Remarks by Vice President Harris at a Campaign Event | Detroit, MI

Western International High School
Detroit, Michigan

2:21 P.M. EDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Are we going to do this?  (Applause.)  Yes! 

Hey, Detroit.  Macsen, thank you so much. 

Hey, Detroit.  (Applause.)  Are we ready to get out there and get everyone to vote?  (Inaudible.)  And the mic is not on.  Now it’s on.  (Applause.)

Hey, Detroit, are we ready?  (Applause.)  Yes, we are.  So, before I came out, my team was telling me, and I was talking to some members of the press, and they said, “Hey, since early voting has started” —

     AUDIENCE MEMBER:  (Inaudible.)

     THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Can you hear me? 

     AUDIENCE:  Yes.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  You can hear me.  They can’t hear me.

Okay.  I’m going to — I did- — I didn’t want to have to stand right here.  Okay.  Can you hear me now?  Okay.  (Applause.)  There we go.

So, my team was telling me — so, you know, Georgia started early voting, and they broke historic records in early voting.  North Carolina started early voting, broke historic records in North Carolina.  (Applause.)

Now, who is the capital of producing records?  (Applause.)  So, we are going to break some records here in Detroit today.  (Applause.)  Yes, we are. 

We are going to do this because we know what is at stake, and we know the power of the people.  (Applause.)  This is about the power of the people.  This is about knowing each one of us as an individual and as a collective, as a community, as a coalition, we have the power to make the decisions about the direction of our country, and we know this election is about two very different visions for our future.  Ours, focused on the future, focused on our young leaders, focused on possibility, understanding the ambitions and the aspirations and the dreams of the American people — (applause) — understanding, like the people of Detroit, we have grit, we have excellence, we have history.  (Applause.)

And it’s about looking in the face of a perfect stranger and seeing a neighbor and understanding we are all in this together.  We all have so much more in common than what separates us, and we are going to fight for this country we love.  We are in this to win it.  (Applause.)

And we know, look, the race is tight.  It’s going to be hard work, but we like hard work.  (Applause.)  Hard work is good work.  And we will win.  (Applause.)  And we will win.

So, you all are here taking time out of your busy lives and all your other obligations, and I thank you so very much.  And I know — and — and I know what today is.  We’re here because this is a working day.  We’re ready to get out there.  We’re ready to walk the neighborhood.  We are ready to talk with our neighbors and our friends and just the people that we see and remind them they are important and that we are so optimistic about our new generation of leadership for America and what we will do together that is about investing in working people, in middle-class people, in our children; what we do in terms of caring about the education of our children, which is why we’re not falling for the other guy trying to get rid of the Department of Education and Head Start — (applause) — because we know what we stand for.  We stand for the idea that the true measure of the strength of a leader is not based on who you beat down, it’s on who you lift up.  (Applause.)

And these are the things that we stand for as a community of people that understand the importance of caring and kindness, who understand the importance of having a leader who speaks truth and is not so self-consumed.

You know, I keep talking about somebody needs to just watch his rallies if you’re not really sure how to vote — (laughter) — because he spends full time talking about himselves and mythical characters, not talking about the working people, not talking about you, not talking about lifting you up.

And so, as we spend these next 17 days, we’re going to go vote today; we’re going to remind people to vote; we’re going to register folks to vote; we’re going to email, text, phone call, knock on doors — (applause); and we’re going to remind people of what is at stake.

And with that, I want to thank incredible leaders from Michigan who are here: the lieutenant governor, Garlin Gilchrist.  (Applause.)  He always stands above the crowd.  (Laughs.)  We have Representative Slotkin, who is here, who we will send to the Senate in November.  (Applause.)  Representative Thanedar, who is here; Wayne County Executive Evans; Mayor Duggan; and all of the national labor union presidents who are here.  (Applause.)  And let’s not forget the most phenomenal Lizzo.  (Applause.)

So, to everyone who is here, I’m not going to spend any more time on the stage, because we got work to do.  We have 17 days to get this done, and we’re not going to be able — we’re never going to — we’re not going to be able to get these 17 days back. 

And what I think we all know is on Election Day, we don’t want to have any regrets about what we could have done these next 17 days.  And on November 5th, and at the end of that day, we’re going to look at each other, and we’re going to say, “Yes, the power was with the people, and we made a difference.” 

 And that’s the beauty of who we are as a nation.  We know we can make a difference because the power is with the people.  (Applause.)

God bless you.  Thank you.  I’ll see you out there.  Thank you all.  (Applause.)

                             END                2:28 P.M. EDT