Former First Lady Michelle Obama stumped for Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania on Saturday night with a speech where she hyped the vice president and urged people to get out and vote while slamming Donald Trump without once uttering his name.
There are less than three days to go until Election Day and the race in the state is razor-thin, but Harris has seen some signs of momentum heading into the final stretch.
The former first lady argued that in America ‘we rise more than we fall’ but warned of those who are trying to tell another story about the country.
She said during dark and difficult times, the country needs someone who will ‘connect with people’s pain and address the systemic issues at their root, not leaders who stoke our fears and focus our fury on one another.’
‘Once you open up that gasoline can, once you wink at hate and make it normal to call somebody a bimbo, or low IQ or human scum, look, you cannot control how fast or far that fire of hate will spread,’ she warned, referring to some of the names Trump and allies have called Harris.
‘All of a sudden someone feels emboldened to say that our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico come from an “island of garbage,”‘ she continued, noting the ex-president’s rally in New York City where a comedian made a racist joke about the territory.
Obama warned ‘destruction is swift and it is merciless, and no one knows where it will stop.’
She referred to Trump as a conman, a small man trying to make himself feel big, and Kamala’s opponent, but she did not mention him by name.
While the former first lady issued a stark warning to the packed room, she also offered up hope for Democrats in the crowd.
She reminisced about her husband’s candidacy for president and said Harris’ rallies and optimism reminds her of his campaign. She said Democrats won that election and could do it again.
Obama spoke of the impact a Kamala Harris presidency would have on future generations.
‘Our children deserve to grow up with the extraordinary leadership of Kamala Harris,’ she said and that Harris has shown she is the president the country needs ‘right now.’
She said the vice president would be a president who is in it for the people and will lead with ‘warmth, joy and grace.’
The former first lady also invoked her late mother who she lost this year while urging people to vote and talking about the country’s progress. She said her mother as a young woman was not welcomed in department stores.
‘But for eight years she had the best view in American from her room at the White House,’ she said as the crowd cheered.
She said her mother’s journey was only possible because of people who fought for it, protested ‘and yes, voted for it.’
‘That’s how it works in this country. We’ve got to vote,’ she said.
Obama was joined by Grammy-winning singer Alicia Keys, who is the latest in a series of high-profile artists to get behind the vice president and appear in battleground states to rally support in the final days of the campaign.
‘I believe that our vote is a precious gift,’ Keys said.
She accused Republicans of wanting to turn back the clock and take away safety, dignity and the right to vote.
Keys said if people have apathy and do not show up to vote, they are giving away their power.
‘If you don’t vote for Harris, or you don’t vote at all, you’re voting for the chaos and the hate,’ she said, telling people to ‘use your voice, use your vote.’
Some voters in the state also got quite the surprise this weekend when Keys went door-knocking before the rally on Saturday. People answering the door were greeted by the songstress who posed with voters for photos.
Governor Josh Shapiro, who is from the area, also spoke at the rally where he talked about his focus on ‘getting s**t done.’ The crowd responded by chanting ‘get s**t done.’
Shapiro praised Harris’ agenda for the economy as well as protecting reproductive rights.
The event on Saturday was Michelle Obama’s first solo campaign event for the vice president with three days until Election Day.
She appeared alongside Harris one week ago in Kalamazoo, Michigan for her first event on the campaign trail where the former first lady delivered a blistering takedown of Trump and made an emotional appeal to men not to put the lives and health care of the women they love in the hands of the ex-president.
Obama is a favorite speaker among Democrats even though she has openly declared how much she hates politics. Her remarks at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago were perhaps the most well received of the four-day extravaganza.
Her stop in Norristown, Pennsylvania which is less than an hour outside Philadelphia comes as Democrats are in the final stretch of their Get Out The Vote effort before Election Day.
Democrats need to turn out voters in the suburbs such as Montgomery County where Norristown is located to win the crucial battleground state.
The Philadelphia suburbs have been shifting further toward Democrats in a series of recent elections helping deliver a victory for Biden in the Keystone State in 2020.
A line of more than five-thousand people snaked through the high school parking lot and a field as people lined up for hours to see the former first lady speak at the Norristown Area High School gym on the crisp fall day.
More than 1.7 million people have already voted in Pennsylvania in the 2024 election. Democrats have far exceeded Republicans when it comes to returning mailed ballots in the state despite Gop efforts to get more supporters to vote early overall.
Women in Pennsylvania are also leading men when it comes to those who have already cast ballots in the Keystone State, making up more than 55 percent of ballots returned, according to modeling by TargetSmart.
Katherine West from Horsham, PA came out for the rally and is feeling positive about Harris’ ability to carry the state. She has a series of issues on her mind this election cycle.
‘The most important one is a woman’s rights and reproductive rights,’ said West. ‘The second one is the economy and then of course Medicare, Social Security.’
Carolyn Prante from Norristown is also feeling optimistic about where the race stands in the state. She and her kids already cast their ballots by mail. She has been a regular at campaign events in past election cycles, but this was her first of the 2024 election season.
‘I have faith that we will do the right thing,’ she said. ‘There’s no crystal ball but I have faith.’
Harris is set to return to the state on Monday for multiple campaign stops across the state, signaling just how important it is to her path to victory.
The USA Today/Suffolk University poll of Pennsylvania likely voters released on Friday showed the race tied 49 percent for Harris and 49 percent for Trump.
The 2024 election is being described as a gender election with a massive gap between the two candidates.
The poll in Pennsylvania showcased it as well with Trump leading among men by 20 points while Harris has an 18-point lead among women in the state.
But there have been other signs of momentum for the vice president. A poll out of Iowa by the Des Moines Register released on Saturday showed her three points ahead of Trump in the red state, 47 percent to 44 percent among likely voters.