Remarks by Vice President Harris at a Political Event in San Francisco, CA

Fairmont San Francisco

San Francisco, California

12:26 P.M. PDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Can we hear it for Nancy Pelosi?  (Applause.)

Good afternoon, everyone.  Good afternoon.  (Applause.)  Oh, it is good to be home.  (Applause.)  Good afternoon, everyone.  Please have a seat.  Please have a seat. 

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, I want to thank you.  You know, there is so much about the future of our country that has relied on leaders like Nancy Pelosi who have the grit, the determination, the brilliance to know what is possible and then to make it so. 

And of the many, many accomplishments under your leadership, Nancy — you mentioned the Affordable Care Act.  It is extraordinary what you have done, and I have had the good privilege to be able to see your work up close.  I thank you for your friendship and your support.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

And I thank all our event chairs and hosts and all of the incredible leaders — elected leaders who are also here, including Governor Gavin Newsom.  Where are you, Gavin?  (Applause.)  I know he’s here because he was in the photo line.  There he is.  Is he back there?  There you are, Gavin. 

I’m going to talk about you for a second, friend.  (Laughter.)  I’m just going off script.  (Laughter.)  Gavin and I were elected on the same day here in San Francisco — he as mayor and me as district attorney.  We took our oaths — do you remember this, Gavin? — January 8th, 2004.  And — (laughter) — yes, it may age us, but it’s okay.  (Laughter.) 

And I have known Gavin as a friend and as a colleague for so, so many years.  And I want to thank you in front of all the friends who are here for being an extraordinary leader for California and a national leader and a dear friend.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

Yeah, see?  That’s what you get for standing in the back of the room.  (Laughter.)

And, Mayor London Breed, thank you for all that you are happy birthday.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.) 

I want to thank Congresswoman Barbara Lee — (applause) — from the place of my birth, Oakland, California.  (Laughs.)  (Applause.)

Jared Huffman — (applause) — a leader on so many issues, a long-standing friend, and one of my great advisers over my career on all matters, including that of climate.  Thank you, Jared.

And I want to congratulate our soon-to-be congressmember, Lateefah Simon.  (Applause.)  I first worked with Latifah when she was a teenager organizing young women about their empowerment.  And you will be an extraordinary member of the United States Congress, Lateefah.  (Applause.)

So, this is a room full of dear, dear, dear friends and long-standing supporters, folks I — who I’ve known for — for just my entire career and before.  So many of you have been on this journey with me through all these years, during some good races, some tough races. 

I was talking with Paul Pelosi backstage, and we were remembering that AGs race.  You remember that?  Remember election night in the AGs race?  Some of you may not know, my opponent declared his victory that night.  (Laughter.) 

So, we’ve been through a lot together.  We’ve been through a lot together.  And I want to thank everyone here for your love and your long-standing support and friendship and for your dedication to our country — for your dedication to our country. 

So, I will start, then, with this: We will win this election.  (Applause.)  We will.  We will win this election.  Yes, we will.  We will win this election.

And — and we do not have a day to waste.  November 5th is in 86 days. 

But here’s the map in terms of the timeline.  Early voting starts even sooner.  In Arizona, early voting starts in 60 days.  In Michigan, mail-in voting starts in 47 days.  In North Carolina, absentee ballots will be sent in just 27 days. 

Okay?  Okay.  You get my point here.  (Laughter.)

So, in that time, we know what we need to do.  We need to knock on doors, we need to register folks to vote, and we need to get people to the polls.  And every day matters. 

And we have — and we have some hard work ahead of us.  But I know who’s here.  We like hard work.  Hard

work is good work.  (Applause.)  Hard work is good work, and together, in November, that’s why we’re going to win. 

But let’s not take anything for granted.  I know there’s a lot of enthusiasm out there.  And, you know, I’ve never been one to really believe in the polls, whether they’re up or they’re down.  What we know is the stakes are so high and we can take nothing for granted in this critical moment. 

So, we will fuel our campaign, as we have, with enthusiasm and optimism but also with a deep commitment to the hard work it’s going to take. 

And this campaign, that being said, is really about the fact that, you know, there are, I think, two different — very — visions for our nation that are being presented in this campaign: one focused — ours — on the future and the other that’s so clearly focused on the past. 

