Kamala Harris Delivers Keynote Speech at 2026 Fisher Shackelford Dinner

I am proud to introduce to you a truth-teller, a glass-breaker, the epitome of a woman of excellence, a seed-sower, a wife, a sister, mama-la, a trailblazer, and definitely a winner. The 49th president, vice president, ooh, that was the Freudian slip, of the United States. The first woman in American history to hold that office. The first black Asian woman in American history to hold that office. The vice president who cast more tie-breaking votes than any other nation's history. Someone who, throughout every chapter of her career, has fought for the only client she has ever had, you, the people. Democrats, you know how we do it. Please join me to give the warmest possible Southern Arkansas welcome to Vice President Kamala Harris. Good evening, good evening. I said to Janie, I said, with that introduction, I thought I was about to come out to a welterweight fight. Janie, let me just say to you in front of everyone here, it is because you reached out, and the spirit with which you did, and the hard work that you put into making this so easy for me to be here tonight, that I am here, and I thank you. Thank you. And for your years of doing just that, and I know you make it look easy, and it is not, and you keep it moving, and you hold up and support and inspire so many people. Can we please applaud Janie? Thank you. Thank you. And Chairman Jones, thank you for your leadership in our party, and to all of the outstanding elected leaders and candidates here tonight, I thank you for your courage and your leadership. It is really good to be in Arkansas. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And Mayor Scott, where are you? I was spending time with him this afternoon. I want to thank you for the warm welcome to your city, and for the time that we spent together this afternoon at the Little Rock Central High School and Museum, where I also had the honor of spending time with Miss Elizabeth Eckford, one of the Little Rock Nine. And you know, she said to me when I spent some time with her, she said, you make sure that you remind people of what this place was and where we came, but to do it with a sense of hope about where we can go. So I hope to do that tonight. It is also an honor to join you in celebrating three phenomenal women, who I had the chance to meet earlier, Deborah Mitchell, Tiffy McCullough. Congratulations to all of you. Congratulations. It's my honor to share the stage with you. So Arkansas, I don't need to tell anyone here that these last months have been anything but easy. But the thing about all of you here is you refuse to be discouraged. You continue to work, you continue to fight, and you continue to inspire. And so I'm here to first and foremost, thank you for all that you do on behalf of so many who may never know our names, people whom we may never meet. But because of the work you do, their life is uplifting. I thank you all for that. Now, you may have heard that there's another dinner happening tonight. It's called the White House Correspondents Dinner, where they're raising a glass to Donald Trump. Well, trust me, Arkansas, you throw a much better party. Yes, you do. And so it is truly an honor to join you for this year's Fisher-Shackleford Dinner. Named, of course, after Jimmy Lou Fisher, who I've had the honor of meeting her family this afternoon and evening, and she who served this state with distinction. And as I've been told and read about and learned, she did so with a very kind and generous heart. And here tonight, of course, is also Lottie Shackleford. A trailblazer, not just for Arkansas, but all of America. Everyone here knows that Miss Lottie got her start in activism in part because she noticed that the society section of the Arkansas Gazette did not print photos of the Black Brides. So Miss Lottie took on the biggest paper in the state and her fight for justice and fairness then carried her from being mayor of Little Rock to leadership in the state and national party and even to the United Nations. In sum, Miss Lottie is someone who acted on the promise of America. Our belief that our country can live up to our highest ideals, freedom and liberty, fairness and decency, equal justice under the law. That if we pursue those ideals, we can each help build a better future for our country. Our faith in America's promise springs from a simple yet ambitious idea at the heart of our founding. That the power rests with the people, not in the hands of an elite few. But if we look around today, it's clear that so much of the economic, political and civic power has increasingly been concentrated among those at the top. Concentrated in the hands of an entrenched elite. Take for example our economy. It is clear that deliberate policy decisions made over decades resulted in a drift away from the needs of working people. Trade deals that hollowed out communities as jobs got outsourced and offshored. Deregulation of a financial system that let big banks prey on everyday people. The cost of living steadily rising while wages did not keep up. Making child care, healthcare and rent more unaffordable and putting the dream of home ownership further out of reach