Harris warns of the danger of Trump’s dictator vow in appeal to Latino voters

LAS VEGAS — Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday presented the stakes of the 2024 election to Latino voters — many of whom fled authoritarian regimes — as a fight for the future of American democracy in the face of Donald Trump’s vow to be a dictator on his first day in office.

Harris faced intense questions during a Univision town hall with undecided Latino voters who asked about an array of issues, including the Biden administration’s response to devastating hurricanes, immigration policy, reproductive rights and the high cost of living. And one of her most impassioned responses came when she talked about the stark difference between her and the former president.

“Donald Trump has said he will be a dictator on Day One. Many people come from backgrounds and countries of origin, and we know what that means when you’re talking about someone who wants to be president of the United States and wants to be a dictator, and what that means in terms of taking freedoms from their people,” she said, referring to Trump’s previous pledge that he wouldn’t be a dictator “except for on Day One.”

The vice president was responding to a question from Mario Sigbaum, a 70-year-old independent voter from Santa Monica, Calif., who shared that the circumstances surrounding President Joe Biden’s decision to quit the race in July and Harris’s ascension as the Democratic nominee had him leaning toward voting for Trump. Sigbaum said he remains undecided; he pressed Harris to clarify the process leading up to her becoming the nominee.

The vice president acknowledged that it was “unprecedented,” adding that “this is an unusual time where we are literally having a choice as the American people about choosing a path either that is about rule of law, democracy or something that is about admiring dictators and autocracy.”

Trump has frequently praised authoritarian leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

“Do we support a democracy and the Constitution of the United States, or are we going to go on the path of somebody who is a sore loser and lost the election in 2020 and tried to have a violent mob undo it?” she asked in describing the choice before voters.

She cited what happened in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol as thousands of Trump supporters stormed the building to stop the certification of Biden’s win. Harris said that was one reason many Republicans who once backed Trump are supporting her candidacy, calling what happened following the last presidential election “a bridge too far” for some people.

The town hall, billed as “Noticias Univision Presents: Latinos Ask, Kamala Harris Responds,” was held at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, where Harris fielded questions before several dozen Latino voters from different parts of the country. The event is part of a Sun Belt swing for the Democratic presidential nominee, who also planned to hold a rally in Phoenix.

Separately, as the candidates focus on the battleground states in the final weeks of the campaign, former president Barack Obama was campaigning for Harris at a rally in Pittsburgh on Thursday night.

Trump is scheduled to participate in his own Univision town hall next week in Miami.

The participation of both candidates in Univision’s town halls underscores the fight for Latino voters this election.

Latinos were part of the coalition that helped elect Biden in 2020, but the president had been facing an erosion in support among these voters before he ended his reelection bid in late July. Harris’s candidacy offered a boost of energy among Latinos that has been visible in polls, but she still hasn’t reached the level of support she needs and lags behind past Democratic candidates’ performances.

A new Pew Research Center poll found Harris leading Trump among Latinos by 16 percentage points, as she garnered 54 percent of registered Hispanic voters to Trump’s 38 percent. In 2020, exit polls showed Biden winning this group by 33 points, with 65 percent of Latinos backing him compared with 32 percent who voted for Trump.

Harris tackled the issue of immigration and border security multiple times during the town hall. Immigration has been an issue where she and Biden have been closely scrutinized by both liberals and conservatives. She argued that the United States can both secure the border and offer pathways to citizenship for immigrants already here.

“I think it is a false choice for people who say you do one or the other. I believe we must do both. I believe we can do both. And my pledge to you is to work on that. The solutions are in hand. We need the political will,” she said.

In one emotional moment, Harris faced a question from a 40-year-old woman, who lives in Las Vegas, who cried as she talked about how her mother recently died and never was able to secure legal status. The vice president acknowledged that her story was an example of the “real people who are suffering because of an inability to put solutions in front of politics.” At the end of the town hall, Harris was seen holding the woman’s hand and talking to her before she exited the venue.

Harris also discussed reproductive rights, noting that there were probably many people in the audience and some tuning in at home who do not believe in abortion access.

“The point that I’m making is not about changing their mind about what’s right for them and their family. It’s simply saying the government shouldn’t be making this decision,” she said.

Harris also directly decried misinformation that has been spreading related to the federal government’s response to hurricanes that hit Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

“People are playing political games suggesting that resources and support is only going to certain people based on a political agenda, and this is just not accurate,” Harris said in response to a question from an undecided voter from Tampa, which was affected by both Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Trump has falsely claimed that the Biden administration took money for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to aid hurricane victims to use on “illegal migrants.”

The town hall wrapped up with a voter asking Harris to name three virtues of Trump. The vice president laughed after she thanked the voter for the question.

“I know that the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us, and part of what pains me is the approach that frankly Donald Trump and some others have taken, which is to suggest that it’s us versus them … and having Americans point fingers at each other, using language that’s belittling people,” she said. “I don’t think that’s healthy for our nation, and I don’t admire that.”

She paused before offering one virtue.

“I think Donald Trump loves his family, and I think that’s very important. I think family is one of the most important things that we can prioritize. But I don’t really know him, to be honest with you. I only met him one time — on the debate stage … so I don’t really have much more to offer you,” Harris said.