2024 has been a busy year for Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been crisscrossing the country and traveling around the globe to amplify the Biden-Harris administration’s objectives on key issues, tout its domestic and international leadership, and inspire U.S. voters to fully engage with our political process as we approach a critically important general election in November that will profoundly and permanently shape the history of what we have come to know as “the American experiment.”
As soon as the new year arrived, VP Harris hit the road. On January 3 she and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff met with members of Culinary Workers Union Local 226 to celebrate their historic contract with Las Vegas casinos. In remarks that day she also touted the Biden-Harris administration’s historic support for organized labor, and its role in leading the country’s economic recovery, which has significantly outperformed peer nations as the globe has emerged from pandemic-related economic slowdowns.
VP Harris with CWUL 226 members as they celebrate their new, historic contract.
Her next stop was Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where she spoke about ongoing attacks against democracy on the third anniversary of the January 6 MAGA insurrection in Washington, D.C. While speaking to the attendees of the 7th Episcopal District AME Church Women’s Missionary Society’s annual retreat about the real and present dangers of GOP book bans and healthcare obstructionism, she also touted the administration’s work to lower maternal mortality rates, historic investments in public infrastructure improvements, and ongoing efforts to increase access to healthcare and broadband service. After these remarks were met with cheers, she implored the attendees “Let us not throw up our hands, but roll up our sleeves. We were born for a time such as this.”
A week later, she was back in the Carolinas with U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, visiting Eastwood Middle School in Charlotte for an event that gathered educators, counselors, parents, gun safety advocates, and local and state leaders to announce new funding for mental health resources in schools via the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in the wake of a New Year’s Eve shooting that left five people injured by a 19-year-old shooter. The BSCA, championed by North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis and Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy, is the most comprehensive piece of gun legislation to pass Congress in over thirty years. She also took time to visit Leah & Louise, a Black-owned small business that survived the pandemic due to the financial lifeline provided by the Biden-Harris administration’s American Rescue Plan. It is worthy of note that this was Harris’ ninth visit to the battleground state since being sworn in as Vice President.
As has been the case throughout her tenure, Harris has taken on a prominent role in critical international diplomacy in 2024, speaking directly with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Bahranian Crown Prince Salman bid Isa Al Khalifa to prevent the conflict in Gaza from spreading throughout the Middle East. Harris, who has served as a bridge to younger voters since her selection as Joe Biden’s running mate, has also settled into an important role in 2024 with this critical voting bloc that polls show are dissatisfied with President Biden’s response to the Israel-Hamas War. Harris has been more empathetic and spoken with greater depth than the President in her statements about the conflict; she has repeatedly noted that images and video from Gaza are devastating, and that too many innocent Palestinians have been killed, stating “As Israel defends itself, it matters how.” Harris has enjoyed a surge in popularity with voters under 30 in the wake of her forceful responses to abortion restrictions and Republican race baiting about topics like how slavery is taught in schools, and what were the root causes of the Civil War.
Harris’ next stop was Atlanta, where she met with voting rights advocates to help them strategize against ongoing voter suppression efforts by the Republican-controlled legislature that are expected to continue until the November general election, referring to Georgia as “ground zero” for the voting rights battle. Much like North Carolina, this visit marked the tenth time Harris has appeared in the battleground state of Georgia as Vice President.
The morning of January 15, Harris was back in South Carolina, visiting Columbia on this occasion to deliver the keynote address at the NAACP South Carolina State conference, where she honored the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and urged attendees to continue fighting for fundamental freedoms. She also made a stop at Colonial Life Arena to visit with the women’s basketball teams from the University of South Carolina and the University of Kentucky prior to their matchup, where she was presented with an autographed ball. South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley was emotional, saying “I need our players to see the strength of that kind of woman.”
