LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Vice President Kamala Harris touted the accomplishments of the Biden administration and took aim at their likely general election opponent during a rally in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Harris spoke to a crowd of several hundred people at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers hall in East Las Vegas, telling them that Nevada’s diversity was the reason the state holds a top position in picking presidential candidates.
“All this to say, I know Nevada, and I love Nevada…and Nevada is truly a reflection of America. And that’s why you are, of course, the first primary state in the west," Harris said. "And as the dear, late great Sen. Harry Reid always said, if you can win in Nevada, you can win anywhere.”
Nevada was scheduled by the Democratic National Committee to share its primary with New Hampshire this year on Feb. 6, but the Granite State instead held an unsanctioned primary on Jan. 23. President Joe Biden won the contest with a write-in vote, since party rules prohibited him from appearing on the rogue election ballot.
Harris told the crowd Biden had worked to give students relief from their education loans, had worked to cap insulin drug prices at $35 per month and pledged that if Democrats regain control of Congress, Biden would sign a bill codifying abortion rights into law.
Speaking shortly after Trump attacked the administration and its accomplishments in a speech of his own across town, Harris said it would be dangerous to return Trump to the White House.
“In his comments today, as always, he made clear his fight is not for the people. His fight is for himself,” she said to cheers. “The former president openly talks about his intention to weaponize the Department of Justice. He openly says that he is, quote, 'proud that he overturned Roe v. Wade.'”
Trump appointed a trio of justices to the Supreme Court who all voted to overturn the landmark 1973 decision that prevented states from criminalizing abortion. Since the repeal in June 2022, several states have passed restrictions on abortion rights. Nevada, however, is not among them; voters approved the state’s abortion law in a 1990 referendum, and it cannot be changed without a subsequent vote of the people.
Harris did not mention immigration in her 17-minute remarks, although she has been tasked with handling that issue by Biden. Trump has repeatedly criticized the administration on the issue, and polls show it’s a weak spot for the Biden re-election effort.
Instead, Harris tried to make the contrast a matter of character, reminding the audience that Trump said he’d be a “dictator” on the first day if he’s returned to office.
“Understand what dictators do,” she said. “Dictators jail journalists. Dictators suspend elections. Dictators take your rights. As the great Maya Angelou once said, ‘When someone tells you who they are…” as the audience finished the quote, “believe them.”
Harris’s visit Saturday capped a daylong trip to Las Vegas, her second this month and her 10th since winning the 2020 election. She announced a new rule that would allow people convicted of crimes who have served their sentences to apply for Small Business Administration loans. And she visited the Chef Jeff Project, where formerly incarcerated people and disadvantaged youth learn culinary and hospitality skills.
Biden himself is scheduled to visit the state next month, although there’s not much competition for the Feb. 6 primary — self-help guru Marianne Williamson is the only other major name on the ballot.
But with Trump winning large majorities in Republican contests, and the almost certain victor of the Feb. 8 Republican caucus in Nevada, it appears a Biden-Trump rematch is inevitable, and candidates are looking forward to the November general election.
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