in a country of freedom, compassion and the rule of law or a country of chaos, fear and hate?
“We each have the power to answer that question,” she said. “Our last line of defense is the ballot box. We, the people, have the power.”