And we are the ones who are obviously fighting for the future.  We believe, for example, in a future with affordable health care, with affordable childcare and paid leave; a future, we believe, where we can continue to build a broad-based economy where every American has opportunity. 

There’s so much about that word and that concept that I care deeply about: opportunity.  Tapping into the ambitions of the people, the excellence of the people, the aspirations of the people, the dreams of the people, and then allowing them the ability to actually achieve what we know is possible. 

The opportunity that so many rightly have and deserve to be able to own a home; to start a business; to build wealth, intergenerational wealth — these are the things that we believe in as we think about the future that we must facilitate. 

We believe in a future where we lower the cost of living for America’s families so that they have a chance not only to get by but — but, more importantly, to get ahead. 

And all of this is to say, unlike Donald Trump, I promise I will put middle-class families and working-class families first, knowing that the middle class is a big part of how we built the United States of America and that when the middle class is strong, our whole nation is strong — our whole nation is strong.  (Applause.)

And what we know is while we are focused on the future with optimism and with a sense of, yes, ambition about what is possible, Donald Trump has a different plan.  Just look at his Project 2025 agenda. 

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  You know, Nancy, I just joke sometimes.  Can you believe that they actually put that thing in writing?  (Laughter.)  I mean, they had the gall to put — like, get it bound — like, typed up and bound and then they distributed it, right? 

Project 2025, when you read it, I mean, it’s — it’s just — it’s — it’s something, right?  (Laughter.)  I mean, it’s — it — and among the many things — as I talk about, for example, the economy and building a middle class, it’s clear in their agenda that part of that Project 2025 agenda is to weaken the middle class. 

You know, if he is elected, Donald Trump intends to cut Social Security and Medicare.  So many people, so many seniors in our country, it’s all they have to rely on to survive. 

He intends to surrender, Jared, our fight against the climate crisis and end, Nancy, the Affordable Care Act.  If there’s one person elected in the United States who was pushing and pushing and fought to get that through, it’s Nancy Pelosi.  (Applause.)  And their agenda on — on the Affordable Care Act in terms of getting rid of it, we all remember what that was. 

Remember the issue with people with preexisting conditions being denied?  Remember the — the ability of insurance companies to deny people with preexisting conditions, people — for example, children who had asthma, breast cancer survivors, grandparents with diabetes?

You know, there’s so much about what they’re proposing that really is based on proven failed policies — proven failed policies.  (Applause.) 

And so, I say to this group of friends, as I say everywhere, here’s one of the things I know: We are not going back.  (Applause.)  We are not going back.  We are not going back. 

And so, over the past six days — I mean, it’s so wonderful to see everybody here, but I’ll tell you, over the past six days — so, I have traveled — in the last six days, I’ve been in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, and now here in California.  (Applause.)  And Tim Walz and I did a tour, and it was really so enjoyable and so important to do. 

And I can tell you, then, notes from the field: Americans in all parts of our country, they don’t want to go back.  In fact, sometimes they start chanting — even before I say it — (laughter) — “We’re not going back.”  They — they’ll — I me- — and — and they — and you can do it now if you want.  (Laughter.)  But — (laughs).

AUDIENCE:  We’re not going back!  We’re not going back!  We’re not going back!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Right.  And — and I’ll tell you, in those states and stadiums around our country, this is what people are saying so forcefully, like you just have.  There’s a real — it’s — it’s a — there’s a real, I think, thing happening in our country where we know what has not worked and we believe in what can work and where we can go based on also what we’ve proven does work, like the Affordable Care Act. 

So, ours is a fight for the future, and it is a fight for freedom.  Across our nation — and I have been traveling our nation for the last three and a half — almost four years now as vice president — and I’m very clear that there is an agenda that we are witnessing is a — and it is about a full-on assault on hard-fought, hard-won freedoms and rights.  There is an agenda afoot. 

And that agenda includes an attack on things like the freedom to vote.  Many examples of that, including Georgia, you know, where they passed a law that makes it illegal to give people food and water for standing in line to vote. 

You know, the hypocrisy abounds, right?  I mean, what happened to “love thy neighbor”? 

Attacks on the freedom to be safe from gun violence.  I have met with the survivors and the families from Sandy Hook to Parkland.  The number of our young people — you know, last fall, I started a tour with — of colleges and — and college-age young people.  So, I was at college and university; I also did trade schools. 

