LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Vice President Kamala Harris acknowledged a tough couple of weeks for her boss President Joe Biden, but quickly framed the election as a battle between democracy and authoritarianism in a short Las Vegas speech Tuesday.
Harris spoke for 16 minutes at an event to unveil a new program aimed at Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander voters, with an enthusiastic response from the crowd in a ballroom at the Resorts World hotel-casino.
WATCH: Vice President addresses Las Vegas voters
Calling this year's election "the most existential, consequential and important election of our lifetime," Harris gave a nod to the fallout from Biden's disastrous June 27 debate performance. The debate led several top Democrats in Congress to call for Biden to quit, including Rep. Jarrold Nader, D-N.Y.
On Tuesday, the New York Times repeated its call for Biden to drop out, editorializing that top Democrats needed to pressure Biden to leave the race. Meanwhile, a news story focused on Harris's loyalty to Biden at the same time as she may need to step out on her own as the potential top of the ticket.
"The past few days have been a reminder that running for president of the United States is never easy," said Harris. "But the one thing we know about our president, Joe Biden, is that he is a fighter. And he is the first to say when you get knocked down, you get back up."
Harris warned that former President Donald Trump, if re-elected in November, would try to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which Republicans have tried unsuccessfully to kill scores of times.
She noted that the Biden administration has secured lower prescription drug prices, and is working toward a rule that would disallow medical debt to be used in factoring a person's credit rating. And, she said, the Biden administration has worked to forgive millions in student debt.
Harris attacked Trump, noting his New York felony convictions related to hush money payments to an adult film actress, saying he'd weaponize the Justice Department to punish his enemies and tying him to Project 2025, a lengthy policy document that outlines conservative approaches to government personnel and policy, including getting rid of the Department of Education and reclassifying federal workers to eliminate some job protections.
In response, the Trump campaign criticized Harris over prices, immigration and taxes.
"Kamala Harris once again has chosen to visit Las Vegas despite poor poll numbers, most recently from Democrat firm OpenLabs, spelling disaster for Joe Biden following his abysmal debate performance," said Halee Dobbins, the Trump campaign's Nevada state communications director. "Because of out-of-control spending by the Biden-Harris administration, Nevadans have seen soaring prices, record-high gas prices, and wages that have not kept up with the pace of inflation. The proclaimed ‘Border Czar’ [Harris] has done nothing but make our border less safe and secure, making every state a border state. Nevada voters know Joe Biden and Kamala can’t handle the economy or our immigration system and are ready for a return to President Trump's pro-growth, pro-border security, low-tax agenda."
Before Harris spoke, television host and writer Padma Lakshmi announced the campaign's newest initiative — dubbed "AANHPIs for Biden-Harris."
"As the fastest-growing voting bloc, they are poised to play a pivotal role in protecting the progress made under the Biden-Harris administration and defeating Donald Trump's racist and toxic agenda at the ballot box once again," the campaign said in a statement.
The campaign will include outreach in various languages, special events geared toward the community and dedicated staff, according to the campaign.
The program pleased at least one local, Terry Chi, who said the turnout on Tuesday showed Asian American voters are not to be discounted.
"It's so important that we get out the vote," Chi said. "I think our community is always considered silent or marginalized. Our vote doesn't count. But in fact this crowd shows you that our vote will count in this next election and we have to show up for the Biden-Harris campaign."
Tuesday marked Harris's sixth visit to Las Vegas in 2024 alone. Next week, Biden will be in town to give speeches to the NAACP national convention and to Unidos US, a group of Latino voters.
Biden won Nevada narrowly in 2020, but polls this year have him losing to Trump, 48 percent to 42.8 percent. Nevada is one of seven swing states that are critical to either party's path to the White House.
