AVENTURA, Fla. – Sen. Kamala Harris, the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee, made the most of her first campaign trip to South Florida as Joe Biden’s running mate in the 2020 Election.
After the private plane carrying Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, landed at the Signature Flight Support commercial base, which operates at Miami International Airport, around 11:30 a.m., a waiting van took them to the first stop in Doral. There, she mixed and mingled with Hispanic voters at restaurant Amaize, taking some arepas to go.
Next it was off to Miami Gardens, where she was greeted by the Florida Memorial University Marching Band. Far away and socially distanced from the band and speaking into a megaphone, Harris said: “You are truly the future of our country. You are the leaders who are going to encourage and push us to be our best selves.”
Inside FMU and billed as a community conversation with Harris and Congresswoman Frederica Wilson and Miami Shores Mayor Crystal Wagar, local Black leaders voiced concern about a host of issues from health care and housing to social justice, economic inequities and COVID-19.
Harris addressed COVID-19 by calling out Donald Trump after tapes surfaced of his conversations with author Bob Woodward that detailed that the President knew of the dangers of COVID-19 but had not revealed the seriousness to the American public.
“This is the same man, Donald Trump, who for days, weeks, if not months thereafter, called it a hoax, and dismissed the seriousness of it to the point that he suggested that people should not wear masks,” Harris said.
Meanwhile, Harris' husband hosted his own community conversation with Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava and rabbis to discuss issues important to the Jewish community at the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center.
Emhoff, who is Jewish, told the group that he was humbled to be meeting with them as his first solo appearance.
“This campaign is rooted in the same Jewish values and ideals that we have all talked about this afternoon. It’s attention to basic fairness,” Emhoff said.