Former Vice President Kamala Harris, before a theater full of supporters in Los Angeles, struck a tone of hope, saying that although the present time may seem dark for those gathered, it’s important to continue fighting for a better America.
“Our spirit cannot be defeated with an election or by an individual or a circumstance. ‘Cause then they’re winning. And the fight does take a while, and we’re in it and we can’t walk away from it,” Harris said during an appearance at The Wiltern theater on Monday night, Sept. 29.
“Know times like this require us to fight fire with fire,” the former vice president added.
The Los Angeles event was the third stop in her multi-city tour to promote her book, “107 Days,” which was released last week. The title references the length of her unsuccessful presidential campaign last year after then-President Joe Biden ended his bid for reelection.
Monday’s sold-out event, dubbed “A Conversation with Kamala Harris,” was moderated by Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan, hosts of the podcast “I’ve Had It.”
During the roughly hour-long conversation, Harris said she predicted most of what has occurred since President Donald Trump resumed office in January. However, she said, she did not anticipate the “capitulation” by some universities, law firms and media companies, which she felt had given in to the president’s demands.
“I always believed that if push came to shove, the titans of industry would be among the guardians of our democracy. And I have been deeply disappointed,” she said.
Unlike her first tour stop last week in New York City, where pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted her talk, Monday’s event was absent such interruptions.
Instead, the few times that members of the audience yelled out, they shouted lines like, “Madame President,” and, at the end of the evening, chanted “MVP! MVP!”
If any attendees of Monday’s event had hoped to hear Harris share her plans for the future — including whether she intends to run for president again — they left without any firm answers.
The former vice president, who in July announced she would not mount a bid to become California’s next governor, did not offer specifics about her future plans.
For now, Harris, who will turn 61 on Oct. 20, has 15 more speaking engagements lined up to promote her book, including stops in Houston and San Francisco this weekend. She’s scheduled to speak again at The Wiltern in Los Angeles on Oct. 28.
As of Monday, nearly all of the events, including the L.A. stop in October, were listed on the book’s website as sold out.
Check back for updates.