HOUSTON—Vice President Kamala Harris held a campaign event on Oct. 25 in Texas, a Republican stronghold, where she delivered remarks focused on abortion access, an issue central to her campaign.
“We know freedom is not to be given. It is not to be bestowed. It is ours by right, and we are prepared to fight for it,” Harris told thousands of supporters gathered at the Shell Energy Stadium in Houston.
Superstar singer Beyoncé, a Houston native, also spoke at the event before Harris took the stage.
“We must vote, and we need you. This time it is time to sing a new song,” Beyoncé said at the rally. “A song that began 248 years ago. The old notes of despair are no longer resonating.”
The Grammy Award-winning singer granted the vice president permission to use her song “Freedom,” which Harris has been using in her campaign rallies.
Country singer Willie Nelson also took the stage at the event to perform a song to support the vice president’s bid for the White House.
“You are ground zero in the fight for reproductive freedom,” Harris told her Texan supporters, calling out the Lone Star State for having one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country.
As the 2024 presidential election enters its final stretch, both candidates are traveling beyond the traditional battleground states to ensure their core messages are heard more widely. Her speech was interrupted a few times by protesters.
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump held a news conference in Austin on Oct. 25 to discuss border security and illegal immigrant crime.
Trump criticized his Democratic opponent and blamed the Biden administration for the “invasion” at the southern border. His news conference also featured the mother of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray, who was killed earlier this year, allegedly by two illegal immigrants.
Trump’s decision to hold a news conference in Austin came after the Harris campaign’s unexpected move to hold a rally in the deep-red state.
Abortion Issue Central
The abortion issue is central to Harris’s platform, and her rally in Houston featured women who have been affected by abortion restrictions since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.Amanda Zurawski, from Austin, spoke at the event, sharing her near-death experience because of a miscarriage before she was able to access an abortion, describing the laws in Texas as “oppressive.”
Passage of a national abortion law would be difficult as it would require 60 votes in the Senate and a majority of the House before getting to the president’s desk. When asked about this before the event, Harris told reporters, “We keep fighting. ... We don’t give up the fight for freedom when it comes to some of the most basic freedoms.”
On Oct. 24, Harris campaigned in the crucial battleground state of Georgia, sharing the stage for the first time with former President Barack Obama. Singer Bruce Springsteen also performed during the event.
A campaign official stated that the crowd size at the Houston event reached 30,000, making it the campaign’s largest event to date.
Shortly before Harris took the stage, news broke that the Israeli military had conducted retaliatory airstrikes against military targets in Iran.
After the rally, a White House official said that Harris had been briefed on the strikes.
“She is closely following developments and will continue to be updated,” the official said.
