In front of a staircase symbol of resistance, Kamala Harris closed her campaign this Monday with a call for the unity of the country, the promise of the search for “common ground” and a message of optimism.
Harris spoke in front of the so-called “Rocky Steps” of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, famous because the fictional boxer Rocky Balboa trains here. The place is one of the symbols of the city and the unexpected triumph after hard work. “It is a tribute to those who start behind and achieve victory,” said the Democratic candidate. In the background, a banner with the message “A President for all” (“a president for all”).
“I promise you that I will look for common ground, I promise that I will listen to those affected by the decisions I make, I promise that I will listen to the experts, I promise that I will listen to the people who disagree with me, because I do not believe that the people who disagree with me be the enemy with me,” he said.
In a speech in which she avoided mentioning her rival, Harris focused on “the opportunity to turn the page after a decade of hate and division.” “We finish as we started with optimism, with energy, with joy, knowing that people have the power to design our future and we can face any challenge together,” he said. “We are the promise of America… We are all in this together.”
In an atmosphere of tension and euphoria on the eve of election day, rapper will.i.am, singer and songwriter of the Black Eyed Peas, sang a new song dedicated to Harris: “Yes, she can” (“yes, she can”). Encouraged by Oprah Winfrey, tens of thousands of people chanted “Yes, she can,” reminiscent of Barack Obama’s campaign slogan in the 2008 presidential election. Winfrey wore a t-shirt with those same words: “Yes, she can.” .
Despite a trend towards Harris in the final days of the campaign, polls now show a very tight race with leads within the usual margins of error for polls. Pennsylvania is the state considered especially important because of how divided it is and the weight it has in terms of Electoral College votes, the sum of which must reach 270 to win the White House. For Harris it is especially important: no Democratic candidate has reached the White House without winning this state since Harry Truman in 1948.
Kamala knocks on your door
The vice president spent the day touring Pennsylvania, with stops that included knocking on doors to get out the vote and a meal at the Old San Juan Café, a Puerto Rican restaurant in Reading. “I’m very hungry. I don’t get to eat as often as I would like to,” Harris said.
Nearly half a million Puerto Ricans live in Pennsylvania, a key population in a state that was decided by 81,000 votes in favor of Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
More than 60% of Hispanic voters in Pennsylvania support Harris, according to a Univision poll, and a comedian’s comment at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally that Puerto Rico is “a garbage island” has been a mobilizing issue.
Harris arrived almost midnight in Philadelphia, where some 30,000 people had been waiting for her for hours on a cold autumn night enlivened by Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga and connections to the speeches and music from the rallies in six other key states. The mood fluctuated between excitement and nerves over a close election in a battle in two opposite directions in style and substance.
what you see
“There is a lot at stake in these elections. I am especially concerned about my reproductive freedoms, climate change, responsible gun ownership, tax cuts for billionaires… She is going to help the middle class,” says Maya Fuentes, a young engineer specializing in data protection. “It is also important for me, as a woman of color, to support potentially the first president who is also a woman of color. You can’t be what you can’t see. And she is a reminder to me and everyone else that we can be up there like her.”
Fuentes explains that her father is Puerto Rican and for her the contrast between Harris’ plans for Puerto Rico and “Madison Square Garden” is also important (“there is no need to explain it anymore,” she comments). She says that her father does not feel “as passionately” about what is at stake as she does and that she has had “uncomfortable conversations” with some family members and friends who do not share her opinion. “Of course, this has caused some arguments. But at the same time, there were some people who didn’t vote and I have convinced one or two to do so. That matters because every vote counts.”
She says she has never been as involved in an election as this year, although she has also previously participated in call-in sessions and door-to-door outreach to encourage participation. Fuentes describes herself as “anxious,” but hopeful.
Nerves and optimism
The nervous mood is repeated by asking the followers, the most active minority who has endured hours of waiting.
“I’m a little scared, but now seeing so many people around me makes me feel better,” says Violet Perloff, a 19-year-old college student who is voting for the first time in this election and is from Philadelphia.
The rights of women and migrants are repeated among the issues that most motivate those who await Harris tonight. Also the emotion for elections that seem different. There are nerves, some appeal to divine intervention and also optimism.
“We are the city where democracy began and democracy will vote,” says Tal Tigay, an Israeli-American developer and designer who has brought her 12-year-old daughter, Nina, and an equally young classmate, Ella, from Central City, a small town outside of Philadelphia. “It’s going to be a great moment for us,” she says, pointing to the two girls. “I feel good, I believe that women in this country will make it happen and lead the way.”
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