Former Vice President Kamala Harris tapped into local resentment against the White House Friday during a brief speech in Chicago, her latest post-election stop as she seeks to stay in the national spotlight while mulling whether will make another run for the Oval Office in two years.
Speaking at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Interfaith Breakfast downtown, the Democratic nominee for president in 2024 called upon the room of politicos and religious leaders to “continue the fight” against President Donald Trump but stayed away from her own political future. It was Harris’ first return to Chicago since an October visit to promote her book, “107 Days,” a memoir she wrote recapping her truncated campaign against Trump.
During her 10-minute speech, Harris touched upon the slaying of Renee Good, the Minneapolis woman shot by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.
“When families are separated, and a mother of three is shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, people are sick and tired of being sick and tired,” Harris said. She returned to that refrain as she condemned a litany of actions from the Trump administration.
Good’s death on Jan. 7 catalyzed ongoing tense demonstrations in Minneapolis and came after months of aggressive deportation operations in Chicago and other Democratic strongholds.
Harris did not betray her plans for the 2028 race during the made-for-TV event, though her recent announcement that she will not be running for California governor this year on top of last year’s book promotion signal she is keeping that option open. She kept her speech focused on the late Dr. King’s call for peaceful resistance, saying that on Thursday evening she had visited the historic Memphis motel where he was assassinated in1968.
“I will tell you standing on the balcony at the Lorraine Motel yesterday, I thought about what Dr. King would see if he looked at America then, and what would he think, and what would he say,” Harris said. “And I do believe he would see that people today are sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
She said she planned to meet with The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., another civil rights icon, later on Friday. Then she closed with, “I know the people of Chicago, well, you uniquely understand that the fight … requires us to show up even when we are sick and tired, because we are sick and tired.”
Should Harris run again, she would likely face a crowded primary as other potential hopefuls — including Illinoisans Gov. JB Pritzker and former Mayor Rahm Emanuel — are wasting no time in the national media circuits as well. Pritzker was not scheduled to attend Harris’ event, per his Friday public schedule.
Harris’ keynote address was followed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, who sought to shore up his bona fides as defender of Chicago against Trump’s repeated attacks on the deep-blue city.
“Let me make something absolutely clear: As long as I am in this seat, we will not accept the occupation of our city by the military, and we will use any means necessary to defend the rights of the people of this great city,” Johnson said, to applause.
Johnson — one of the first Illinois politicians to endorse Harris after then-President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race — began his remarks by reminding the crowd of her campaign warnings that Trump would “undermine the rule of law.” The mayor then invoked Trump’s recent, but failed, attempt to deploy the National Guard in Chicago.
“Listen, because she’s such a classy woman, and incredibly humble, and probably too good to actually say it herself — that she told us. Let me just tell you, she tried to tell us,” Johnson said. “Whatever she decides to do, whatever she says, in the words of a great organizer: You better listen.”
The organizer Johnson was alluding to was Wallace “Gator” Bradley, a former gang enforcer who became involved in Chicago politics after his release from prison.
And in line with his recent public remarks, Johnson brushed off early chatter over next year’s mayoral election. “While some people in this city are looking at an election in 2027, I’m looking today to make sure that people can put food on their table,” he said.
The theme of this year’s MLK Interfaith Breakfast — a 40-year tradition in Chicago, started under Mayor Harold Washington — is “Defending Our Democracy, Protecting Our Rights.”
Chicago was also host city to the 2024 Democratic National Convention, where Harris made history as the party’s first Black woman to be nominated for president. The freshman mayor delivered the opening speech at the United Center, where he sought to connect Chicago’s rich Black history with Harris’ historic, but ultimately doomed, presidential run.