To pumped-up Democrats, Harris was everything Biden was not in confronting Trump in debate

WASHINGTON (AP) — To many Democrats, Kamala Harris was everything Joe Biden was not in confronting Donald Trump on the debate stage: forceful, fleet of foot, relentless in going after her opponent. In a pivot from Biden’s debate meltdown in June, Democrats who gathered in bars, watch parties and other venues Tuesday night found lots to cheer in her drive to rattle the Republican. “She prosecuted Donald Trump tonight,” said Alina Taylor, 51, a high school special education teacher who joined hundreds of people on a football field of the historically Black Salem Baptist Church of Abington in a suburb of Philadelphia, where people watched on a 33-foot (10 meter) screen. As for Trump, she said, “I was appalled” by his performance. “People were laughing at him because he wasn’t making very much sense.” In Seattle, people gathered at Massive, a queer nightclub where scores watched the debate on a projector set up in front of the club’s large disco ball. “He’s getting smoked,” one said. “I think he beat her on the border,” she said. And I think that Kamala Harris likes to mention that she has plans for things, but she doesn’t actually ever elaborate on what those plans are.” Morris conceded she was watching history being made, “because we have our first Black woman running for president.” But, she added, “I don’t think she delivered to get her to that place she needed to be.” Harris supporter Dushant Puri, 19, a UC Berkeley student, said the vice president took command before the first words were spoken — when she crossed the stage to shake Trump’s hand. “I thought that was pretty significant,” Puri said. “It was their first interaction, and I thought Harris was asserting herself.” At the same watch party, fellow student Angel Aldaco, 21, said that, unlike Biden, Harris “came in with a plan and was more concise.” Aldaco was struck by one of the night’s oddest moments, when Trump “went on that rampage about eating pets.” That’s when Trump endorsed a baseless conspiracy theory that immigrants were stealing and eating people’s dogs and cats. “That was good,” the student said. But for some Democrats, despondent if not panicked after Biden’s fumbling debate performance, it was enough to see a Democratic candidate getting seriously under Trump’s skin. “He is pretty incapable when he is riled up,” said Ikenna Amilo, an accountant at a Democratic watch party in a small concert venue in downtown Portland, Maine. What to know about the 2024 Election Today’s news: Follow live updates Ground Game: Sign up for AP’s weekly politics newsletter AP’s Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. “When you poke him, he is really reactive and he doesn’t show the temperament you want in a president, so I think Kamala has shown she’s doing a good job.” Annetta Clark, 50, a Harris supporter from Vallejo, California, watched at a party hosted by the Oakland Bay Area chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women. “I couldn’t stomach the first one, if I’m being honest,” Clark said. “Fabulous job.” Democrat Natasha Salas, 63, of Highland, Indiana, saw the debate from an Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority watch party at a bistro in Markham, Illinois, and welcomed Harris’ call to cool the political temperature — even as the vice president denounced Trump at every turn. “We all want the same things, Democrats and Republicans,” Salas said. From a shelter for migrants in Tijuana, Mexico, where dozens watched a translated version of the debates on a television, Rakan al Muhana, 40, an asylum-seeker from Gaza, became animated when the candidates discussed Israel and Palestine. “We are running from the war,” he said. My daughter, who is four months — for him, she’s a terrorist.” Al Muhana has been on a four-month journey from Gaza to this border city, with his wife and four children. – This Summarize was created by Neural News AI (V1). Source: https://apnews.com/319079a18ea993066bea750b57f6e0fa