Kamala Harris visits Denver to tout reelection campaign, forewarn of dangers if Trump wins • Colorado Newsline

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to a crowd of supporters at a campaign event in Denver Tuesday, contrasting what a second Biden-Harris administration would look like with what former President Donald Trump has said he’d do if reelected.

“This state is so important,” Harris said. “Colorado is so important, and you will be part of deciding the future of our country.”

If reelected, Harris said the administration would push to raise the federal minimum wage, reinstate the federal right to abortion care, create a pathway to citizenship for immigrants and invest in affordable child care and housing.

Harris touted policy achievements from the administration of President Joe Biden, such as lowering the cost of insulin, canceling nearly $138 billion in student loan debt, and passing the first major gun safety law in nearly 30 years. She noted that gun violence is the leading cause of death of children in America.

“In my leadership as the head of the White House Council on Gun Violence Prevention, and in memory of Columbine, Aurora, Uvalde and Club Q, we continue and we all continue to fight for an assault weapons ban, universal background checks and red flag laws,” Harris said.

Colorado in 2019 adopted a red flag law, which allows local authorities to confiscate firearms from a potentially dangerous person. The law was expanded last year.

A few dozen protesters with the Colorado Palestine Coalition gathered outside ReelWorks Denver, in the RiNo neighborhood, both before and after Harris spoke there, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and chanting as event attendees left the venue.

Juan Franco, a Denver resident who works in social work, said he came to hear what the vice president had to say about housing inequality and the rising cost of living. As a fresh college graduate, he said it’s hard to break out in the adult world and live independently.

Franco said he’s glad to see the Biden-Harris campaign putting in effort with voters in Denver, showing that the candidates are not just expecting that Colorado voters will automatically support them. “They’re going to come out and earn it.”

“I’m hoping that not only are we able to reelect her and Joe Biden to see how they do in the office, but I’m hoping we’re able to really take the House and the Senate to make sure that they’re actually able to act on the promises they make,” Franco said.

Several local elected officials spoke to the crowd before Harris came out, highlighting policy achievements the Biden administration has supported in Colorado. Denver Mayor Mike Johnston said the city’s support for newcomers immigrating from across the southern border as well as its work to house more than 1,000 people experiencing homelessness would not have been possible without support from the president and vice president.

Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib said some of the big achievements Colorado has seen in recent years would not have been possible without the support of the Biden-Harris administration — particularly keeping Space Command in Colorado Springs and designating Camp Hale as a national monument.

“We’re gonna treat this election like it’s life or death because frankly, for too many of our friends and neighbors, it actually is,” Murib said.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said he welcomes the attention the state has received from the White House, noting that Biden recently visited Pueblo to tout “Bidenomics” and that he came to Boulder County following the devastation from the Marshall Fire. 

“We know that with President Biden and Vice President Harris, we can support a thriving Colorado now and in the future, tackling costs head on to make Colorado more affordable for everybody,” Polis, a Democrat, said. “We know that the president and vice president wake up every day to fight for all Americans — to bring us together rather than separate us, to elevate the best of us rather than to speak to the worst of us.”

People who spoke ahead of the vice president also included Denver City Council member Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez, former Denver Mayor and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Federico Peña and local business owner Ana Temu Otting.

On immigration, Harris said a bipartisan border security bill hasn’t passed only because Trump, the Republican front-runner in the presidential race, told House Republicans to reject the legislation.

“If he is reelected, the former president has openly vowed to carry out, quote, ‘the largest domestic deportation operation in American History,’” Harris said. “And that is not all: If he is reelected, the former president has openly said he intends to weaponize the Department of Justice against his enemies.”

Harris said Trump also shares openly that he is proud to have overturned Roe v. Wade, that he would make cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and that he admires dictators. The vice president told her audience that voters in the 2024 presidential election have to make a decision about the kind of country they want to live in.

“Do we want to live in a country of liberty, freedom and rule of law, or a country of disorder, fear and hate?” Harris said. “So Colorado, in this election let us together fight for our freedoms, for individuality, for self-determination, for dignity for all people.”

Harris shouted out Denver City Council member Amanda Sandoval, who introduced Harris as she came on stage, and also thanked Johnston and Polis for their support. Harris said Polis is a “true” and “powerful fighter for the people of Colorado and a great friend to the president and me.”

Other Colorado officials in attendance included Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser, Democratic Speaker of the House Julie McCluskie and Democratic state Reps. Tim Hernández, Sheila Lieder and Leslie Herod.

Biden won Colorado’s Super Tuesday primary with nearly 85% of the vote, while 7% went to “Noncommitted delegate,” the choice progressives who sought to protest Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza endorsed last-minute.

The presidential election will take place on Nov. 5.