“We are the underdogs,” Vice President Harris told a crowd of more than 800 people in Massachusetts at her first fundraiser as the Democratic presidential candidate, urging support for her new campaign.
“We have a fight ahead of us and we are the underdogs,” she said. According to National Public Radio. “But this is a people-powered movement and we have momentum.”
Harris is estimated to have raised more than $1.4 million from the fundraiser, according to the Associated Press. When Biden was still the Democratic presidential nominee, the fundraiser was originally expected to bring in closer to $400,000.
according to Associated Press, Among those in attendance were Massachusetts Democratic Party heavyweights, including musician James Taylor, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, former Governor Deval Patrick and Rep. Richard Neal.
Harris has raised more than $120 million since becoming the presumptive nominee earlier this week, including more than $81 million in her first 24 hours as a candidate in the 2024 presidential election, a record.
Harris spoke at a fundraiser in Massachusetts while former President Trump crisscrossed the country to speak at a bitcoin conference in Nashville and a rally in Minnesota, where he called Harris a “far-left lunatic” and “worse than Biden.”
Trump specifically blamed Harris for “ruining San Francisco” while she was the city’s district attorney, and said he wanted to “defund the police.”
“You may have noticed that Donald Trump has told some outrageous lies about my record,” Harris said.
During the fundraiser, Harris also said the former president was trying to take the country backwards.
“Make no mistake: This campaign is not just about running against Donald Trump,” Harris said. Said. “We’re fighting to move our country forward, and Donald Trump is trying to move our country backwards.”
“I’ve dealt with people like him throughout my career,” she says. Added“So in this race, I say this seriously, I will proudly match my record against his record at any time.”
She also took specific aim at her running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who has been under a lot of negative press over the past week for his views on childfree people and women’s rights.
“Some of the things he and his running mate are saying are just bizarre,” she said. “I mean, that’s what you put in that box, right?”
Harris repeated an attack first made by her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat who called Trump and his running mate “wackos” in an MSNBC interview last week.
Her campaign has gone on the offensive, saying in press releases to the Trump campaign throughout the week that Trump “regrets” choosing Vance as his running mate.
