Kamala Harris Hits L.A. for Star-Studded Fundraiser: “It’s Good to Be Home”
Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign rolled into Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon, marking her first major fundraiser in the city and bringing along a starry group of supporters.
The vice president hosted an afternoon event at the J.W. Marriott in downtown Los Angeles, with a lineup of celebrity speakers and guests that included Stevie Wonder, Sterling K. Brown, Lily Tomlin, Demi Lovato, Keegan-Michael Key and Jessica Alba; Alanis Morissette and Halle Bailey also performed during the fundraiser.
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Inside the event — press was only allowed in for Harris’ remarks — the presidential candidate took the stage to Beyoncé’s hit song “Freedom,” alongside an announcer declaring, “please welcome our next president of the United States” to a standing ovation from the crowd.
“Oh, it’s good to be home,” Harris responded to the applause; though she grew up in Oakland, she has deep ties to Los Angeles, still owning a home in Brentwood with her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff.
Harris shouted out the longtime support she’s gotten from the city in her long political career, noting, “I look around this room and there are people who have been with me here every step of the way” and later referred to herself as “a proud daughter of California.”
The Democratic nominee began by acknowledging there are just 37 days until Election Day. “I know who’s here and so many of us have been involved every four years, and every four years we say, ‘This is the one’; this here’s the one,” she continued. “This is probably the most important election in our lifetime, and it’s probably the most important in the life of our country.”
Harris also used much of her nearly 30-minute speech to speak about her opposition, saying, “In many ways Donald Trump is an unserious man, but the consequences of putting him back in the White House are extremely serious.” She also questioned of Project 2025, the controversial set of conservative policy proposals to be implemented by the next Republican president, “Can you believe they put that thing in writing?” and included a quip that while campaigning across the country, her “crowds are pretty big.”
“So much is on the line in this election, and this is not 2016 or 2020, it’s different for many people,” she added, acknowledging the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity this summer and musing, “Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.”
Harris wound down with repeating how close the election now is and how early voting has already begun in same states, saying, “Let me be clear, we are going to win” to massive applause. She continued, “We also have our work cut out for us. This race is as close as it could be and we are the underdog. We are the underdog, and I’m running like the underdog.”
The tickets to the event ranged from $500 to $250,000, with a number of Hollywood agents and publicists spotted in the crowd; Deadline reported over $28 million was raised at the fundraiser. After shaking hands and taking photos with some members of the crowd following her speech, Harris was off to her next stop, hitting a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday night.
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