During a surprise visit to South Carolina on Nov. 10, Vice President Kamala Harris said the 2024 presidential election will be a fight to keep hard-won freedoms, but that after wins on Nov. 7, the Democratic Party has the “momentum.”
The vice president made the stop in Columbia, South Carolina, to appear at an event held by the state Democratic Party.
At the event, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) and South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain officially filed paperwork for President Joe Biden and Ms. Harris to appear in the Palmetto State’s Democrat primary.
The South Carolina primary is set to be held on Feb. 3 and could be the first Democrat primary in 2024. However, there is an unresolved dispute with New Hampshire over the order of the primaries.
At the brief event, Ms. Harris said she believes there is a “full-on intent by some very powerful people to roll back so many of our hard-fought, hard-won, fundamental freedoms and rights.”
“It is time that we then show them that we understand that the American people believe in the foundational ideals of our country,” Ms. Harris said.
Those freedoms, she said, include a woman’s right “to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do,” for young people to be free from the fear of gun violence, of people “to be able to love who they love proudly and without judgment,” and a right to discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion and “understand that is part of how we will create a stronger economy and a stronger nation.”
“We are fighting for fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of people to have access to the ballot and to be able to vote,” Ms. Harris said.
Ms. Harris said 2024 will involve “a fundamental fight for our freedoms.”
Right now, she said, the Democratic Party has the “wind at our back” after key wins across the nation on Nov. 7 in statehouse and governor’s mansion races as well as on abortion ballot measures.
Ms. Harris recalled the 2022 midterm elections.
“All the punditry talked about a red wave. That red wave never hit,” she said. “What we saw was from Kansas to California and then on Tuesday from Ohio to Virginia, the people—whether they be in so-called red or blue states voted for freedom. They voted for liberty.”
In 2020, Mr. Biden won the South Carolina primary after losing to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) in the Iowa and New Hampshire races.
The first primary of the 2024 cycle will be held on Jan. 15, 2024, with the Democrat and Republican in-person Iowa Caucuses.
The Democrats, however, will not release the results until early March along with the other states involved in Super Tuesday.The New Hampshire primary date is not yet set.
However, the New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan (R) is expected to announce the official date on Nov. 15.
