Kamala Harris spoke to a crowd of fervent supporters Tuesday night in Atlanta at the Georgia State Convocation Center, less than two weeks after President Joe Biden announced he would end his reelection campaign and back Harris to replace him as the Democratic nominee. The chants and cheers in Georgia—including an impromptu “Lock him up!” and “Not going back!” both in reference to Donald Trump—made clear that the race’s momentum had suddenly shifted. Below is a complete transcript of the vice president’s speech.
Kamala Harris: Good evening. (Applause.) Good evening, Georgia. (Applause.) Good evening. (Applause.)
Audience: Kamala! Kamala! Kamala!
Harris: Thank you all. Thank you. (Laughs.) Thank you. Thank you. (Laughs.) (Applause.) My goodness. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. (Laughs.) Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. (Laughs.) (Applause.) My goodness. Thank you all. Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody.
Oh, it’s good to be back in Georgia. (Laughs.) (Applause.) Thank you. Everyone, can we please hear it for Tyler? (Applause.) I want to thank Tyler for that incredible introduction. I invited him and several other young entrepreneurs to come and visit with me at the White House, and we had a, really, very long and important conversation about the future of America. And, Tyler, you represent the best of our future. Thank you for that. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you.
And please give it up for Quavo — (applause) — and Megan. (Applause.)
So, it is so good to see everyone. And let me — let me also thank our incredible members of Congress who are with us this evening: Senator Jon Ossoff (applause), Senator Raphael Warnock (applause), and Representative Nikema Williams (applause).
To Mayor Andre Dickens, thank you for welcoming me back (applause) to Atlanta.
And thank you to the great Stacey Abrams (applause) for your extraordinary leadership.
So, Georgia, it is so good to be back. And I am very clear, the path to the White House runs right through this state. (Applause.) And you all helped us win in 2020, and we going to do it again in 2024. (Applause.) Yes, we will. Yes, we will.
Harris: So, let’s get right down (laughs) (applause). I’m going to get into some business now. Okay? (Laughter.) I’m going to get into some business now. All right.
So, Georgia, as many of you know, before — and have a seat, if you have a chair. (Laughter.)
As many of you know, before I was elected vice president and before I was elected a United States senator, I was an elected attorney general and an elected district attorney. (Applause.) And before that, I was a courtroom prosecutor. (Applause.)
So, in those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds (applause): predators who abused women (applause), fraudsters who ripped off consumers (applause), cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain (applause). So, hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type. (Applause.) I know the type. And I have been dealing with people like him my entire career.
For example, as attorney general of California, I took on one of our country’s largest for-profit colleges that was scamming students. Well, Donald Trump ran a for-profit college that scammed students.
Audience: Booo.
Harris: As a prosecutor, I specialized in child sexual abuse cases and sexual abuse cases. Well, Trump was found liable for committing sexual abuse.
Audience: Booo.
Harris: And as an attorney general, I held the big Wall Street banks accountable for fraud. Donald Trump was just found guilty of fraud (applause) 34 counts.
So, in this —
Audience: Lock him up!
Harris: So, in this campaign —
Audience: Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
Harris: So, in this campaign, I will proudly put my record against his any day of the week (applause) any day of the week, including, for example, on the issue of immigration.
So, I was the attorney general of a border state. In that job, I walked underground tunnels between the United States and Mexico on that border with law enforcement officers. I went after transnational gangs, drug cartels, and human traffickers that came into our country illegally. I prosecuted them in case after case, and I won.
Donald Trump (applause) Donald Trump, on the other hand, has been talking a big game about securing our border, but he does not walk the walk (applause) or as my friend Quavo would say, he does not walk it like he talks it. (Applause.)
Where’s Quavo? (Laughs.)
So, look, our administration worked on the most significant border security bill in decades. Some of the most conservative Republicans in Washington, D.C., supported the bill. Even the Border Patrol endorsed it. It was all set to pass. But at the last minute, Trump directed his allies in the Senate to vote it down.
Audience: Booo.
Harris: Right.
He tanked, tanked the bipartisan deal because he thought it would help him win an election.
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