Kamala Harris Breaks Her Own Rally Crowd Record in 24 Hours

Vice President Kamala Harris It reportedly broke its own rally crowd size record for the second time in just 24 hours.

Harris headlined a packed event of nearly 23,000 people in Clarkston, Georgia, on Thursday night, besting her campaign’s previous attendance record of nearly 17,000 people in Greensboro, North Carolina, last month.

The vice president’s record was broken again Friday night at a star-studded rally at Shell Energy Stadium in Houston. Among the celebrities in attendance was megastar Beyoncé, whose song “Freedom” was used extensively in Harris’ campaign.

According to various reports, the Harris team said about 30,000 supporters packed the Texas rally. More than 1.5 million people reportedly registered to attend the rally. Although the venue has a seating capacity of just over 22,000, it often hosts outdoor sporting events and many Harris fans were standing on the field Friday.

Trump campaign communications director Steven Cheung argued in an earlier post to X: excitementsuggests that the event was truly a “Beyonce concert” and that media coverage of the large crowd would amount to an attempt to “gaslight” those who believe Harris could “never” attract a large crowd.

news week The Harris campaign reached out via email for comment Friday night.

Despite preemptive claims from the Trump campaign, Beyoncé did not perform at the Harris rally on Friday. Instead, the singer made a brief speech in defense of Harris before introducing the vice president.

“I’m not here as a celebrity,” Beyoncé said. “I’m not here as a politician, I’m here as a mother. A mother who cares deeply about the world our children live in, a world where we have the freedom to control our bodies, (and) a world in which we are not divided.”

Shortly after Harris took the stage, a group of Trump supporters tried to disrupt the event by heckling the Democratic candidate, prompting her to mock their efforts and suggest they were at the wrong rally.

“You know what? Send them to the little rally down the street, no problem,” Harris said. “Some people don’t have a very good sense of direction. But that’s okay, we’ll show them the way.”

Trump, who has frequently touted the crowd sizes at the rally and claimed without evidence that Harris used artificial intelligence to increase crowd numbers, was also in Texas on Friday. He reportedly spoke to a much more modest crowd. around 100 supporters in Austin before recording a podcast interview with Joe Rogan.

Because of the podcast recording, the former president’s arrival at a rally at a small airport in Traverse City, Michigan, was significantly delayed Friday night, prompting some Trump supporters to leave the event before he could take the stage.

While sharing videos on X, formerly known as Twitter, NBC News reporter Megan Lebowitz wrote that a “steady stream of people” left Trump’s rally about 45 minutes after his speech was scheduled.

Update 10/25/24, 11:45 PM: This article has been updated with more information and context.