HOUSTON — Vice President Kamala Harris told Republicans to “bring it on” in what she described as a “fight for our most fundamental freedoms” as she spoke to the American Federation of Teachers on Thursday. It was her latest stop in her whirlwind debut as the Democrats’ likely presidential nominee after President Biden abruptly dropped his bid for a second term at the beginning of the week. Harris praised unions as the foundation of the middle class, and she criticized Republicans for their views on gun control and public education.
“They have the nerve to tell teachers to strap on a gun in the classroom while they refuse to pass common-sense gun safety laws,” she said. Harris added that “we want to ban assault weapons, and they want to ban books.” Advertisement The American Federation of Teachers was the first labor union to formally endorse Harris, and its president Randi Weingarten said she “has electrified this race.
” Harris intends to travel aggressively to spread her message and rally voters. The outreach occurs as the retooled Biden campaign, now under Harris’s control, figures out its strategy for generating turnout and maximizing her time in a 100-plus day sprint to the November election against Republican Donald Trump. Harris challenged Trump to a debate, saying the former president was “backpedaling” away from a previously scheduled debate with Biden on Sept.
10. “I’m ready. Let’s go,” she told reporters at Joint Base Andrews a.