ATLANTA (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris told a cheering, boisterous, packed Atlanta arena on Tuesday that the next 98 days would be a fight, but they’d win come November, as she taunted Donald Trump for wavering on whether he’d show up for their upcoming debate.
“The momentum in this race is shifting,” the likely nominee said. “And there are signs Donald Trump is feeling it.”
In the state that delivered Joe Biden his narrowest victory margin in 2020, Harris pulled off what has been a signature Trump event: A big, loud rally full of supporters cheering her name, as she derided their policies as backward, outdated and dangerous.
Trump earlier said he’d debate Harris, but is now questioning the value of a meetup and saying he “probably” will debate her, but he “can also make a case for not doing it.”
Harris seized on it. “So he won’t debate me, but he and his running mate have a lot to say about me,” she said. “And by the way, don’t you find some of their stuff to just be plain weird.”
“Well Donald,” she said, addressing him head-on. “I do hope you’ll reconsider. Meet me on the debate stage … because as the saying goes, if you’ve got something to say, say it to my face.” Trump has suggested the Sept. 10 debate on ABC News should be moved to a different network, calling ABC “fake news.”
Her pick of a running mate is also expected by early next week, when Harris plans to begin a seven-stop tour of battleground states to hold rallies alongside her vice presidential nominee.
On Tuesday, the roughly 8,000-capacity basketball arena at Georgia State University was filled to its rafters with voters waving signs, dancing to the Harris campaign soundtrack and a performance by Megan Thee Stallion. Such an atmosphere would not have been possible just 10 days ago, with the party reeling over whether the 81-year-old Biden would remain in the race after a dismal performance magnified concerns about his age and abilities and ultimately ended his campaign.
“This is like Barack Obama 2008 on steroids for me,” said Mildred Hobson Doss, a 59-year-old who came downtown from suburban Lilburn. “I would have voted for President Biden again. But we are ready.”
