WASHINGTON—With one week left to go before Election Day, thousands of voters hoping to elect Vice President Kamala Harris gathered at the Ellipse in the nation’s capital.
Harris will deliver a closing argument speech and is expected to draw a sharp contrast between her vision for the presidency and that of her opponent’s, former President Donald Trump.
Some Harris supporters told The Epoch Times they gathered in the capital in the name of history, workers’ rights, the next generation, women, and their shared drive to keep Trump out of the White House.
“I would feel devastated on behalf of all women,” Meredith Shea, a freshman at George Washington University, told The Epoch Times if Harris lost the election.
Originally from Portland, Oregon, Shea said that abortion access was the main issue driving her vote.
“We’re on the precipice of having the first black female president,” Robin Rogers, 54, said. “That is epic in all forms and fashion.”
Traveling from North Carolina, Rogers works in Black Business Promotion and was selling T-shirts outside the venue.
“We should all be standing behind her, not for the fact that she’s black, but for the fact that this just possibly could be historic,” she said.
“It gives us an opportunity to be seen and heard and represented,” said Maia Coleman-King, 51. ”We’ve never had a female president. We’ve never had a woman of color, a black woman in the White House as commander in chief.”
“I’m extremely excited as a black woman myself and a Howard University alumni,” she said. ”I’m extremely proud of my fellow Bison, and I want to do everything I can to make sure we sustain democracy.”
The Harris campaign approved 20,000 attendees for admission. D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith told reporters on Oct. 29 that her department was told to expect upwards of 52,000 people at the event and in the surrounding area.
However, Smith said she had not seen an increase in any lodging facilities in the District of Columbia and the surrounding area.
The National Parks Service handled the permitting for Harris’s event due to its location.
A significant number of supporters lining up appeared to be young, college-aged voters, with women making up a majority.
“I think men are afraid to admit they’re gonna vote for a woman,” Scott Evertz said. ”And I think on Election Day ... that might change some, you know? This kind of man may not want to admit he’s going to vote for a woman.”
A self-described Republican and former head of the Global AIDS office under President George Bush, Evertz said that he does not feel like Trump reflects Republican values.
“I have two grandchildren,” he said. ”I’ve had to tell them, ‘Do not talk like the former president.’ ... I do not want to grow up in a country where I have to advise children not to speak like the Commander in Chief.”
Evertz also cited the increased deficit and the fear of Trump being authoritarian as reasons why he is crossing the aisle this election cycle.
Recent comments from the vice president suggesting Trump was a fascist and a threat to democracy were on the minds of those waiting in line.
Several members of the Trump administration, including former Vice President Mike Pence’s former chief of staff, Mike Ayers, have sharply disputed the claims.
George Washington University freshman Brady Eagan said this was the time for the next generation to step up.
“I feel like it’s a threat to democracy as a whole,” Eagan said of another Trump administration. “And I think it is up to young voters to prove that we are here and that we are ready to make change, and that’s what we’re here to do.
“We’re here to support that cause and try to make this nation a little bit better and make sure that it doesn’t get into the wrong hands.”
Brian Fojtik, a DC voter from Wisconsin, also said that it is time for the next generation to lead, and the fact it is a new generation disproves the idea of her being a continuation of President Joe Biden’s administration.
“She will have a new cabinet, different leaders, a different generation of people from all over the country to find solutions that are not the types that are necessarily embraced by 70- and 80-year-olds,” Fojtik said.
However, not all of the attendees think a drastic course change after the past four years is a good idea.
Travis Parsons, 47, is a union worker in DC who said that there are Biden administration policies that Harris should maintain, particularly Biden’s pro-union policies.
“I think she will double down on some of his policies that helped us, and we know that she’s got our back,” Parsons said.
Harris will spend the final days before Nov. 5 touring the swing states, starting with visits to North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin on Oct. 30, and then followed by Latino-focused events in Phoenix, Arizona, Reno, Nevada, and Las Vegas on Oct. 31.
Trump, meanwhile, started the week with a campaign rally in Georgia. He is scheduled to make campaign stops in Pennsylvania on Oct. 29, Wisconsin on Oct. 30, Nevada on Oct. 31, and Wisconsin again on Nov. 2.