And, by the way, I love Gen Z.  I just love Gen Z.  I — I know it may be complicated if you have Gen Z in your family, but I think they’re terrific.  (Applause.)  I think they’re terrific. 

And, you know, when I was doing this tour, I would add — and every time — and this is another reason for optimism.  This was last fall — these college students, because, you know, they had to go through the mags and all that stuff, they had to stand in line for a while.  And they stood in line for hours and packed every auditorium that I was in to the point that there was overflow room. 

These young people who — you know, it’s not a rock concert.  They were coming to see me, you know, in a suit on a stage talking.  (Laughter.) 

And one of the things — in every place that I went, I would ask these young leaders, “Raise your hand if at any point between kindergarten and 12th grade you had to endure an active shooter drill.”  It was bone-chilling.  Almost every hand went up.

You know, we — I’m going to speak for most of us.  The — the — the worst that we had is fire drills.  Right?  So, this issue of — of the freedom to be safe from gun violence is very real. 

And, by the way, when Gen Z starts voting in their numbers, a whole lot of this is going to have an absolute sea change in terms of leadership — (applause) — absolute sea change. 

But, again, witnessing a full-on assault on hard-won freedoms and rights — the freedom to breathe clean air and drink clean water.  (Applause.)  You know, you see the guy on the other side still calling it a hoax — right? — the climate crisis.  An attack on the freedom to love who you love openly and with pride.  (Applause.) 

But — so, we remember, those of us here from this place in the world, Gavin and I and a few of us were the first electeds in the country — Valentine’s weekend, 2004 — (applause) — to perform same-sex marriages.  Right? 

So, we just celebrated the 20th anniversary of that this past February.  Right?  Here’s what pains me.  Here’s what pains me.  When you look at a large state like Florida that passes a “Don’t Say Gay” law — and think about what that means.  Some young teachers in their 20s are afraid to put up a photograph of themselves and their partner for fear they could lose their job.  Their job being what?  God’s work of educating other people’s children. 

Think about what is happening in our country.  Twenty years later — we just celebrated, and this is happening — full-on assault on hard-won freedoms and rights, not to mention the attack on the most fundamental freedom that should exist, which is the freedom to make decisions about your own body and not have your government tell you what to do, attacking the right of a woman to make decisions about her own body instead of having her government tell her what to do.  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We’re not going back!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  We’re not going back.  But we know what we’re dealing with.  We know what we’re dealing with.  And we know, in large part, especially on that last point, how we got here.  Donald Trump, when he was president, handpicked three members of the United States Supreme Court, some of whom I asked questions to — (laughter and applause) — had a direct conversation with.

He hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intent that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade, and they did as he intended.  And now, in state after state, laws have been proposed and passed to punish women, to criminalize doctors. 

You know, in Texas that law provides prison for life.  Understand what’s happening in our country: laws with no exception, even for rape or incest. 

As many of you know, I started my career as a prosecutor.  What some of you may not know is why.  One of the reasons is that when I was in high school, I learned that one of my best friends was being molested by her stepfather.  And when I learned, I said, “You have to come live with us.”  And I called my mother, many of whom — you met over the years — and she said, “Yeah, she has to come stay with us.”  And she did.

So, the idea that supposed leaders would be passing a law to say to a survivor of a crime violation to their body that that survivor has no right to make a decision about what happens to her body next, that’s immoral.  That’s immoral.  (Applause.)

And the reality is that if Donald Trump were to win this election, he would sign a national abortion ban.  And if a national abortion ban is in play, California and many other states that have protected the right will not be immune. 

So, the stakes are very high.  But on this issue, I’ll tell you, traveling around our country from red states to blue states, when this issue has been on the ballot, the American people have voted for freedom.  (Applause.)  The American people have voted for freedom. 

And I think because they, like us, we trust women.  (Applause.)  We trust women to know what is in their own best interest and not have their government tell them what to do. 

And needless to say, when I am elected president of the United States — (applause) — and Congress passes a law putting back in place the protections of Roe v. Wade, I will sign it into law.  (Applause.)