for so many. These decisions and more, I believe contributed to how we got here today. And let's be honest, many of these policies were supported by leaders from both parties. Now of course, Democrats we never bought into trickle down. That was Ronald Reagan's doing. But plenty of Democrats did buy into the flawed assumptions. Many of those flawed assumptions behind it. For example, that if we trusted the wisdom of the market, working people would eventually get taken care of. The assumption that growth at the top would take care of everybody else. That brutal cuts to social programs for the sake of reducing the deficit was the surest path to economic growth. But those assumptions were proven wrong. And even though working people did everything right, worked from the day through the night, we saw that the economic system essentially stopped delivering for them. And over time, the American dream for many has all but turned into an American myth. As power consolidated in economic systems, we saw the same kind of trend in our political system. A broken campaign finance system, which disproportionately allowed big money to dictate the political agenda. And a policymaking process increasingly influenced more by Washington insiders than everyday working people. So it's no surprise in the midst of all this, our country has experienced an erosion of civic life, growing distrust in government and each other, increasing economic inequality, and a polarized nation. Then in the last few years compounding all of this, social media companies built algorithms which fuel rage, which fuels their profits. Rage based on race and religion, gender and sexual orientation, based on rural versus urban, native born versus naturalized, Republican versus Democrat. So I'm here for some real talk, clearly. And therefore I say, Arkansas, here's our challenge. We have arrived at a place, I believe, where the American people are experiencing an economic system that is failing working people, a rigged political system, and a weakened civic life, fueling righteous anger and cynicism, division and isolation, where once there was a feeling of common cause. Today we have a certain collection of leaders who have sensed this epidemic of disconnect and distrust and sought to exploit it for their personal gain. But let's be clear. Donald Trump is more a source and symptom of the problem than just a source of the problem. And I say that because while he did not create these long weakening systems, you know, I have a background as a prosecutor, and I will tell you, as it is with predators, he pounced on the weakness. He pounced on the weakness of what had been developing. Trump and his Republican enablers in Congress have spent the last 15 months paying lip service to the pain of working people. But of course, their actions tell another story. On the one hand, they promised to bring down costs on day one. But on the other, the tariff policy dacked up the cost of everyday goods, making housing construction more expensive and triggering layoffs across the country. On the one hand, they promised to stand up for the, quote, forgotten men and women of America. But on the other, passed that big bad bill that forgot all about them, giving a trillion dollars in tax cuts to the richest people while cutting a trillion dollars from health care for working people. On the one hand, they promised us the golden age. But on the other, delivered a golden opportunity for big tech. Just as AI is about to upend our workforce and economy, they put big tech themselves in charge of how it will go down. On the one hand, they ran in 2024 on no more foreign wars. You can finish that for me. Because what we know is, on the other hand, Donald Trump launched a war of choice that is costing hundreds of billions of dollars of our tax dollars and putting our troops in harm's way in a war the American people don't want. A war that, by the way, has jacked up the prices of food and fuel. Because while it seems they have billions of dollars for bombs, they've got nothing to help folks with the basics. And here's the thing that scares them. The American people are too busy watching what they're doing to listen to what they're saying. And the people, the people, I know this in my heart and soul, the people will not be fooled. Trump and his crew, look, this isn't just about our economy, by the way. Trump and his crew are pushing an agenda in addition to that to reduce Democratic participation. That's part of their agenda, to reduce Democratic participation. And it's an agenda to avoid accountability. Earlier this month, this administration told us they intend to take power from the state to control mail-in voting. So they don't want you to vote by mail. But guess who votes from his spa at Mar-a-Lago by mail? The one hand and other hand. Meanwhile, they systematically attack the judiciary, businesses, universities, and the free press, any institution that might hold them accountable. All this while, his mostly hand-picked United States Supreme Court told him he is immune from whatever he does in office. This, exactly, this for the most callous, corrupt, and incompetent presidential administration in the history of our country. And