John Locher / AP
Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., reacts after speaking at a drive-in campaign event Friday, Oct. 2, 2020, in Las Vegas.
Friday, Oct. 2, 2020 | 8 p.m.
In a rally that would happen only in the time of the coronavirus, Democratic vice presidential nominee and California Sen. Kamala Harris spoke during a drive-in campaign event at UNLV on Friday.
Harris delivered remarks in front of 95 parked cars, many decorated with slogans like “BLM! Vote blue, save Black lives” and “Grab him by the ballot.”
Harris spent much of the event pushing for Nevadans to vote in November’s general election. She criticized Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for a recent order that restricted ballot drop-off sites to one per county in that state.
“There’s some powerful people in our country that are trying to make it difficult for us to vote,” Harris said.
She described her experience walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., with deceased Georgia Rep. John Lewis. Lewis marched across the bridge during the Bloody Sunday event in 1965, when police brutally attacked civil rights marchers.
“Here’s the thing,” Harris said. “The right to vote was hard fought and a hard-won right.”
President Donald Trump, in many remarks, has cast doubt on the legitimacy of mail-in ballots, attempting to link them without evidence to voter fraud. He’s also attempted to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the election, saying on Twitter it “may never be accurately determined” because of unsolicited mail-in ballots.
Nevada lawmakers in July passed a bill that would automatically send mail-in ballots to every active voter in the state ahead of the November election. Trump’s reelection campaign challenged that law in the courts, but a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit last month claiming that the campaign did not show how it could be harmed by the law.
In a statement released ahead of Harris’ event, Trump Victory spokesperson Keith Schipper said the Democrats' campaign would not be able to match the work the Trump campaign has already put into the state.
“It looks like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are finally realizing the value of campaigning outside of Delaware,” Schipper said.
Harris was introduced by Gov. Steve Sisolak and Democratic Rep. Dina Titus, whose district makes up Las Vegas proper and the Las Vegas Strip.
“States like Nevada have been left to fend for ourselves, to get the testing we need, the face masks and other protective equipment we need,” Sisolak said. “The ineffective federal response has cost too many Nevadans their jobs and their ability to support their families.”
Titus touted Sisolak’s work in trying to mitigate the virus’ spread and said that the current administration did not plan well enough to control the virus.
“Just think how many lives and jobs could have been saved if we had a comprehensive plan from the beginning and wouldn’t have had to go through all of this for such a long time,” Sisolak said.
Harris stressed that “when we vote, things change.”
“Don’t let any circumstance make you feel isolated because we are all in this together,” she said.
