'Do we trust women?': Harris seizes on Beyoncé endorsement as campaign faces a gender divide

HOUSTON — “Do we trust women?” Vice President Kamala Harris asked a roaring crowd of 30,000 attendees at Shell Energy Stadium on Friday.

With just 11 days until the Nov. 5 election, Harris leaned into a cornerstone of her campaign: reproductive freedom. It’s a message that she’s championed as vice president after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. And now, it was a message she was leaning into as she is locked into a razor-thin race against Republican Donald Trump.

With Texas as the backdrop, Harris called on voters to head to the ballot box to vote for her — and other Democrats — to help restore abortion protections.

“You are ground zero in the fight for reproductive freedom," Harris told the crowd after global superstar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter introduced her to the crowd. "We must be loud, we must organize, we must mobilize, we must energize the people."

Beyoncé, a mother to three children, announced her support for Harris because she believes the vice president will bring progress to the country and give Americans the freedom to make their choice on their own bodies.

"I'm not here as a celebrity. I'm not here as a politician. I'm here as a mother," Beyoncé said, "A mother who cares deeply about the world my children and all of our children live in, a world where we have the freedom to control our bodies, a world where we're not divided."

But Harris’ message comes as the divide among men and women — from how they view the state of the nation to which candidate they’re voting for — has grown wider. A majority of women (53%) back Harris while 36% back Trump, according to the the latest USA TODAY/Suffolk University national poll. Those numbers are almost identical to the amount of men who support Trump over Harris, 53% to 37%.

And abortion and women’s rights don’t rank high with men — only 2% said it was their top issue — the poll found. For women, 17% said it was the most important policy. The economy and inflation were the most common top issue among both genders, but for a higher percentage of men.

President Joe Biden on Saturday told reporters that men who supported his candidacy and aren't supporting Harris are "making a mistake in my humble opinion."

Still in the sweltering and humid Texas heat hours before Harris took the stage, Gilbert Landry joined his wife, Karen, to witness Harris’ historic nomination. The couple waited for more than three hours with family and friends to make their way inside the stadium.

“This is the first time in my life that I’ve witnessed something this magnificent,” Gilbert Landry said.

Landry, 72, who was a member of the military and worked for the federal government for decades, is aware that Harris, and Democrats, have an issue with men. He said Trump is appealing to men, and young Black men in particular, because he portrays an opportunity message.

“There’s a lot of pressure on men. Period,” he said. “Especially men that don’t have the opportunities to stand up and do what they need to do for their own survivorship in this country.”

But he believes that men need to “do their own thing” and learn more about the government to make an informed decision on who to vote for.

Landry and his wife, Karen, also have two daughters and are concerned about the rights they have.

“I don’t think the policy that Trump put in place and signed off on saying that you don’t have say-so about your bodies,” Karen said about the overturning of Roe v. Wade. “I don’t agree with that.”

In another line snaking around the stadium, Houston resident Joel Avendano was waiting to enter with his partner. Avendano, 40, said he believes that Harris can unify the country.

“She’s here to unite us,” he said. That’s the main reason why men shouldn’t be afraid of voting for her. He also believes that women’s reproductive rights should matter to men.

“Even women issues are men’s issues,” he said.

Rueben Butler, 65, of Houston, stood inside the arena waiting to see Harris, who he already early voted for days ago.

Butler, donning a striped green and pink shirt to represent the sorority Harris is a part of, AKA, isn’t concerned with men moving away from the Democratic Party. The important thing to him is that they are informed about who they are voting for and the policies the candidates stand for.

“Everybody is entitled to their own opinion and their own choices,” he said. “But don’t make it because you didn’t do any research. Don’t just be ignorant about it.”

While Harris made her pitch to women not just in the stadium, but to those watching online, that it’s time to pick a candidate who will protect women’s health, she also called on their husbands, fathers and brothers to do the same.

“I see the men here, and I thank you,” Harris said during her rally. “The men in America don’t want this.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kamala Harris embraces women's issues with Beyoncé endorsement