MICHIGAN  –  Democratic candidate Kamala Harris urged young Americans to take up the fight for democracy from generations who had fought for freedom in the past and vote for her over Republican candidate Donald Trump

Harris was in Ann Arbor, Michigan, for a Monday evening rally after spending the day campaigning in the crucial swing state. Her pitch to an audience of young voters, many of who were students from the nearby University of Michigan, was to use their vote in the upcoming United States election to protect their rights. “Generations of Americans before us fought for freedom and now the baton is in our hands,” Harris said. “The baton is in our hands.”

Harris said their generation was the one that grew up with climate change as a reality, with active shooter drills in schools, and with now fewer reproductive rights than their mothers or grandmothers. “It is your lived experience. I see you and I see your power,” she said to the cheering crowd bundled in hats and coats against the cold autumn weather. “You are rightly impatient for change.”

Harris was introduced by her vice-presidential running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who used his folksy style to appeal to a packed crowd. “When you are old and grey like me and you’re sitting on the porch and you’re rocking in that chair and your grandchildren asked you ‘What did you do in 2024 to save democracy’,” he said. “And you are going to be able to tell them every damn thing you could, every damn thing.”

Harris and Walz are trying to reach young voters, many of whom are casting ballots for the first time. They had help onstage from singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers who is an ardent abortion rights supporter. Rogers performed and gave an emotional plea to the audience.

“As I’m standing here with you today, I can’t ignore the headlines I have been seeing on my phone any longer,” Rogers said. “It is terrifying. I don’t always know what to do with that feeling but there is something to me that is greater than fear, and that is action. Voting is the key to the future,” she said. (Al Jazeera)

Photo: Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz at a rally in Ann Arbor Michigan. (AP) …[+]