So, we have a lot of work to do.  I see Rob Bonta here.  I — we have a lot of work to do through the law, through the courts, through our feet and our vote.  And generations of Americans before us have led the fight for freedom, and now the baton is in our hands.  Now the baton is in our hands. 

And each and every one of us, as I know we know, has the responsibility and the ability to determine the outcome of this election and the future of our country.  And it is we who believe in the sacred freedom to vote that, together, through this election, we’ll get on path to being able to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.  (Applause.)

It is we who believe in freedom who will ensure that we are able to pass an assault weapons ban and universal background checks and red flag laws.  (Applause.) 

And so, I say those things as just a couple of examples of how much is on the line in this election.  And understand this is not 2016 or 2020 for so many reasons, but one of the most important reasons that should be front of mind for all of us as a point of distinction is what the Supreme Court just did last month. 

So, the Supreme Court — the United States Supreme Court, last month, basically just told the former president, who has been convicted of fraud, that going forth, he will effectively be immune no matter what he does in the White House. 

So, whereas before, at least there was a threat of some sort of consequence, which hopefully would persuade some sense of accountability — well, not even then, but now, with the Supreme Court’s ruling, understand what that means.  Think about it. 

Put that Supreme Court ruling in the context of an individual who has openly told us — Donald Trump — that he will be a dictator on day one.  Think about it in the context of that individual who has basically said he intends to weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies.  Think about it in the context of that individual who even called for — and I’m going to quote — “terminating” the Constitution of the United States of America.  Think about that. 

And here’s the thing that I know we know — and all over our country when I travel and say this, everyone is really clear.  Someone who suggests that we should terminate the Constitution of the United States of America should never again stand behind the seal of president of the United States.  (Applause.)  Never again.  Never again stand behind the seal of the president of the United States.  (Applause.)  Never again.  Never again.  (Applause.) 

So, we are here — we are here because we love our country.  We love our country.  And I do believe it is the highest form of patriotism to fight for the ideals of our country.  We then fight for the promise of America: a promise of freedom, opportunity, and justice not for some but for all. 

And ultimately, then, in this election, we each face a question.  What kind of country do we want to live in: a country of chaos, fear, and hate or a country of freedom, compassion, and rule of law?  (Applause.) 

And the beauty — the beauty of our democracy — the beauty of our democracy is that we each have the power to answer that question.  We each have the power to answer that question, because in a democracy, the power is with the people.  The power is with the people.  (Applause.) 

And the people are ready to use that power.  I’m seeing it around our country.  The people are ready to use their power. 

Over the past week, Tim Walz and I have been on a battleground swing across our nation, as I mentioned.  And let me just share with you some final — I don’t (inaudible) — notes from the field.  (Laughter.)  First, the energy is undeniable.  It is undeniable.  (Applause.)

I mean, people of every walk and stripe and size and — you know, coming together.  There’s so much about — I think we know what strengthens our nation when people see in the face of a stranger, a neighbor — you know what I mean?  You don’t see a stranger.  You — you — you approach it — that is a neighbor.  We’re building community. 

And, you know, the press and our opponents like to focus on the crowd size.  And — and, yes, the crowds are large.  (Laughter and applause.)  But even better is the fact that, like last night in Las Vegas, attendees are signing up for volunteer shifts by the thousands.  (Applause.) 

And here’s what else I see.  I think what we know is that folks are coming to these events, and they’re bringing with them so much joy.  And they are — you know, li- — you know, we had — we had D-Nice there yesterday DJing.  It was kind of nice too, right?  (Laughter.)  So, you know, people are singing and they’re dancing in the aisles long before we get there. 

And I do know that they’re showing up not only because we must beat Donald Trump.  They’re showing up because they believe in our country and our future and a brighter future for our nation.  (Applause.)  And I think they know, as we all here do, this is a moment where we have a real opportunity to see a future in which we all belong — in which we all belong. 

And I guess that’s just — all of that is the very humbling part of this.  It’s really been a good couple of weeks, but we got a lot of work to do.  (Applause.)  We got a lot of work to do. 

So, 86 days to go.  And in the next 86 days, yes, we will fight for freedom, and we will fight for our future.  And as I say at every rally: When we fight —

AUDIENCE:  We win!

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  — we win.  (Applause.)

God bless you.  And God bless America.  (Applause.) 

END                12:56 P.M. PDT