‘I’m Speaking’: Kamala Harris’ Top Debate Moments

Sometimes, as they say, less can be more.

So, when it comes to Vice President Kamala Harris squaring off against Donald Trump at their first presidential debate on Tuesday night, just because he has participated in more of them than she has doesn’t at all mean that he has the edge.

MORE: Black Voter Registration Rates Surge Amid Kamala Harris’ Historic Candidacy, Data Shows

The mainstream narrative has made a huge deal out of Trump’s experience on the debate stage, but let’s not act like Harris herself doesn’t already have an established footprint in such arenas.

Harris has risen from being the district attorney in San Francisco to the attorney general of the state of California to a U.S. Senator to now the Vice President of the United States. Along that way, she, too, has had to participate in debates. And not just political ones, either, but also as a prosecutor.

So anyone who’s counting out Harris from her debate against Trump just off sheer experience may want to rethink their positions.

Perhaps the below selection of Vice President Kamala Harris’ top debate moments will help sway the doubters.

‘America doesn’t want to witness a food fight’

During a Democratic debate in 2019, when Harris ran for president but before President Joe Biden selected her as his running mate, the candidates were on stage in. state of complete disarray as they argued with each other while it was Harris’ time to speak.

Harris quickly refereed the madness while also managing to hammer home a point that had been missing from the disclosure about the economy.

“You guys, America doesn’t want to witness a food fight. They want to know how we’re going to put food on their tables,” Harris told her fellow candidates as the audience erupted in applause signaling their agreement with the sentiment.

She then expertly pivoted the attention back to the Democrats’ common target, Trump, showing a command of the issue while making a case to elect a new president.

Trump would never.

‘If you’re not Native American, we’re all immigrants’

 

During the California Senate race in 2016, Harris demonstrated her knowledge and experience on the contentious topic of immigration, something for which she as vice president has been charged with exploring the root causes.

After former Congresswoman and fellow U.S. Senate candidate Loretta Sanchez called for immigration reform in part by touting her own Hispanic heritage, Harris responded with an irrefutable point that many Americans still can’t bring themselves to admit.

“First of all, if you’re not Native American, we’re all immigrants, so let’s start there,” Harris said before calling out the other candidates on the stage for “scapegoating immigrants,” which she added “is not in the best interest of our country.”

It’s a position she held nearly a decade ago and one she continues to hold in 2024 in a rare demonstration of political consistency.

On the issue of race

In 2019, as Democrats running for president duked it out at a primary debate, Harris demanded the respect of her all-white cast of candidates on the stage when the debate turned to the topic of race and everybody was speaking except for her.

“As the only Black person on this stage, I would like to speak on the issue of race,” Harris told a stuttering and stammering Chuck Todd, the now-former host of NBC’s Meet The Press who co-moderated the debate.

Harris then proceeded to hold court and wax poetic about her personal experiences in the face of racism, which she accurately said was “an issue that is still not being talked about truthfully.”

Kamala Harris: "As the only black person on this stage, I would like to speak on the issue of race" #DemDebate2 pic.twitter.com/hRgoaSTL47

— Variety (@Variety) June 28, 2019

Harris rips Tulsi Gabbard to Russian shreds

At a separate Democratic debate in 2019, Harris went for the jugular of then-Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, who has long been suspected of being a Russian plant within her political party while secretly serving Republicans.

Harris articulated those same suspicions to the American public during the debate in an example of someone who puts country over party. Gabbard, notably, later publicly denounced the Democratic Party, proving Harris’ suspicions correct.

Tulsi Gabbard was never a Democrat and had spent the entirety of her time criticizing the Democratic Party and cozied up with Donald Trump and his cronies. Remember that then Senator Kamala Harris now @VP called her out on that in 2019. #BidenHarris https://t.co/0IBAFhz6Zs pic.twitter.com/gppUO8W3h8

— Democratic Politics (@politicalopo) October 11, 2022

‘I’m speaking’

In an example of how Harris refuses to accept disrespect of any kind, she made then-Vice President Mike Pence talk to the hand during their debate in Utah in 2020.

Harris was right in the middle of calling out the Trump-Pence administration for initially hiding the truth about the COVID-19 pandemic from the American public when Pence moved to interrupt her.

Bad move.

“Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking,” Harris said while raising her left hand to Pence in a gesture that is widely known among African American communities, in particular.

In fact, it was so nice that she had to do it twice.

In the same debate, as the vice presidential candidates were debating the state of the economy, Pence tried to cut off Harris mid-sentence.

“I’m speaking,” Harris politely said through a steely smile.

In that instance, Pence kept talking, and Harris let him, until she didn’t.

“If you don’t mind letting me finish,” Harris told Pence before looking into the camera and appealing directly to the American people about their feelings toward the state of a coronavirus-stricken economy.

Since Donald Trump is running from debating Kamala Harris, now is a good time to show you why: pic.twitter.com/6cvjxwJ2qI

— Aaron Parnas (@AaronParnas) August 26, 2024

Those two moments in the same debate showed Harris’ intolerance for lies while prioritizing American citizens.

The first and perhaps only debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump is scheduled to take place on Tuesday at 9 p.m. on CNN.

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