Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris campaigned in Philadelphia's suburbs and headlined a Republicans for Harris event on Oct. 16.
In front of a crowd of nearly 200 people in Bucks County, Harris made an appeal to moderate and Republican voters to put “country over party” and vote for a leader who “will defend our Constitution.” She was introduced by former United States Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Bob and Kristina Lange, Pennsylvania voters who previously voted for former President and 1968 Wharton graduate Donald Trump but are now backing Harris.
Kinzinger opened the event by criticizing Trump and saying that he does not hold traditional Republican ideals.
“Donald Trump may be running as a Republican, but the truth is he does not share those long-held Republican values of supporting democracy, of standing for the rule of law, and of faithfulness to the Constitution,” Kinzinger said.
In her speech, Harris highlighted her commitment to the rule of law and the Constitution. The event was held at Washington Crossing Historic Park, the site where former President George Washington and the Continental Army crossed the Delaware River.
“At stake in this race are the democratic ideals that our founders and generations of Americans before us have fought for,” Harris said. “Let us together stand up for the rule of law, for our democratic ideals, and for the Constitution of the United States.”
Harris shared the stage with a group of local Republican leaders and emphasized her experience working across the aisle.
“It is when we have a healthy two-party system that leaders are then required to debate the merits of policy and to work, yes, across the aisle regularly and routinely to get things done,” Harris said.
Both the Harris and Trump campaigns held events in the Philadelphia suburbs in the past week. On Tuesday night, First Lady Jill Biden visited Montgomery County Community College rallying educators for the Harris-Walz ticket, while Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) stopped in Lafayette Hill, Pa. for an event with Moms for America. Former Penn professor and President Joe Biden also spoke at Philadelphia’s City Committee dinner the same night, recommitting his support for the vice president.
The campaign stop echoed Harris' event in Ripon, Wis. in early October — where she brought out Republican former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) — as a larger initiative to reach swing voters in crucial battleground states.
The two candidates remain in a tight race in Pennsylvania. An Oct. 10 The New York Times/The Philadelphia Inquirer poll showed Harris up by 4%, but FiveThirtyEight's polling average shows Trump leading by 0.3% in the state.
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