ERIK S LESSER/EPA-EFE/Shuttersto
GREENSBORO, NC — Hours before her boss’ high-stakes press conference in the capital, Vice President Kamala Harris admitted at a campaign rally the Democratic ticket is under fire — even as she avoided addressing the increasing calls in her own party for President Biden to withdraw.
“We are today 117 days out from the election,” she told the crowd of around 700 Thursday in the gymnasium of James B. Dudley High School, two-thirds filled to capacity with one set of bleachers empty behind the stage.
“This here? This is the one. The most existential, consequential and important election of our lifetime. Now we always knew that this election will be tough, and these past few days have been a reminder,” Harris conceded. “But one thing we know about our president, Joe Biden, is that he is a fighter.”
The veep visited Greensboro, NC, the same week First Lady Jill Biden campaigned in the state, which her husband lost to former President Donald Trump by fewer than 75,000 votes in 2020.
Most of Harris’ rhetoric was predictable — blasting the Trump-Pence administration on the usual issues such as health care, gun rights and abortion -— yet she made some uncanny remarks near the event’s end.
The veep praised her Republican predecessor Mike Pence, who’s become persona non grata in many conservative and Trump-loyalist circles.
Despite Pence’s hand in delivering many of the Trump administration’s policy victories, Harris appeared to forgive him, saying that the “Supreme Court says the laws do not apply to Donald Trump, the extremists in Congress continue to bow down to him, and people like Mike Pence are not around to stand up to him. Our last line of defense is the ballot box.”
Other speakers at the swing-state event included North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan and state Senate Deputy Minority Leader Gladys Robinson.
Robinson said the state “must deliver” for the Democratic ticket.
“President Biden and Vice President Harris have sent nearly 1 million jobs to our state,” she said.
“Trump “talks about something called ‘black jobs.’ What are those?”
Cooper and Vaughn also focused on the wins they believe the administration has brought to the Tar Heel State.
Both mentioned jobs, health care and infrastructure.
Event attendee Megan Colucci, 60, also brought up that last issue.
“The infrastructure bill has been very helpful to our county. Davidson County, right down the road. We’ve got three new businesses coming in — one’s got railroads, runs rebar. I don’t know the others,” she told The Post.
When asked if Harris should replace Biden at the top of the ticket, she said, “I’d like them to stay, but I think the wind is blowing in the opposite direction, and that would be all right with me too.”
Of course, not all North Carolinians were thrilled about the veep’s visit.
“As the Vice President tours the state, North Carolinians remain burdened by ‘Bidenomics.’ To loosely quote Harris, inflation did not just fall out of a coconut tree. The pain we are feeling at the pump and the grocery store, the anxiety hardworking Americans feel as they live paycheck-to-paycheck, is the result of choices this administration made. This is the very real economic context in which North Carolinians are struggling,” Americans for Prosperity North Carolina Director Tyler Voigt said.
“But Biden, Harris, and their allies in the House and Senate are trying to run away from the consequences of the ‘Bidenomics’ agenda as they also tell Americans that things are getting better.”
Anti-Israel demonstrators greeted Harris outside the school, demanding the Biden administration to“end the siege on Gaza now.”
A few protesters were ejected near the beginning of Harris’ speech as most of the crowd chanted, “Four more years!”
The rally was Harris’ sixth trip to this swing state this year and 14th visit since taking office.