Current Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris spoke at a rally in Greenville, North Carolina on Oct. 13, 2024. The rally was held at Minges Coliseum at East Carolina University (ECU). The campus has been a host to six previous presidential campaigns. At the time of publication, the most recent polls conducted in North Carolina show Trump with a 0.9 advantage in the battleground state.
State Senator Kandie Smith of North Carolina’s fifth district where ECU resides spoke at the rally. Smith related her background as the daughter of a working mom in a middle class neighborhood to Vice President Harris’s. “She [Harris] knows the challenges that many families here in eastern North Carolina and across the country face. Because like us she has lived them …You know how else I know that Vice President Harris is a fighter we want back. She has had a career that was built on protecting working families,” said Smith.
Rachel Hunt the Democratic Nominee for Lieutenant Governor shared the contrasting visions between the Republican agenda and the Democratic agenda “As a prosecutor, Attorney General, Senator and Vice President Kamala Harris has only had one client. The people. As our fellow North Carolinians, our friends, our family out in Western North Carolina recover from the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene … [Trump’s] his extreme agenda would bring our state backwards and his hand picked candidate for Governor Mark Robinson plans to carry out everyone of Trump’s extremist policies if he is elected,” Hunt said.
U.S. House Representative Don Davis represents North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District spoke at the rally and reminded attendees what is at stake in this election and what Harris has done as Vice President she actively worked to secure funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). At the end of his speech Davis said. “Freedom is not free. You have got to fight for it, you have to fight for it every single day between now and November fifth.”
Nicole Barrett, an organizer for North Carolina’s Coordinated Campaign, spoke at the event thanking volunteers and encouraging people to get involved. “We can’t do it without your help. We need you to knock on doors, make phone calls, mobilize our friends, neighbors, family members online and offline. That means we need people like you to get involved every person in here,” Barret said.
East Carolina University Young Democrats President Thomas Remington worked through high school and he lived paycheck to paycheck as a kid. “Vice President Harris understands the dreams of people like me. She is fighting to put our dreams within reach, the dream of someday owning a home, of starting our own business and protecting our freedom to choose how and when we want to start a family. This is the first presidential election that I’ll be eligible to vote in and I’m excited to support her … it is my honor to introduce the next President of the United States Kamala Harris.”
Kamala Harris walked out to “Freedom” by Beyoncé. She noted that Governor Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein were absent due to the ongoing Hurricane Helene relief. Harris compared her plans to those of Trump’s, contrasting her vision for how she plans to lower costs and protect reproductive access.
“We are focused on protecting reproductive freedom. We are focused on keeping our nation secure. But none of that is what we hear from Donald Trump. Instead, from him we are hearing from that same old tired playbook … I will give a middle class tax cut to 100 million Americans, including $6,000 during the first year of your child’s life knowing that the vast majority of parents have a natural desire to parent their children well, but not always the resources to be able to do it,” Harris said.
Vice Presidential Nominee Tim Walz is expected to hold a campaign event in Winston-Salem and Durham North Carolina on Thursday the day that early voting starts. Across the state early voting begins on Thursday Oct. 17 and lasts up till Nov. 2.
