SPRINGFIELD, Virginia — Kamala Harris took a break from the 2020 campaign trail to gin up supporters of the Virginia state lawmaker who earlier this year introduced controversial late-term abortion legislation.
The California senator and White House hopeful, 55, praised Del. Kathy Tran, who is seeking reelection on Nov. 5 when Virginians head to the polls for the state’s slew of elections, at Tran’s canvass launch on Sunday. Harris said the Vietnamese refugee, who along with Kelly Fowler became the first Asian American women elected to Virginia’s House of Delegates in 2017, had demonstrated “incredible courage in her life.”
“She has endured, she has persevered, and, all the while, with courage, she has been one of the strongest leaders that we have,” Harris said of the freshman lawmaker who two years ago flipped her seat blue.
“She is somebody who never puts up her finger and says, ‘Oh, is this going to be popular or not?’ You know that. You know she’s taken on huge fights, in particular for the women of Virginia and the families that love them, saying it’s not about what’s popular at the moment. It’s about what’s right. And these are the kinds of leaders we need in our statehouses,” she added.
The former San Francisco district attorney and two-term California attorney general urged Tran’s backers in Springfield, Virginia, to continue campaigning relentlessly.
“Nine days to go. We do not want to wake up on Day 10 and have any regrets,” she said.
In January, Tran, 41, sponsored a bill called the Repeal Act, proposing to loosen restrictions on abortions in Virginia. During her subcommittee testimony, Tran was asked whether the measure would allow a woman who was dilated and about to give birth to receive a third-trimester abortion, and a video of her affirmative answer went viral on the internet.
The measure, which was voted down by the subcommittee, was endorsed by Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who that same month was also lambasted for appearing to suggest the legislation would permit infanticide.
Harris in May unveiled her White House bid’s pro-abortion platform, which would require jurisdictions with a history of trying to undermine Roe v. Wade protections to obtain approval from her hypothetical Justice Department before implementing any changes.
“This is a party about our conviction,” the senator said at a Planned Parenthood event in June. “Our conviction to make sure that every woman has the right to do whatever she chooses to do with her life and her body.”
More 2020 Democrats are set to converge in Virginia to buoy support for the party in the state before Nov. 5. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, for example, was with Prince William County Democrats in Dale City, Virginia, on Sunday.
All 40 seats in Virginia’s state Senate and 100 districts in its House of Delegates are in play next month under a new map experts believe is favorable to Democrats.