On January 17, VP Harris was in New York City for a highly touted appearance on The View that was so well received it was covered favorably by former online troll/former White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany. When pressed about the potential dangers of a second Trump term, she said “We will not have the quality of life that I think most people want without fundamental freedoms and the rights that are guaranteed in our Constitution-and all of that is very much at stake.” To watch her remarkable, wide-ranging interview in its entirety via ABC News, click here.
The following day, VP Harris was in Washington, D.C. for the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Winter Meeting, where she spoke with Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lewis in a moderated conversation about reducing gun violence in our communities.
On January 22, 51 years to the day that Roe v. Wade was decided, Harris appeared in Waukesha, Wisconsin to kick off her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” nationwide tour and push back on the Republican-controlled legislature’s effort to pass a 14-week abortion ban.
The following day, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris received a rousing reception at the Restore Roe rally in Northern Virginia, where their first joint appearance since launching their 2024 reelection effort was greeted with cheers of “four more years!”
The next morning, VP Harris was on the road for a series of appearances in the Golden State, including a private campaign event in Manhattan Beach, a speech at the California State Legislature Democratic Caucus Reception in Sacramento, the next stop on her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour in San Jose, and a gathering of prominent Latino activists at the home of actor and director Eva Longoria in Los Angeles.
After departing from California, the VP made another stop in Nevada for a get out the vote event in East Las Vegas as early voting began ahead of the Democratic primary. She also visited with local culinary students before offering remarks about new rules enacted by the Biden-Harris administration that will extend access to SBA loans to entrepreneurs who have previously been incarcerated.
Following another quick swing through South Carolina in advance of the Democratic primary for yet another get out the vote event at South Carolina State University with Jaime Harrison and Rep. Jim Clyburn, Harris returned to Washington, D.C., where she hosted Prime Minister Keith Rowley of Trinidad and Tobago for dialogue about climate resilience and regional security.
On Tuesday, February 6, VP Harris traveled to Savannah, Georgia for another stop on her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour. She also visited a local business, Diaspora Marketplace, and took time to meet privately with the family of Sgt. Breonna Moffett, a reservist from Savannah who was killed in a drone attack in Jordan earlier this year.
Next VP Harris traveled to Munich, Germany for the 2024 Munich Security Conference, “a favored platform for Harris,” where she has represented America’s perspectives on the world stage for the past three years. In Munich she presented a major foreign policy speech, also meeting with various foreign leaders to advance U.S. interests and reaffirm our commitment to NATO. To watch her forceful remarks in Munich, including her comments on the passing of Alexei Navalny, click here. To view her joint remarks with Ukrainian President Volodomyor Zelenskyy, click here.
Wasting no time upon her return stateside, VP Harris made her 11th(!) trip to the key swing state of Pennsylvania, appearing in Pittsburgh to herald the replacement of more than 18,000 lead water pipes since her previous visit in July of 2022 with funding from the Biden-Harris administration’s 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal that allocated nearly six billion dollars for water infrastructure improvements.
Next, VP Harris traveled to Grand Rapids, Michigan on February 22 for another installment of her “Fight for Reproductive Freedoms” tour ahead of the Michigan Democratic primary, where she highlighted steps states like Michigan have taken to guard reproductive rights, and outlined the significant dangers of a second Trump presidency.
WHEW! RadLove readers, we are glad you’ve made it this far. 🙂
When I set out to gather details for this piece, I did not realize it would be THIS expansive-but the magnitude and extent of Vice President Harris’ tireless work, both domestically and internationally, necessitates this length. I am an advocate who follows her closely, and I did not realize the space that would be required to even briefly capture her movements since the start of the year.
Whether it is standing up to Vladimir Putin, fighting for abortion access in 2024 battleground states, championing the Biden-Harris administration’s student loan debt relief initiatives, leading efforts to modernize publicly funded transportation via grants for electric school buses, advocating for the Economic Opportunity Coalition she developed to support underserved communities, or ensuring communities across this country have access to clean water, Vice President Kamala Harris proves time and again that she is on our side and fighting tirelessly “for the people.”
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