Former Vice President Kamala Harris delivered her first major speech since leaving office at Emerge America’s 20th anniversary gala in San Francisco on Wednesday night. The organization’s mission is to recruit, train, and connect Democratic women from diverse backgrounds who aspire to run for public office.
While her remarks—by turns angry and coquettish—may have energized her base, which, according to one former Harris advisor, is “clamoring for her voice right now,” they served as a stark reminder to the rest of us why she lost the election.
Harris was clearly thrilled to be back among loyal supporters. Her signature grin and familiar cackle were on full display. In a moment that drew chuckles from the crowd, she even gave a warm shoutout to her husband, ‘Dougie.’ It was widely rumored that Harris attributed her defeat to the damaging revelations about her husband’s past that surfaced during the campaign.
She began by noting that her speech coincided with an important milestone: the 100th day of President Donald Trump’s time in office. She said, “I’ll leave it to others to give a full accounting.” She then went on to give a full accounting.
Expressing her fervent belief in the Constitution and American ideals, she said, “Instead of the administration working to advance America’s highest ideals, we are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of those ideals.”
She called the current state of the U.S. economy “the greatest man-made economic crisis in modern presidential history.” This came after the Biden administration presided over 9.1% inflation, soaring interest rates that priced first-time buyers out of the housing market, and two consecutive periods of negative GDP growth, which most economists would call a recession. But I digress.
She continued, “What we are in fact witnessing is a high-velocity event. Where a vessel is being used for the swift implementation of an agenda that has been decades in the making. An agenda to slash public education, an agenda to shrink government and then to privatize its services, all while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest among us.”
“Right now, we are living in their vision for America,” Harris said. “It’s an agenda, a narrow, self-serving vision of America where they punish truth tellers, favor loyalists cashing in on their power, and leave everyone to fend for themselves, all while abandoning allies and retreating from the world.”
Addressing the current commotion over the deportation of an illegal alien and likely MS-13 gang member, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, she declared, “It is not okay to detain and to disappear American citizens or anyone without due process.”
Naturally, Harris was encouraged by the results of the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, “the courage of judges to uphold the rule of law,” and the “universities that are defying unconstitutional demands that threaten the pursuit of truth and academic independence.”
And she warned of a coming constitutional crisis, “if Congress fails to do its part, or if the courts fail to do their part, or if both do their part, but the president defies them anyway.”
Harris rattled off a list of Democratic leaders who really inspire her: “Corey Booker, Chris Van Hollen, Chris Murphy, Jasmine Crockett, Maxwell Frost, AOC, and Bernie Sanders.” In all likelihood, she’ll be competing against some of these very figures for the party’s presidential nomination in a few years. One wonders how inspiring she’ll find them then.
She ended her speech with a metaphor involving the behavior of elephants at the San Diego Zoo during a recent earthquake.
“In fact, please allow me, friends, to digress for a moment. Okay. It’s kind of dark in here, but I’m going to ask for a show of hands. Who saw that video from a couple of weeks ago, the one of the elephants at the San Diego Zoo during the earthquake? Google it if you haven’t seen it. So that scene has been on my mind. Everyone asks me what you’ve been thinking about these days. Well…,” she said, still grinning and cackling. [A clip of the elephants can be viewed here.]
“For those who haven’t seen it, here those elephants were, and as soon as they felt the earth shaking beneath their feet, they got in a circle and stood next to each other to protect the most vulnerable,” she explained. “Think about it. What a powerful metaphor.”
The problem was that most people in the audience were unfamiliar with the story – until she went in for the kill. “Because we know those who try to incite fear are most effective when they divide and conquer. When they separate the herd, when they try to make everyone think they are alone. But in the face of crisis, the lesson is don’t, don’t scatter.”
She added, “The instinct has to be to immediately find and connect with each other, and to know that the circle will be stronger.”
While I don’t agree with Harris’s remarks—and her delivery at times sparked some serious secondhand embarrassment—she nonetheless landed some sharp blows on Republicans. Instead of doubling down on defending the due process rights of gang members and rogue judges, these are exactly the kinds of attacks Democrats should be making if they hope to win in 2026. Republicans would be wise to pay attention.
Harris has been absent from the national spotlight for nearly six months, and perhaps time had softened my memory of just how weak a candidate she truly is. But watching her speak again, I’m more convinced than ever: if, by some improbable twist of fate, she secures the nomination, the third time will definitely not be the charm. And I think her party knows that too.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn or X.
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