'I'm speaking': Kamala Harris stares down hecklers at Michigan rally

Vice President Kamala Harris told a group of what were believed to be pro-Palestinian hecklers, "I'm speaking," and flashed a steely-eyed glare at them Wednesday night in what was her first visit to Michigan as the Democratic nominee for president.

Harris is the first Black woman and South Asian American woman to win a major party's nomination for president.

While it was not immediately known what the small group of protesters were chanting, a Free Press journalist covering the event said she believed it included the word "genocide" and was in reference to the ongoing Israeli counteroffensive in Gaza against Hamas, which has been underway since last October.

President Joe Biden's administration has been criticized, especially among Michigan's large Arab-American and Muslim communities, for not demanding Israel, a key ally, stop its counteroffensive in Gaza, often referring to it as "genocide." Harris, who became the Democrats nominee following Biden's taking himself out of the reelection race late last month, has said she has "serious concerns" about Israel's stance and urged adoption of a ceasefire deal.

Harris and her vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, also met briefly before the speech with leaders of the Uncommitted National Movement, which has been demanding an arms embargo on Israel and a ceasefire in Gaza. That group helped push voters to vote "uncommitted" in Michigan's Democratic presidential primary in February in protest of the fighting rather than for Biden's reelection. More than 100,000 people voted uncommitted in the primary.

The Uncommitted National Movement put out a release saying two of its founders, Layla Elabed and Abbas Alawieh, both of Dearborn, met briefly with Harris and Walz to present their concerns. It said Harris "shared her sympathies and expressed an openness" to further discussions.

During her speech, Harris was speaking about Project 2025, a conservative blueprint to remake the federal bureaucracy which Democrats say is closely tied to former President Donald Trump's reelection bid, when, on the live feed of the event, she suddenly stopped, apparently in reaction to some disruption.

Smiling, she said, "I'm here because we believe in democracy. Everyone's voice matters, but I am speaking now."

She was greeted with cheers from the supportive crowd packed in a hangar at Detroit Metro Airport and started to talk about the threat she and other Democrats argue Trump poses if reelected this year when she stopped again due to the disruption.

This time, the former U.S senator and California attorney general − who also worked as a prosecutor − wasn't smiling.

On the live feed, she can be seen looking directly at the protesters and lifting her hands.

"You know what," she said., "If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I'm speaking." She then delivered a withering stare at the protesters and did not relent for some time, even as the audience around her burst into applause and began to chant, "We're not going back," a reference to the refusal of abortion rights supporters to allow reproductive rights to be rolled back by government following the U.S. Supreme Court's reversal of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision in 2022.

The protesters were escorted out of the venue after that.

While Republican detractors of Harris have at times made light of her willingness to laugh and appear easy in public settings, Harris has also been more than willing to lean into a more serious side, such as when she delivered a forceful line of questioning to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his Senate confirmation hearings in 2018.

Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler. Staff writers John Wisely and Nancy Kaffer contributed to this story.