Former Vice President Kamala Harris stumbled over her opening remarks Thursday at a campaign event for Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), briefly calling him “the next” senator from Georgia before correcting herself.
“Let’s hear it for Jon Ossoff,” Harris said as she opened the small rally for Ossoff’s campaign volunteers.
“The next … and continuing senator from the state of Georgia,” she added, momentarily suggesting that Ossoff was not already serving in the Senate.
Harris, who has campaigned for Democrats in Nevada, Mississippi, New Hampshire and Wisconsin in recent days, used her speech to attack the Trump administration over its “reckless tariffs,” a “war nobody asked for” and cuts to Medicaid and food assistance.
She also praised the campaign’s grassroots volunteers, mixing political encouragement with broader advice about life and leadership during her brief address.
“I came here today to thank you in advance for all you will do in your lifetime,” Harris told the crowd, describing the volunteers as “fellow members of the Role Model Club.”
“The Role Model Club, we’re all in it, and in the Role Model Club sometimes it can be weighty,” she said.
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“But the thing about being a role model,” Harris continued, “is in the process of pursuing your excellence, with all the hard work that requires, you are lifting up folks you don’t even know.”
“You are lifting up folks who may never know your name or mine, folks you may never meet, but because they are aware of what you are and what you do, they are forever inspired, and that is a great gift you are giving our country.”
After delivering the pep talk, Harris appeared ready to end her remarks. But when Ossoff’s supporters urged her to continue, she returned to the microphone.
“OK, I got some more advice,” she said with a laugh. “In your careers, there will probably be many moments when you are in a room where you are the only person like you. The only person who looks like you, the only person who has had your life experience, but one of the things I require you to remember when you walk in that room: I require you to be you.”
Earlier Thursday, President Trump held a campaign rally in Rock Hill, S.C., backing Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in his competitive reelection race against Democratic challenger Annie Andrews.
Vice President JD Vance, meanwhile, headlined a midterm rally in Weatherford, Texas, in support of Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton.
The campaign events took place as early voting was set to conclude Friday in several states.
