Senate Candidate Kamala Harris Visits Democratic Headquarters in Downtown Long Beach

Photos by Stephanie Perez.

About 100 supporters of senatorial candidate Kamala Harris waited outside of the Long Beach Democratic headquarters at Pine Avenue and 4th Street Monday afternoon for a chance to see the candidate herself, as she made a few final stops on the campaign trail.

“I am here to ask my Long Beach family to please keep doing what you’ve been doing, but over these next 24 plus hours do twice as much to make sure we get everyone we know to the polls,” Harris said.

From selfies and pictures to interacting with voters, Kamala Harris called each of her supporters a leader. She encouraged them not to celebrate, but instead to take leadership by getting those, who believe their voice doesn’t matter, to vote tomorrow.

“There is so much at stake in this election,” she said as she started to discuss how the country’s founding ideals have been attacked.

The election is challenging each person to stand by what he or she believes in, but regardless, California will still be that place where the rest of the country looks to see an example of change, she said.

“California role of leadership in this moment of time with so many issues, but I am going to name two—gun control and immigration,” she said.

Offensive leaders are almost getting away by conflating criminal justice policies with immigration policies, saying they are the same, but they are separate problems with different solutions, she said.

“An undocumented immigrant is not a criminal,” Harris said. “[…] and if you need an assault weapon to go hunting, you need to go back to hunting school.”

She said that guns can be a tool used for the violence of human destruction, emphasizing the need to create reasonable gun safety laws, as exemplified by the state’s approval of legislation requiring background checks before the purchase of a gun.

Harris, who was accompanied by Mayor Robert Garcia, visited Long Beach during a four-stop campaign tour in Southern California, which included San Diego, Anaheim and the University of Southern California (USC).

“It is great to be in a room filled with people that believe in inequality, that believe in fighting for women and that believe that those who need our help– for seniors, for veterans,” Garcia said.

“Long Beach is a jewel of our states– always has been, always will be,” Harris said. “I can see all the thriving small businesses that are here that he [Garcia] has been supporting, so I can see the port and talk about the needs of more resources and attention and the need we have in this region to focus on the jobs that are connected with the port.”

Harris asked Garcia if he is elected to be an advisor to her, to advise her about the issues that challenges the cities in the state.

“We are all going to come out tomorrow, and vote blue,” Garcia said.