In her first major speech since failing to win the White House in November, former Vice President Kamala Harris called for Americans to come together and speak out against the actions of the Trump administration. 

The former vice president described the current political climate as an articulation of President Donald Trump and his allies’ vision for the country, saying  “the checks and balances upon which we have historically relied have begun to buckle” and warning that results in “a constitutional crisis.” 

“The one power that must not fail is the voice of the people,” she said. 

Harris spoke in San Francisco on Wednesday at the annual gala for Emerge, an organization that recruits and trains women to run for public office. Emerge was founded in response to Harris’ first bid for public office in 2005, when she ran for and won the race to serve as San Francisco’s attorney general. 

For 15 minutes, Harris reiterated many of the overarching themes of her presidential campaign trail last year, including the importance of protecting America’s democratic principles and the American people’s power and potential to rally together to fight back against injustice. 

“Here in our country, power ultimately lies not with the wealthy or well-connected, but with all of us, with we the people,” Harris said.

Harris also talked about the ways in which the first 100 days of Trump’s second presidential term have run counter to these ideals — and the response by many Americans already speaking out in protest. 

“Instead of an administration working to advance America’s highest ideals, we are witnessing the wholesale abandonment of those ideals,” Harris said. “And what we are also seeing in these last 14 weeks is Americans using their voice and showing their courage. We all know that President Trump and his administration and their allies are counting on the notion that if they make some people afraid, it will have a chilling effect on others. But what they have overlooked is that fear is not the only thing that’s contagious. Courage is contagious.”

Harris directly criticized Trump’s economic agenda, singling out the tariffs on foreign goods that have resulted in a drop in value for the American dollar and an increase in daily costs for common household goods. 

She also called attention to the recent moves by the new administration “to detain and disappear American citizens or anyone without due process.” The Trump administration has been dealt repeated judicial rebukes in some high-profile cases, including that of immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, and Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder and pro-Palestinian activist who was detained in March. 

Making a reference to the viral “circle of trust” video showing a herd of elephants at the San Diego Zoo protecting one another during a recent earthquake in Southern California, Harris called on Americans to do as the elephants do: “Don’t scatter. The instinct has to be to immediately find and connect with each other and to know that the circle will be strong.”

Harris ended with a call to action, encouraging people to organize, mobilize and run for office. “To everyone, let’s lock in.”
Speculation remains high regarding whether Harris will run to succeed term-limited Gavin Newsom as governor of California. Harris has reportedly told advisers and friends that she will make a decision by August.