In closing pitches to voters, Kamala Harris aims for ‘big tent’

On a chilly Thursday afternoon in downtown Reno in northern Nevada, thousands waited in line down a long stretch of city blocks to attend a Kamala Harris rally, one of the US vice president’s last pitches to voters to pick her to over former president Donald Trump to lead the country.

Nevada has one of the narrowest margins of all the swing states, making it a critical campaign stop with little room for error in campaign messaging. 

Near the entrance to the Reno Events Center, a woman held a picture of a Palestinian in Gaza with ties to Reno whose family she was trying to help through a fundraiser. 

The guards did not seem to be trying to prevent her from standing in a conspicuous spot, possibly an acknowledgement by the Harris campaign that pro-Palestinian protesters are not going away, and she will not win their support by silencing them.

The vice president’s effort to widen her appeal, largely to win over Republicans but in some cases to simply not burn bridges, comes at a critical time, with just days before the election in a race that is a head heat. 

‘New generation’

Harris is not only contending with an opponent who is unpredictable and sees no taboo as too big to break, but she is also trying to mend fences after leaders in her own party, while speaking on her behalf in recent days, have managed to offend some of the very people she is trying to bring into her diverse coalition as she tries to seal the deal in the final stretch.

Earlier in the week, President Joe Biden seemed to refer to Trump supporters as garbage when he condemned a comedian’s characterisation of Puerto Rico as garbage at a Trump rally. 

Then, when campaigning for Harris on Wednesday in Michigan, former President Bill Clinton said that Palestinians use children as human shields, seeming to suggest that Israel’s killing of civilians in Gaza is justified. 

Possibly alluding to ageing surrogates who have made serious blunders in recent days, she emphasised multiple times in her speech, “It’s time for a new generation.”

Amid a recent surge of negative campaigning by her opponent, and in some cases surprisingly by her surrogates, Harris managed to keep the messaging of her rally positive, even in tense moments.

At several points in the rally, pro-Palestinian protesters chanted: Free Palestine and other slogans. Some attendees tried to down out their chants with boos.

“Let me say something about this,” Harris said, using the moment as an opportunity to contrast herself with Trump. “We’re here because we believe in democracy.” 

Making a clear reference to Trump’s threats to punish his opponents, including deporting pro-Palestinian protesters, she said, “We’re fighting for people to be heard and not jailed because they speak their minds.” 

Further contrasting herself with her opponent, she said, “I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at the table.”

At the beginning of her compact campaign, Harris had responded to pro-Palestinian protesters by suggesting they wanted to get Trump elected. In recent weeks, she seems to have developed a more nuanced response to disruptive protesters, while still falling far short of some of their key demands, namely supporting an arms embargo against Israel.

Overall, Harris kept the messaging in her rally focused on domestic issues, emphasising her own economic agenda, promising a federal ban on corporate price gouging, taking on corporate landlords, tax cuts for small businesses, as well as her newly proposed healthcare reform which would financially support families who took care of their elders at home. As expected, she repeatedly emphasised her support for women’s reproductive rights.

The speakers at the event were mainly local, giving it a distinctly Nevada feel with a strong showing of Hispanics and union organisers, and a mix of lifelong Democrats, Republican former Trump voters and independents in a state that is almost evenly split politically. 

After attending his first political rally, Garrett Furlong, a long-time Nevada resident, told The New Arab that he was pleased with the event’s inclusivity.

“It still felt like a rally for all Americans, not just registered Democrats. There were quite a few people who spoke out, much like they do in a lot of political rallies, but she made a comment about how important it is to keep people who disagree with you close to you because it’s good to have different opinions and not be trapped in an echo chamber,” he said. “It felt very unifying.”