Hundreds of Georgetown University students attended a rally at the National Mall to hear Vice President Kamala Harris deliver the closing remarks for her presidential campaign Oct. 29.
During the rally, Harris focused her speech on drawing a contrast between herself and former President Trump, saying the country needs to move past disunity and polarization.
“The United States of America is the greatest idea humanity ever devised, a nation big enough to encompass all our dreams, strong enough to withstand any fracture or fissure between us and fearless enough to imagine a future of possibilities,” Harris said at the rally. “Let us fight for this beautiful country we love.”
The rally comes as the election season nears its end and Harris seeks to make a final appeal to voters in her bid for president. Harris took the stage at the Ellipse, with crowds reaching as far back as the Washington Monument and an illuminated White House as her backdrop.
By 7:20 p.m., Harris stood in front of a crowd of as many as 75,000, addressing a variety of her policy positions, including restoring reproductive rights and lowering costs for workers.
“I believe in the fundamental freedom of Americans to make decisions about their own bodies and not have their government tell them what to do,” Harris said. “I will fight to restore what Donald Trump and his hand-selected Supreme Court justices took away from the women of America.”
Noah Vinogradov (SFS ’25), who attended the rally, said Harris’s comments on striving toward the founding ideals of the country strengthened his support for her campaign.
“I already voted, but my vote was a solid anti-Trump vote and I think as of last night, my vote was a real pro-Kamala vote,” Vinogradov told The Hoya. “I’m really excited to see what she’ll do as president.”
Vinogradov said the differences between the two candidates inspired him.
“The contrast between Trump, who talks about enemies within and who stirred that mob at the Ellipse, and a message of unity, a message of, ‘I’m going to bring together people from all over the country,’ is so stark to me. I really loved it,” Vinogradov said.
During a rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump spoke to thousands of supporters and urged them to “fight like hell” as the U.S. Congress met to certify Biden’s win, inciting what became an insurrection as the crowd marched to the Capitol attempting to stop the certification process.
Catherine Hiemstra (SFS ’27), a Michigan voter who attended the rally, said that seeing Harris speak about unifying the country at the same setting Trump had used was symbolic.
“Having a candidate who was conclusively saying she is going to be a president for all Americans and that it doesn’t have to be the way it has been over the last four years, that was something that was really refreshing,” Hiemstra told The Hoya.
Asher Maxwell (CAS ’26), a co-chair of the Georgetown University College Democrats (GUCD), said the rally was a unique opportunity to attend as the election nears.
“We rarely get to see a lot of the campaigning that goes into elections, because most of the time that happens in the swing states,” Maxwell told The Hoya. “I think that’s what made this rally special, is that Georgetown students got to participate in a rally and see what a presidential campaign looks like up close.”
Maxwell said roughly 350 Georgetown students signed up to attend the rally with GUCD, though more may have signed up independently.
Elinor Clark (CAS ’27), GUCD’s communications director, said the rally was an opportunity for GUCD members to support Harris and celebrate their monthslong campaigning efforts.
“The biggest thing was making sure that everybody had signed up for it and getting people excited to turn out,” Clark told The Hoya. “We passed out stickers, we did face paint. Going to these types of things with friends is always much more fun and it’s a celebration of the hard work that we’ve put in over the past year — campaigning, knocking doors, making phone calls for Harris.”
Reilly Souther (CAS ’27), the advocacy director of GUCD, said she felt Harris’ supporters on campus had a responsibility to show their support for her campaign.
“It’s important for young people to show that we’re coming out to support Kamala Harris in the election,” Souther told The Hoya. “Georgetown is pretty politically involved as a school and this is a historic election, so of course we should be there.”
Evan Cornell (CAS ’27), executive director of Youth for Harris-Walz, a national youth movement advocating for Harris’ election, said the energy at the rally was memorable.
“D.C. is already full of history,” Cornell told The Hoya. “But as history is being made here in the city, I think it’s really important that we have this front row seat, so I think we need to take it every chance we get.”
Vinogradov said attending the rally allowed him to see the value of a Georgetown education firsthand.
“In five years, you’re not going to remember most of the times you went to Lau to write papers,” Vinogradov said. “You will remember going to the Ellipse to watch Kamala Harris give her closing arguments — you will remember that for the rest of your life.”