Vice President Kamala Harris dropped in to Los Angeles this weekend and topped the bill at a big-money fundraiser in town, though organizers failed to release any information about the event to media reporters.
Singers Alanis Morissette and Halle Bailey were scheduled to perform at the fundraiser sometime Sunday afternoon, according to the Deadline website, which attributed the information to Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, a Harris campaign co-chair.
The trip to L.A. was Harris’ first since replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.
According to an invitation obtained by Deadline, tickets ranged from $500 per person to as high as $1 million to receive four tickets, attend a reception with Harris, lunch and a photo.
Proceeds will benefit the Harris Victory Fund, which is a joint committee that includes Harris’ campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties.
Harris arrived at LAX on Saturday after speaking for nearly 30 minutes at a sold-out fundraiser at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco where tickets were up to $250,000 each.
She told the gathering that she would restore Roe v. Wade if elected and attacked the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, over his “concept” for health care and what she described as his lack of plans to meet the needs of the American people, according to media reports.
“For every story we hear of women suffering under Trump Abortion Bans, there are so many more untold,” Harris posted on X, formerly Twitter. “To those women, I say: You are not alone. We see you, and we are here with you.”
While in Arizona Friday, Harris made a high-profile visit to the U.S.-Mexico border. She is expected to host a rally in Las Vegas on Sunday night, with a return to Washington set for Monday night.
“This race is as close as it could possibly be,” she said Saturday to a raucous crowd of donors. “This is a margin-of-error race.”
“I reject the false choice that we must decide between securing our border and creating a system of immigration that is safe, orderly, and humane.,” Harris noted on X. “We can and we must do both.”
While Harris stumped in the West, Trump escalated his personal attacks on his Democratic rival on Sunday by repeating an insult that she was “mentally impaired” while also saying she should be “impeached and prosecuted.”
Trump’s rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, took on similar themes as an event one day earlier that he described himself as a “dark speech.” He told a cheering crowd that Harris was responsible for an “invasion” at the U.S.-Mexico border and “she should be impeached and prosecuted for her actions.”
“Crooked Joe Biden became mentally impaired,” he added. “Sad. But lying Kamala Harris, honestly, I believe she was born that way. There’s something wrong with Kamala. And I just don’t know what it is but there is definitely something missing. And you know what, everybody knows it.”
With just over a month until the election, Trump is intensifying his use of personal and offensive attacks, even as some Republicans say they’d prefer he’d stick to the issues.
His allies have pushed him publicly and privately to talk instead about the economy, immigration and other concerns.
“I just think the better course to take is to prosecute the case that her policies are destroying the country,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday when asked about Trump’s comments. “They’re crazy liberal.”
After Trump’s remarks, the Harris campaign declined to comment on his personal attacks. A campaign spokesperson, Sarafina Chitika, said in a statement that Trump offered “darkness” to voters rather than inspiration.
The American Association of People with Disabilities, a nonpartisan advocacy group, criticized Trump’s comments as both inaccurate and harmful.
“Trump holds the ableist, false belief that if a person has a disability, they are less human and less worthy of dignity,” said Maria Town, the group’s president and CEO, in a statement. “Presidential history indicates that we’ve had many presidents who had disabilities.”
On Monday, Harris was expected to discuss racial identity, police brutality and more on the sports and pop culture podcast “All the Smoke,” which is hosted by two retired NBA players.
The nearly hourlong interview with Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, will be released Monday and aligns with her pattern of speaking with nontraditional media and their niche audiences. Appearing on “All the Smoke” could help her reach more Black men, a base that has been increasingly courted by former President Donald Trump.
“In previous times, someone would have gone to a Black barbershop or a soul food restaurant,” said Todd Boyd, a race and pop culture scholar and professor at the University of Southern California. “But these days, certain podcasts appeal to certain audience members.”
Kobe Bryant, Snoop Dogg and Will Smith have all been interviewed on “All the Smoke,” which began in 2019 and has more than 1 million YouTube subscribers. “All the Smoke,” which has become one of the more recognizable athlete-led podcasts in a saturated marketplace, typically brings on guests from sports and entertainment to discuss topics in those areas.
The show’s hosts, Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, spent portions of their long NBA careers with the Golden State Warriors while Harris was the district attorney of San Francisco. The vice president, who was born in Oakland, where the Warriors played for 47 seasons, has been a vocal fan of the team, and coach Steve Kerr endorsed her at the Democratic National Convention.
“To step into this political realm and understand the importance and how some people are either all the way in it or all the way out of it, I’m really interested to see what our fans have to say,” Barnes said in an interview with The New York Times.
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The Associated Press, City News Service and the New York Times contributed to this report