Vice President Harris called on young Americans to stay in the fight in the new year, six weeks after she conceded the 2024 election to President-elect Trump.
“The true test of our commitment is whether in the face of an obstacle, do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves?” Harris said in remarks in Prince George’s County, Md., on Tuesday.
“As we then approach the end of this year, many people have come up to me, telling me they feel tired, maybe even resigned. Folks have said to me that they’re not sure whether they have the strength, much less the desire, to stay in the fight,” she said. “But let me be very clear: No one can walk away. We must stay in the fight. Every one of us.”
Harris’s Maryland remarks were to high school and college students and recent graduates who are active in their local communities. The speech was one of a few public appearances she has made since the election, after which she traveled to Hawaii for vacation and then returned to Washington to swear in new senators and work the holiday party circuit with President Biden.
She said Tuesday she wanted to express her gratitude to the young Americans and to “reaffirm our shared commitment to the work ahead.”
“Young people, who are rightly impatient for change, I love that about you,” she said, echoing lines from her stump speech leading up to Election Day that aimed to appeal to young voters.
“You will not allow your spirit or your sense of purpose be defeated,” she added.
Harris won the majority of voters under 30 by 6 percentage points, which is a quarter of the margin Biden had against Trump in 2020, marking gains for the president-elect with the demographic.
Harris never mentioned Trump in her speech or spoke about the election, but she echoed more of her stump speech, including calling on Americans to continue to “fight for an economy that works not just for those at the top, but for working people.”
“Get some rest over the holidays, spend time with the people you love,” Harris said. “I urge you then after you have had some rest, in fact, I challenge you, to come back ready. Ready to chart our path to the future. Chin up, shoulders back, forever impatient for change.”
The vice president will move out of the Washington, D.C., residence in January so that Vice President-elect JD Vance can move in.
Democrats have speculated about her next move, including if she would run for governor of California to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in 2026. Harris was elected twice as California’s attorney general, in 2010 and 2014, and then won her Senate race in 2016, serving until she was selected as Biden’s running mate in 2020.
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