By DAN MERICA
WASHINGTON (AP) — Protesters can create awkward moments for presidential candidates. They interrupt, heckle and, oftentimes, knock a candidate off track.
But Vice President Kamala Harris is trying a new strategy late in the campaign to turn what would otherwise be awkward interactions into moments of energy used to rally her supporters and subtly drive her message against her Republican opponent, Donald Trump.
At all three of the Democratic nominee’s rallies on Wednesday — in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — pro-Palestinian protesters broke in with chants, banners, and even a whistle to criticize Harris for how she and President Joe Biden have handled the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
Gaza protesters have long targeted Harris’ events, and Biden’s when he was still the party’s nominee, hoping to use the disturbances to draw media attention to their cause. They have often prompted prolonged pauses while security officers remove the demonstrators or create uncomfortable interactions.
After three months as a candidate, and as she tries to stick to her carefully honed closing message in the final week of the campaign, Harris’ latest tactic aims to both validate protester concerns and use them as a proof point in her case against the former president.
When a protester in North Carolina yelled that Harris was “disrespecting the Palestinian community,” Harris used the moment to attack Trump.
“This is the thing, we know we’re actually fighting for a democracy,” Harris said in Raleigh. “Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe that people who disagree with you are the enemy.”
Hours later, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Harris used a similar protest to embrace democracy.
“Look, I will repeat it, we are fighting for a democracy, we love our democracy,” she said. “It could be complicated at times, but it is the best system in the world.”
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at the PA Farm Show Complex and Expo Center, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
When she faced protests at the end of her night in Wisconsin, Harris used a familiar callback to what she said when then-Vice President Mike Pence attempted to interrupt her during their debate in 2020.
“We all want the war in Gaza to end and to get the hostages out and I will do everything in my power to make it heard and known,” Harris said. “And everyone has a right to be heard, but right now I am speaking.”
The moments, at each stop, energized the large crowds at Harris’ events, drowning out the protesters and turning into a way for her supporters to come together.
In Wisconsin, the response was so loud and sustained that a second group with a banner wasn’t loud enough to disrupt the event.
Despite the way the protests were drowned out on Wednesday, some pro-Palestinian figures opposed to Harris see her focus on democracy and her acknowledgment that those protesting have the right to be heard as a …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