that's just what's happening in D.C. And then there's, of course, what's happening in the state. And the folks here know it all too well. For example, here in Arkansas in the statehouse, Republicans have cut funding from public schools and child care providers. And I was just talking with one of the leaders on maternal health this evening. Those folks at the statehouse are also proud to be, for Arkansas to be the only state in America who won't extend Medicaid to cover a new mother's postpartum care for a whole year. The only state in the nation. So look, it's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot. And the day will come when Donald Trump is term-limited out. However, and again, real talk, let's also understand there will be no term limit on the broken system that produced him. And the entrenched elite who continue to benefit from the current status quo have a vested interest in preserving it. So in the midst of it all, I know some folks are looking at me like, Kamala, okay, where's the optimism? Well, here you go. My optimism comes from the belief that in the United States of America, we the people hold the power and that we the people can build a better future if we're willing to fight for it. My optimism, well, it comes from the images that I saw just a few weeks ago when thousands marched across Little Rock's Broadway Bridge, standing shoulder to shoulder, neighbor to neighbor, declaring in one united voice, the people will not back down, the people will not stay silent, and the people have no king. And we're seeing that across the country. We love our country, and we are prepared to fight for it. So then what comes next? Well, the midterms are less than seven months away, and because we are going to do the work, we will win. We will win. I'm not done. Look, the fight for our country, the fight for our future, it's going to require more than one good election night. So Democrats, let us also think as we go forward about our pursuit of a vision for the future. Yes, one that deals with Trump's remaining time in office, but equally important, one that is geared for when we're on the other side and he's finally out of office. And so, Arkansas, here's what I believe and my challenge for those here tonight. I believe it is time for a revival of the American dream, a revival of an economy where once more a full week of work means you can afford your rent, your groceries, and your energy bill, the basics. It's time for a revival of the American dream, where when you work hard, you're also able to spend time with friends, raise a family, buy a home, and go on vacation from time to time, where it's not just about getting by but getting ahead. And to spark an American revival, we must start with a bold agenda where our public dollars go to affordable housing and health care and child care, not spent on reckless foreign wars that nobody wants, where we invest in public education, one that sets students up for success in the 21st century, up for success in the 21st century and not debt for a lifetime of work, where we write a tax code that rewards hard work, not just vast wealth, where we have guardrails around social media and on AI to serve the public, not just the profit, where government is focused on progress and not so distracted by process that it means we don't get the people's needs done, where we protect and expand our fundamental rights, not roll back and restrict them. That's, I believe, how we revive the American dream. And our American revival has to be more than just legislation. We need a sweeping project of civic renewal, one that helps mend the economic, political, and social fractures that brought us today, one that reminds us that members of a community have a shared stake in each other's success, and one where each of us has the power and a role to play. And look, we can start out in our own neighborhood, volunteer at a food bank, give time to a local non-profit, or even look, when you're doing a Costco run, ask that single mom or dad next door if there's anything you can pick up for them. Because to get our country back on track, we got some deep and hard work to do. And there is nothing too small or too big that any of us can do. And while our work will require mutual respect and tolerance, dare I also say our work will require intolerance. Intolerance of corruption and abuse of power. Intolerance of systems that for so many have long failed to deliver. Intolerance of a world where recklessness is dressed up as resolve and makes right. And intolerance of anyone who would have us forget that the power in America rests with we, the people. So look, Democrats, this is not a time to throw up our hands, it's a time to roll up our sleeves. And just like Miss Lottie rolled up her sleeves, we know what we need to do, and so I will end with this. I believe that when we feel powerless, we are powerless. But when we feel powerful, we are powerful. It's time for an American revival, so let's do that and let's get out there and fight for it knowing that while the fight might sometimes take a while, the fundamental truth remains, when we fight, we win. God bless you all. God bless the United States of America. Yes, let's give a hand.