MIAMI — Amid polls showing concerns about her boss’ age, Vice President Kamala Harris ventured to a Republican stronghold in Miami-Dade County to ask the youngest of voters to cast ballots and engage in the political process.
“Not only is it an extension of your ability to make a difference, not only is it about you expressing your voice in the many ways you can but also understand what you’re up against in terms of some people that are scared when you exercise your voice, and therefore try to make it more difficult for you to vote,” Harris said during a 45-minute moderated discussion at Florida International University on Thursday afternoon.
The state university is in the county’s western suburbs that are predominantly GOP communities, and largely populated by Cuban-American voters. It is the second time in two months that Harris has visited the Sunshine Statde. She was in Jacksonville in July.
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During that visit, Harris took Gov. Ron DeSantis to task over changes in the way the state teaches Black history, particularly slavery. A topic that had DeSantis still on the defensive in Wednesday’s GOP presidential debate in California.
But speaking at FIU, Harris made her pitch to students and young voters, some who recently turned 18, by discussing issues like gun control, abortion and the environment.
“So we are up for the challenge and we will not allow anybody to silence us, and voting is one way to make sure that you reduce those numbers who are trying to do just that,” the vice president said, later referencing rules in Florida she said make it more difficult for ex-felons to vote.
Harris said she understands the America in which the electorate’s youngest participants have grown up in — going to school during the COVID-19 pandemic, witnessing the death of George Floyd that sparked nationwide Black Lives Matter protests and regular school shooting drills, to which she referenced the Parkland high school and Pulse nightclub shootings in Florida.
“I think that your generation is one of the most spectacular, special that we have seen in a long time,” Harris said. “What I also know about you as leaders, at this particular moment in time, is you are not sitting around waiting for other people to get this right. You are prepared to lead.”
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Harris’ talk before 1,500 students was moderated by rapper Fat Joe and “Hamilton” and “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” actor Anthony Ramos. Her visit was a part of a nationwide college tour as patr of President Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign to raise participation among young voters.
Students chosen by the moderators posed questioned on how the Biden administration would support minority communities, abortion rights and environmental issues like climate change.
Lauren Waldon, 18, said hearing the vice president say she cared about abortion rights, gun control and climate change meant a lot to her.
Waldon, a freshman majoring in psychology, said she has grown up in the era of school shooting preparation drills, and volunteering at beach cleanups with her mother.
Sensing fear at school and seeing how the climate crisis is evolving, Waldon now says she wants to do her part by voting.
“Now, I can actually vote,” Waldon said. “I will be voting for somebody I think should run this country with other people in mind, with everybody in mind.”
A pivotal point that drew approval from the crowd was when Harris said women should not be told that “they don’t have the authority to decide what happens to their body.”
“In this state, they just did a six-week ban. That tells me that a lot of these folks don’t even know how women’s bodies work,” Harris said, drawing strong cheers from the crowd. “Most of them don’t even know they’re pregnant at six weeks, come on.”
Ciera Jean, an 18-year-old hospitality freshman, pointed out that LGBTQ+ rights were important to her, and she registered as a Democrat because she believes Republicans weren’t “supportive” of this community or respectful of abortion rights.
“She was pretty much like, it doesn’t matter where you’re from, your gender, your sexuality. That was like really important to me,” Jean said of Harris.
Yet 2024 won’t be Brandon Santos’ first time voting. Santos, 23, said he cared mostly about human rights issues, specifically immigration, and the climate crisis.
“This is our only planet, this is our only home,” Santos said. “We should maintain it.”
Knowing the crowd, knowing FIU, and talking diversity
Harris pointed out that she knew she was speaking to a diverse group of students since Miami is home to a diverse Hispanic population, including Cubans, Venezuelans and Colombians. And FIU is recognized for bestowing nation-leading numbers of graduate degrees to Hispanic students.
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Harris is no stranger to diversity, as she pointed out. She is the first female vice president of the United States, also the first African-American and first Asian-American vice president.
That’s why she told students that it’s important to recognize that even if you’re in a room where nobody “looks like you,” that you’re not alone, she said.
“When I look at these attempts to attack DEI — diversity, equity and inclusion,” Harris said. “Let’s be really clear what they’re up to. They’re trying to say that that’s a bad word, that’s a bad phrase.”
That was a shot at DeSantis and Republican lawmakers who made removal of DEI programs and policies in Florida state colleges and universities a key battleground in their so-called “war on woke.”
“They’re trying to turn it against people who understand exactly why it is important to focus on, and be alert and awake to what is happening and to speak honestly about it, with the goal only of solutions that are based in equity and fairness,” Harris said.
Stephany Matat is a politics reporter forThe Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY-Florida network. Reach her at smatat@pbpost.com. Support local journalism:Subscribe today.