Kamala Harris decries Trump shooting, defends abortion rights in Michigan

• Vice President Kamala Harris talked gun control, abortion while at a campaign event in a Kalamazoo aerospace museum Wednesday
• Harris stressed politics should be a “vigorous and civil exchange of idea,” decrying an assassination attempt against Donald Trump
• This is Harris’ fourth visit to Michigan this year as concern continues to grow over whether President Joe Biden is fit enough for reelection

KALAMAZOO — Voters must reject political violence but still engage in a “vigorous and civil exchange of ideas” over what’s at stake in the fall election, including abortion rights, Vice President Kamala Harris told Democratic supporters Wednesday in Kalamazoo.

Harris began the event with her first public comments since a Saturday assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, a Republican running to unseat her and President Joe Biden. 

She called the shooting a “heinous, horrible and cowardly act.”

While U.S. history “has been scarred by political violence,” such violence “is never acceptable,” Harris said, noting she and her husband “said a prayer for (Trump’s) well-being” as soon as they heard the news. 

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Harris also offered condolences to the family of those injured during the shooting, as well as to the family of Corey Comperatore, the 50-year-old firefighter who died while shielding his family amid the shooting. 

“Our thoughts immediately turned to Melania (Trump), who we’ve met, and her family,” Harris added. “The bottom line is: No one should have to fear for the safety of a loved one if they serve in public office.” 

The campaign event was Harris’ fourth visit to Michigan this year and came less than a week after Biden spoke to voters at a rally in Detroit. 

It also came amid calls for Biden to step down from the Democratic ticket, with many — including several Michigan politicians — arguing the president is no longer fit to serve another four years. 

Seeking inspiration

That wasn’t a common sentiment among attendees at the Harris event, including Paw Paw resident Kathleen Ann Murphy. 

A retired teacher and member of the Van Buren Township Democratic Party, Murphy said she’s “loved Joe Biden for years” despite occasionally disagreeing with him on certain policy issues.

While voters may disagree on how Biden presents himself, “when it comes down to it, we will all be working for whoever's on that ticket,” Murphy told Bridge.

“If people are going to choose to vote for this other guy,” she said, alluding to Trump, “it’s going to change our country.”

Once a bastion of Republican politics, Kalamazoo County has trended Democratic in recent decades and has backed a Democratic candidate in every presidential election since 1992. 

Jessyca Olvera, 28, of Kalamazoo, said she had previously only caught snippets of Harris remarks online but came to Wednesday’s event seeking inspiration about the Nov. 5 presidential election. 

A self-described leftist, Olvera said the last several election cycles have “felt like I constantly have to vote against things” rather than having the chance to vote for a candidate she genuinely supports.

Either way, “I’m going to vote for the Democratic representative,” she told Bridge, “whether it’s Biden or someone else.” 

Abortion rights

Harris, a potential Biden replacement should he leave the ticket, did not address the president’s age or mental fitness during her remarks Wednesday. She also did not take questions from reporters at Kalamazoo’s Air Zoo Aerospace & Science Museum.

Instead, Harris spoke at length about potential attacks on reproductive health care should Trump win a second term in the White House this November.

The vice president hammered new Trump running mate JD Vance, Ohio’s Republican junior senator, who has maintained a hardline stance on abortions, opposing them for any reason — including rape and incest — unless to save the life of the mother. 

“He’s told us over and over again where he is on the subject,” Harris said of Trump, who has waffled for months on whether he supports a national abortion ban. 

In recent months, Trump has said he thinks laws governing abortion should be left to the states. And in a June debate, he said he "will not block" access to abortion pills if he is elected to a second term. 

The Republican National Convention this week adopted a platform backed by Trump that asserts support for "families and life" but stops short of calling for a nationwide ban on abortion. Instead, states are "free" to pass abortion restrictions, the platform states.

But Harris argued that calling abortion a state's rights issue is "gaslighting" by Trump, whose three appointees on the U.S. Supreme Court ended longstanding national protections by overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022. 

While Michigan voters subsequently approved a ballot measure adding abortion rights to the state constitution, Harris noted that 21 states now have abortion bans or restrictions more aggressive than Roe.

Trump to return

Republicans criticized Harris ahead of the Michigan campaign event. 

“Her visit will highlight all the reasons why the Biden-Harris agenda is wrong for Michigan — open borders, skyrocketing inflation, and the destruction of our auto jobs,” Victoria LaCivita, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign's Michigan arm, said in a statement.

"Michiganders will see a sharp contrast between Vice President Harris and J.D. Vance this week quite clearly,” she added.

Trump and Vance are both scheduled to speak at a rally in Grand Rapids Saturday, the pair’s first public visit since officially receiving the party’s nomination this week.

It’s also expected to be Trump’s first public rally since the failed assassination attempt against him in Pennsylvania on Saturday.