Vice Presidential Pool Reports of July 2, 2024

Hi all, I'll be the pool reporter for today's Biden-Harris fundraiser in San francisco.

Report 1

Pool arrived at private fundraiser at a high-rise in SF's Nob Hill at 1:25, where we are holding. More information TK from campaign, which I'll include in second report.

VP Harris started speaking around 1:50 pm for 20 minutes to a group of about 35 people in the living room of Susan Lowenberg's (Lowenberg Corp/real estate) high-rise Nob Hill home.

The group consisted of long-time donors and supporters stretching back to her first campaign, for San Francisco district attorney in 2002/3.
Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff was also in attendance.

The VP reminisced on how the group supported her in that DA bid, raising a "whopping $250,000" in just a couple of months as she launched her campaign.

"It's been extraordinary," she said.

Guests were served a fresh salad with chicken, and the white linened tables were decorated with bright bouquets of yellow, orange and red tulips.

The VP seemed relaxed and happy to be among old friends in her home city, frequently walking out from behind the podium to engage directly with the crowd.

Harris said the election is about "the promise of America."

She acknowledged the "two elephants in the room," aka the debate and Trump, to light laughter.

"The debate, as the president said, not his finest hour. We all know that," she said. But she added that the election cannot be decided by "one day in June," because "the stakes are so high."

Other things remain true, the vice president said, and that includes "Trump is a liar."

Harris said she has gone on more than 60 trips across the country this year, touting the administration's accomplishments.

That includes capping the price of insulin for some people and erasing student loan debt, which she said has helped teachers, nurses and firefighters in America who were assisted by the loan forgiveness program.

"These are the kinds of things throughout the country when we are traveling, when I am talking to people, they stand and applaud," she said.

Harris also mentioned the administration's investments in green energy and technology and scientific developments.

She said there is a "split screen" difference between the current administration and old, and that "history will show…What we have done stands up against some of the strongest, historically strongest, administrations ever."

But the challenge, she joked, is that the admin's list of accomplishments "reads like a CVS receipt."

"The other thing we have to realize, momentum is on our side," Harris said, before referencing the "red wave" pundits anticipated in 2022 that turned out to be more of a "red drip" with issues like reproductive freedoms on the ballot."

"There is an awareness among the American people that there is a full-on attack, an intentional attack against hard-fought, hard-won freedoms and liberties," she said.

Harris raised a memory from 2004, when she was DA and Gov. Gavin Newsom was mayor of San Francisco, and the two Democrats started issuing same-sex marriage licenses.

She compared that initiative to today's book bans, the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision and criminalization of doctors and political leaders who are "attempting to deny or white-wash history."

"These are the things that are happening in our country," she said.

Those stakes became "even higher" with the supreme court's decision yesterday on presidential immunity.

"And let's not forget, Donald Trump has openly said he admires dictators and intends to be a dictator on day one," she said.

"We gotta fight, and we know how to fight," she said. "When we fight, we win."

Harris closed on America's long-standing force of stability around the world.

Pool departed at 2:10.