Vice President Kamala Harris was heckled by protesters during two speeches this week, on both occasions over issues of concern to the political left, and the VP handled each outburst in different ways.
While campaigning for Virginia gubernatorial candidate and former Governor Terry McAuliffe on Thursday, the VP was interrupted by protesters over an oil pipeline issue. Here’s how Inside NoVa described the incident and Harris’ response:
Vice President Kamala Harris took the stage saying it matters who will be the next leader of Virginia, and then, a half-dozen protestors, in several locations among the crowd, interrupted her speech by yelling ‘Stop line 3,’ a reference to a tar-sands pipeline from Canada to Wisconsin.As the audience tried to counter by chanting “Terry,” Harris smiled and said, “I love Democrats and I love democracy.” But the chants continued, so she punched through the chants by saying loudly, “We will not be distracted. We will not be dissuaded. We will not be deterred. This election is too important.”
And at a Build Back Better event at the Northeast Bronx YMCA in New York, the veep was interrupted by a heckler who was upset about flooding during Hurricane Ida.
From the pool report:
A protester in a hoodie in the crowd interrupted the speech, yelling, at 12:56 p.m. It was tough to make out what he was saying, but he mentioned flooding. VP responded: “You are right” and said she would talk to
him after. He was promptly ushered out of the gym.
“You are right brother,” Harris told the man, adding “You and I will talk after I give my comments and I am happy to talk with you. But right now let’s talk about the agenda that will include speaking to all people and allowing everybody to be heard because that’s part of what we want in our democracy. Everybody gets a chance to talk and everybody gets a chance to be heard.”
The man was escorted out, still shouting.
Watch above via C-Span and pool video.