Presidential candidate Kamala Harris has been to Indianapolis at least 3 times: What she said
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A few weeks ago, the vice president of the United States was planning a visit to Indianapolis, as she has multiple times before. Now, Kamala Harris is visiting as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
The head-spinning turn of events is sure to affect the tenor of her remarks at the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc.’s biennial convention Wednesday. In previous recent appearances in Indianapolis, she was the No. 2 supporting President Joe Biden.
More: Kamala Harris scheduled to address Zeta Phi Beta in Indy. What to know about the sorority
Harris has made two previous public visits to Indianapolis during her time at the White House and at least one before that. All occurred in the month of July. Here's what she said here on those past visits:
July 2023: Bubbly optimism a year out from election
In the summer of 2023, Harris made several stops around the country to mobilize key voting constituencies for the Biden-Harris ticket as the White House was trying to improve her public image amid her lackluster approval ratings.
More: Vice President Kamala Harris stumps for 2024 at Black sorority convention in Indy
One of those stops was before the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority's national convention in Indianapolis on July 20, 2023. Like the sorority she will address this week, Delta Sigma Theta is another of the nation's largest historically black sororities. Harris herself is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha; all three of these sororities are part of the "Divine Nine," or the National Pan-Hellenic Council.
Her speech blended dark warnings of "extremism" on the political right with gleeful optimism about her administration's accomplishments, including appointing the first Black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court. She made special mention of Indiana's quick enactment of a near-total abortion ban following the reversal of Roe v. Wade ― a call-back to the last time she visited Indianapolis.
July 2022: Amid Indiana's abortion special session
As Indiana lawmakers became the first state legislators in the country to convene a special session on abortion since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Harris flew in to meet with Democrats and show support for abortion rights from the White House.
Indiana was also in the national spotlight after IndyStar reported that a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio received an abortion in Indiana ― sparking widespread outrage and a legal battle between the abortion provider and Attorney General Todd Rokita.
On July 25, 2022, Harris held a roundtable discussion about abortion with Democratic state and federal lawmakers in the Indiana State Library and was critical of the bill that Senate Republicans were crafting.
"Some people need to actually learn how a woman's body works," Harris said then.
July 2019: As a presidential hopeful
Remember that Harris was once Biden's competitor in the early stages of the 2020 election season.
Harris, then a U.S. Senator from California, was among a large field of Democratic presidential hopefuls who gave speeches at the National Urban League Conference in Indianapolis on July 26, 2019.
She discussed a funding plan for STEM programs at historically Black institutions, legalizing marijuana and making home ownership more attainable. She also foreshadowed her future while criticizing comments former President Donald Trump has tweeted about four congresswomen of color.
“He tells them to go back to where they came from,” she said. “We’re not going back, and in fact, I’ll tell you where we’re going. We’re going to the White House. That’s where we’re going.”
Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter@kayla_dwyer17.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Kamala Harris has been to Indianapolis at least 3 times: What she said
