Kamala Harris outlines her vision in Houston speech: ‘We are not going back’ (2024)

HOUSTON — Vice President Kamala Harris outlined her vision for the presidency Thursday, rallying the American Federation of Teachers union behind her agenda to make life better for students and teachers while advocating for strong unions.

Harris walked into the George R. Brown Convention Center to a raucous standing ovation from as many as 3,500 registered delegates and other visitors, with many holding “AFT votes Kamala Harris for president” signs or recording the moment with their phones.

Loud applause repeatedly interrupted Harris’ remarks.

“I told her earlier that her entry into the race has electrified this race and has electrified this hall,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said of Harris, warming up the crowd shortly before the vice president took the stage.

Harris thanked Weingarten for her support and AFT for being the first union to endorse her presidential bid in the wake of President Joe Biden’s decision Sunday to withdraw and back Harris as his replacement.

Harris, who called herself “a proud product of public education,” praised public service workers and higher education faculty, crediting them for doing “God’s work.” She also highlighted the role her first grade teacher, the late Frances Wilson, played in her life.

“It is because of Mrs. Wilson and so many teachers like her that I stand before you as vice president of the United States of America,” Harris said, “and that I am running to become president of the United States.”

Harris said America must choose “between two very different visions — one focused on the future, and the other focused on the past. And we are fighting for the future.”

She cast her vision as one in which Americans get ahead rather than get by, children don’t grow up in poverty, seniors can retire with dignity and every worker can join a union. That future, she continued, also includes affordable health care, child care with paid leave and continued reductions in student loan debt for millions of Americans.

“There are those who are really trying to take us backward,” she warned, invoking the Project 2025 policy agenda to loud boos. “Can you believe they put that thing in writing? Nine hundred pages in writing!”

She said former President Donald Trump wants to give tax breaks to big corporations and end the Affordable Care Act, returning America to a time when insurance companies could deny coverage to patients with preexisting conditions such as asthma, breast cancer and diabetes.

“We are not going back,” she said. “You may not be a union member, but thank unions for the five-day workweek. Thank unions for the eight-hour workday. Thank unions for sick leave and paid family leave and vacation time. The fact is unions helped build America’s middle class, and when unions are strong, America is strong.”

The vice president criticized “a full-on attack on hard-won, hard-fought freedoms,” including voting and LGBTQ rights, abortion access and gun violence restrictions.

“We want to ban assault weapons, and they want to ban books,” Harris said. “Can you imagine?”

She returned to the theme of Americans facing a choice about the kind of country they want to live in.

“A country of freedom, compassion and rule of law or a country of chaos, fear and hate?” she said. “The beauty of our democracy is that we each have the power to answer that question when we vote.”

Harris arrived in Houston on Wednesday afternoon, stopping by the city’s Emergency Operations Center for a briefing on Hurricane Beryl recovery efforts.

It was her second trip to Texas this month but her first since clinching enough unofficial support from delegates to win the nomination after Biden withdrew and endorsed her.

The vice president addressed her Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority sisters at their July 10 national convention in Dallas, where she announced a new proposal to target the U.S.’s high maternal mortality rate.

Ahead of Harris’ speech Thursday morning, U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz criticized the White House’s scheduling, including plans for Biden to be in Austin on Monday to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.

“Despite the fact that border security is one of the most important issues leading up to November, neither failed Border Czar Kamala Harris nor lame duck President Joe Biden are planning to stop anywhere near the border on their upcoming trips to Texas,” the Texas Republicans said in a statement.