Kamala Harris preparing for Trump declaring victory before vote count

Indian American Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris says she’s preparing for the possibility that her Republican rival former President Donald Trump declares victory before the votes are counted next month.

In an interview with NBC News Tuesday, the Vice President said that her campaign is prepared for the possibility that Trump tries to subvert the election, but that she’s focused on trying to beat him first.

“We will deal with election night and the days after as they come, and we have the resources and the expertise and the focus on that,” Harris said.

When pressed on the possibility that Trump will try to declare victory before the votes are counted and a winner is projected by the news networks and other media outlets, Harris said she is concerned.

READ: Kamala Harris says her ‘presidency will not be a continuation of Joe (October 17, 2024)

“This is a person, Donald Trump, who tried to undo the free and fair election, who still denies the will of the people who incited a violent mob to attack the United States Capitol, and 140 law enforcement officers were attacked, some who were killed. This is a serious matter,” Harris said, referring to the Jan 6 attack on the Capitol where Trump supporters tried to prevent the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.

“The American people are, at this point, two weeks out, being presented with a very, very serious decision about what will be the future of our country,” Harris added.

With just two weeks to go, Harris and Trump are locked in a dead heat, with polls showing a neck-and-neck race both nationally and in the seven key battleground states.

In response to another question Harris said that she has no doubt that the US was ready for a female president, insisting that Americans care more about what candidates can do to help them, rather than presidential contenders’ gender.

Asked whether she thought the country was ready for a woman, and a woman of color, to be in the Oval Office, she said, “Absolutely.”

“In terms of every walk of life of our country,” Harris said, “part of what is important in this election is really, not really turning the page – closing a chapter, on an era that suggests that Americans are divided.

“The vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us and what the American people want in their president is a president for all Americans,” she said.

Harris was asked why she hasn’t leaned into the historic nature of her candidacy – that she is a woman of color running for the presidency. “I’m clearly a woman. I don’t need to point that out to anyone,” Harris said with a laugh. “The point that most people really care about is: can you do the job, and do you have a plan to actually focus on them?”

READ: Kamala Harris only ‘patriotic choice’ for President: NYT (October 1, 2024)

“That is why I spend the majority of my time listening and then addressing the concerns, the challenges, the dreams, the ambitions and the aspirations of the American people,” Harris continued, saying that Americans deserve a president focused on them, “as opposed to a Donald Trump, who is constantly focused on himself”.

Asked about voters’ concerns about the economy with many blaming President Joe Biden for rising prices, Harris said her policies “will not be a continuation of the Biden administration” and with inflation, “I bring my own experiences, my own ideas to it.”

Harris said she would not “get into those hypotheticals” when asked if a pardon might be on the table for Trump. “I’m focused on the next 14 days.” When pressed if she thought a Trump pardon could help the country move forward together and be less divisive, Harris said, “Let me tell you what’s going to help us move on: I get elected to president of the United States.”