Vice President Kamala Harris rallies troops, raises funds on Illinois trip: 'Time to roll up our sleeves'
Before heading to Chicago, Vice President Kamala Harris visited Milwaukee, where she discussed economic opportunity at Discovery World Science and Technology Museum.
Tannen Maury/AFP via Getty Images
Vice President Kamala Harris sought to rally Democrats — and raise money — for the upcoming election on a visit to the Chicago area Thursday.
“It's time to roll up our sleeves,” she told a group of about 100 people at a fundraiser in north suburban Glencoe. “We are not fighting against anything, we are fighting for something.”
Harris spoke for about 15 minutes, touching on abortion rights and what's at stake in the upcoming election.
“Every cycle, we have talked about the critical importance of the presidential election,” Harris said. “This one, I absolutely believe, is the most consequential of any we have been involved in, in recent times.”
Her appearance raised more than $670,000 for the Biden Victory Fund, according to Lauren Rosenthal, chair of Invest to Elect Illinois, which organized the event.
The Biden-Harris ticket is set to be nominated at the Democratic National Convention this summer in Chicago. During Harris's remarks, she did not use the name of the presumptive Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, whom Biden defeated in 2020. But Harris did allude to the “chaos” of Trump's four years in the White House.
The event was hosted by Karen Citow, a member of Invest to Elect Illinois, and her husband, Jonathan Citow, at their Glencoe home. Guests snacked on veggie rolls and steak kebabs on a covered terrace overlooking Lake Michigan.
Harris offered a hopeful perspective on the 2024 election. "We are winning,” she said, repeatedly, citing successes for reproductive rights in state elections.
Attendees paid from $1,500 to $50,000 to attend the event, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by the Sun-Times.
“We are being challenged as Americans, to fight for our country and to realize, and if nothing made that more clear than the Dobbs decision, that we can't take anything for granted, ever, if we're not prepared to fight.”
Before the stop in Glencoe, Harris was in Milwaukee Thursday morning, where she spoke with small business owners as part of her Economic Opportunity Tour.
Contributing: Lynn Sweet