Vice President Kamala Harris Visits Eastern PA Tuesday

READING, PA — Vice President Kamala Harris visited southeastern Pennsylvania on Tuesday as part of a event promoting National Voter Registration Day.

Harris spent time at Reading Area Community College in Berks County, holding a moderated conversation with actress Annie Gonzalez and touching on topics of democracy and voting rights.

"Our nation and democracy are stronger when everyone participates, and weaker when anyone is left out," Harris said. "On National Voter Registration Day, we must continue protecting the fundamental right to vote."

The visit comes as the 2024 campaign heats up on both sides of the aisle, with mounting rhetoric from both frontrunning former President Donald Trump and a slew of challengers headlined by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Pennsylvania figures once again to be a potentially election-deciding swing state next year, with the latest polls showing Biden and Trump running neck and neck both nationally and in the Keystone State.

Harris, for her part, has consistently trailed Trump in polls of a hypothetical matchup. Analysts have long speculated that President Biden would decline to run for a second term and hand off the baton to the younger Harris, but that was seemingly squashed with Biden's reelection campaign announcement earlier this year.

In addition to touching on voting, Harris and Gonzalez discussed climate change, LGBTQ+ rights, gun safety, and reproductive freedoms Tuesday in Reading.

"It is truly an honor to have Vice President Harris visit our beautiful campus," RACC President Dr. Susan Looney said in a statement. "I am very proud to have such an opportunity to showcase the great work that our faculty and staff do for our students and the Berks County community."

The visit to RACC, a primarily Hispanic-serving institution, also marked the third stop on the vice president's "Fight for Our Freedoms" college tour. She plans on visiting around a dozen campuses, focusing on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, community colleges, and Hispanic-serving schools like Reading.