Harris to deliver closing argument speech Tuesday on the National Mall
Vice President Kamala Harris is planning to deliver her closing argument Tuesday in a speech on the National Mall, according to people familiar with the planning and a permit application obtained by the Washington Post.
The Harris campaign is still finalizing her message, but the vice president plans to present a final case to the American people from a place selected to emphasize a contrast between herself and former president Donald Trump, a candidate who she has argued poses a grave threat to the country, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that are not yet public. As part of that, Harris is likely to mention Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol, but the speech is expected to be broader than focused on solely what she deems Trump’s threat to American democracy.
A spokesperson for the Harris campaign declined to comment.
Harris officials have focused on finding symbolic venues for the closing days of the campaign, in an effort to draw maximum media attention beyond rallies in traditional battleground states such as Pennsylvania, where she has at least three events scheduled this week. Harris is spending most of her time in those states, but the closing message of the campaign is designed to speak to the American people more broadly.
On Friday, for example, Harris will hold a rally in Texas, a state she does not expect to win. But aides say her speech will focus on abortion rights, with her campaign calling Texas “ground zero of the nation’s extreme abortion bans.” Harris plans to warn Americans in other states, particularly the states that will determine the outcome of the election, about the threat Trump could pose to their reproductive rights, should he win.
Trump is similarly barnstorming the battleground states, with campaign events in North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Michigan. On Sunday, though, Trump is holding a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, an attempt to draw more media coverage.
According to the permit application, organizers with Markham, a D.C.-based event management and production company that works with the Harris campaign, requested space on the National Mall between Seventh and Fourth streets NW and estimated roughly 7,750 people would attend.
The permit application does not include many details about the event, aside from describing it as “First Amendment Activity: Political Speech” with four to five people and elected officials giving speeches. The plans include a 40-foot stage, 5,000 handheld signs, 1,000 chairs, 25 tables and 50 portable restrooms, according to the application. Organizers requested the Mall from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. but did not specify when the speeches would begin.
Harris has escalated her warnings about the threat Trump poses to democracy in recent days, and her campaign has worked to highlight the vice president’s support from Republicans and comments from former Trump officials about his conduct in stops across the nation. A packed final schedule this week has included visits to the three “blue wall” states with former Republican congresswoman Liz Cheney, and a CNN town hall in Pennsylvania on Wednesday night, followed by a rally in Georgia on Thursday and a rally in Michigan on Saturday.
“The American people are, at this point, two weeks out, being presented with a very, very serious decision about what will be the future of our country,” Harris said Tuesday in an interview with NBC News. “And it includes whether we are a country that values a president who respects their duty to uphold the Constitution of the United States. Donald Trump has said he would terminate the Constitution of the United States.”