‘We see you’: VP Kamala Harris in Columbia urges SC Democrats to vote in 2022 midterms
Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday night urged South Carolina Democrats to turn out in the midterm elections to help keep Congress in Democratic control, hoping to remind voters the state was key to sending her and President Joe Biden to the White House.
Harris’ 22-minute speech, coming four days before the S.C. primaries, touched on issues ranging from broadband investment to gun violence and inflation.
The vice president’s main message of the night was clear: Maintain a Democratic majority by voting.
The speech touted Cabinet successes, such as Biden’s diversity promise — which Harris said Biden made right here in South Carolina. She referenced South Carolina federal Judge Michelle Childs, who was on the U.S. Supreme Court short list and could soon be confirmed for an influential D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals seat, and incoming Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, while advocating for equality and diversity.
Abortion and gun control were two hot topics during the vice president’s speech, causing the crowd to erupt in applause and earning her a standing ovation from some.
“We fight for a future where all people can live without fear. No 86-year-old grandmother should be afraid to go to the grocery store. No 41-year-old pastor should worry about welcoming a stranger to Bible study. No nine-year-old child should fear for her safety at school,” Harris said.
The vice president was referencing three major mass shootings: the May Buffalo grocery store shooting, the 2015 Charleston church shooting that left nine Black churchgoers, including a state senator, dead, and the May Uvalde, Texas, school shooting.
Her speech also brought up many of the key issues ranging in the political landscape today, such as inflation, police reform, local agriculture and infrastructural investments in broadband.
It was Harris’ second time speaking in the Palmetto State as vice president. The first was a 2021 visit to Greenville to boost COVID-19 vaccination rates.
Harris strikes serious tone in second trip to SC
The Friday speech had a different tone than the previous time Harris visited the Palmetto State.
“We see you.” Harris said. “We see the power of South Carolina Democrats is felt all over our nation. We see how your state party leaders rise up to become national party leaders.”
U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-Columbia, joined Harris on stage in an embrace as Harris wrapped up her speech urging attendees to “send Jim Clyburn back to Washington.”
Clyburn is seeking his 16th term as U.S. representative for South Carolina’s 6th District in the upcoming midterm elections.
“What we have done over the years, keep this Democratic Party in this country valuable,” Clyburn said. “And tonight, (Harris) has made us valuable.”
During the introduction for her speech, she described Clyburn’s meaning to South Carolina with gratitude.
“Of course, to think about South Carolina Democrats is to think about Majority Whip James Clyburn,” she said.
Clyburn, who endorsed Biden ahead of the 2020 presidential primary, is credited with giving Biden an election boost after he fell short in the other early-voting states.
Harris did acknowledge challenges that the party faces, calling it a fight for the future against opposition that refuses to condemn issues of the party.
“These are the issues Democrats stand for, and let’s be clear, ... so much of this is what the Republican Party stands against,” Harris said of Republican opposition to the child-tax credit, pandemic relief measures, the Jan. 6 Capitol riot hearings and abortion rights.
