In two North Carolina stops, Kamala Harris promises to ‘turn the page’ on Trump

With the election on a 53-day countdown, VP Kamala Harris visits North Carolina to kick off her “New Way Forward” tour and deliver a vision on democracy freedoms, while warning against Trump’s authoritarian agenda and Project 2025.

Following her highly anticipated presidential debate with former President Donald Trump, tens of thousands of fans welcomed Vice President Kamala Harris to a pair of stops in North Carolina Thursday, marking the beginning of her “New Way Forward” tour to mobilize support, drive enthusiasm, and connect with voters in the Tar Heel state. 

Harris spoke to enthusiastic crowds in Charlotte and Greensboro, promising to “turn the page” on Trump. 

Her stops focused on her plans to improve the economy for the middle class, create affordable housing, and lower the cost of living on housing, health care, groceries, and more. Her address also touched on her plans to bolster reproductive rights and strengthen gun laws. On guns, she said she supports an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, and “red flag” laws, which would limit access to guns for people who authorities believe to be dangerous. 

Harris was joined by state and local leaders, including Gov. Roy Cooper, Attorney General and Democratic nominee for governor Josh Stein, and Democratic nominee for attorney general Jeff Jackson. Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and Greensboro Mayor Nancy B. Vaughan also spoke before the rallies in their respective cities, two of the largest in this important swing state. 

“It was the same old show,” said Harris, referencing Tuesday’s debate, in which she seemed to get the better of Trump. “That same tired playbook that we’ve heard for years, with no plans for how he would address the needs of the American people.” 

While calling out Trump’s refusal to rule out a national abortion ban, the vice president again recommitted to signing a national bill codifying Roe v. Wade into law if elected.

RELATED: Fact-checking Trump’s lies on abortion during the presidential debate

“When Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom, as president of the United States, I will proudly, proudly, sign it into law,” she said. 

Supporting the middle class and small businesses

As Harris turned her attention to the challenges facing small businesses, she emphasized their critical role in the economy and the need for concrete support. 

“You are part of the fabric of our communities,” Harris said. “And you are the backbone of America’s economy, the backbone. So I have a plan for you.”

The vice president outlined a proposal that would build what she calls an “opportunity economy,” aimed at revitalizing small businesses, a sector that has faced significant hurdles, especially in the wake of the pandemic. Her plan, she said, includes a substantial increase in the startup tax credit, raising it from $5,000 to $50,000.

READ MORE: Durham Black business owners stand behind Harris’ vision for small business growth

“Because I understand not everybody, like the person that was on the stage with me the other night, gets handed $400 million on a silver platter and then files for bankruptcy six times,” Harris said Thursday, referring to money Trump was given over time by his father, a real estate developer in New York.

Throughout her campaign, the vice president has also said she wants to surpass the Biden-Harris administration’s record-breaking 19 million new small business applications since President Joe Biden took office. Harris promised at least 25 million new applications during her first term as president if she wins.

These proposals are designed to provide a significant boost to new businesses, especially in underserved communities where many people struggle with initial startup costs and other financial barriers.

Harris also promised to work with the private sector to build 3 million new homes and to take on price gouging and corporations when they take advantage of people in need. Under her plan, she said more than 100 million Americans will get a tax cut and thousands of dollars back, including $6,000 during the first year of a child’s life. 

“For young parents, knowing in that critical stage of your child’s development, you might need a little help, not just to get by, but to get ahead,” Harris said during her Greensboro rally. “And I will always put the middle class and working families first. I know where I came from.”

RELATED: Kamala Harris wants to make it easier to afford housing in North Carolina

Project 2025 and its threats

Harris drew a sharp contrast between her vision and what she described as Trump’s regressive approach. 

She warned voters of Project 2025, the over 900-page agenda created by Republicans for a second Trump term that would give billionaires and big corporations extreme tax cuts and roll back support for working families and small business owners. 

“They call it Project 2025,” she said. “A plan that will dismantle the very programs we’ve worked so hard to build to support small businesses, public schools, and families across this country.”

Harris also warned about Trump’s desire to end the Affordable Care Act, without providing alternative options for Americans who need health care. 

Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025 since its unpopularity with voters became apparent, but the plan was crafted by more than 140 former members of his administration.

‘I believe in public school students’

Before Harris’ address in Greensboro, Mo Green, the Democratic nominee for NC superintendent of public instruction, took the stage to support Harris’ education policies, emphasizing his own platform leading up to elections, and warned the audience what Project 2025 would do to public education. 

READ MORE: 2024 election is a battle for the ‘soul of public education’ Mo Green says

“I believe in public school students, so does Vice President Harris,” Green said. “The same cannot be said for Donald Trump, whose Project 2025 agenda would defund us [and] the Department of Education.”

Green is the former superintendent of Guilford County Schools in Greensboro. He criticized his opponent, Michelle Morrow, for her stance on defunding the North Carolina State Board of Public Education and her controversial views on seeing public schools as “indoctrination centers,” her attendance at the January 6 insurrection with her children, and her calls for the execution of prominent Democratic political figures. 

In contrast, Green praised Harris for her unwavering support for public education and her advocacy for teachers and students alike.

RELATED: Project 2025 has Trump’s fingerprints all over it, NC Democrats say

What North Carolinians were saying

Prior to the rallies in Charlotte and Greensboro, Cardinal & Pine spoke with numerous North Carolinians who came out to support Harris. Watch the videos here. 

UNC-Greensboro freshman Aeris Phelan said their number one priority for Harris is to undo the overturning of Roe v. Wade and reinstate abortion rights for all women across the United States. 

Phelan, who identifies as a part of the LGBTQ+ community, also said they’re excited about the vice president’s support for LGBTQ+ people too.

“That definitely means a lot to me being able to live as myself, truly and freely and being able to marry who I want,” Phelan said before the Greensboro rally. “And if I would want any kind of gender surgeries or anything like that as a non-binary person, that means a lot to me personally. I would love to not be persecuted for being who I am.”

In Charlotte, Cardinal & Pine spoke with Carlos Franco, a resident of Shelby, NC. Franco, who was born under the communist regime in Cuba, said that Trump’s Project 2025 comes from the same playbook.

“While some people may think I was born under communism, I was born under Project 2025,” Franco said. “When you have the government telling you what you can read, what you can listen to, how you can think, and who you can love.”

Franco is supporting the Harris-Walz ticket to prevent an authoritarian government in the US. 

Donald Trump has a history of praising dictators and authoritarian leaders, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un of North Korea, Xi Jinping of China, and Viktor Orbán of Hungary. 

Franco fears Project 2025 would help Trump follow in their footsteps. 

“I did not flee Cuba to end up under another authoritarian government. That’s the reason I’m voting for Harris-Walz,” Franco emphasized.

Harris hit at Trump’s authoritarian tendencies during her remarks in North Carolina Thursday, including his past pledge to “be a dictator on day one,” and a past post to Truth Social where the former president repeated his lie that the 2020 election was stolen and called for the “termination” of rules, “even those found in the Constitution.” 

“Somebody who suggests we should terminate the Constitution of the United States should never again stand behind the seal of the President of the United States,” Harris said.

With 53 days until Election Day, many of the speakers at both rallies, supporters and voters, have made it clear that under Harris’ leadership, the country would move forward and not backward, and reject Trump’s plans—or “concept of plans,” which Harris said would only serve to undermine economic progress, weaken social safety nets, and destabilize communities.

RELATED: Need to register to vote in North Carolina? Our guide’s got you covered.