Troubling Incident at Kamala Harris PA Rally Raises Concerns About That Whole 'Saving Democracy' Thing

Back in late June not long after Joe Biden's disastrous presidential debate performance against Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Nevada for a Biden-Harris campaign rally, where things got a little weird and creepy before the rally officially got underway.

As we noted at the time, two reporters, one from the New York Times and another from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, reported that several campaign staffers followed them around to listen to what those being interviewed were telling them. If the attendee said anything negative about Joe Biden, the staffer would try to cut the interview short.

The one from the LVR-J indicated that in one instance, a person she was interviewing seemed intimidated by the Biden-Harris campaign staffer, which could have had the net effect of making the person afraid to reveal their true feelings.

As I wrote after the incidents occurred, it wasn't clear who gave the order to do this. But based on what the reporters observed, it sounded like there was coordination at some level, as though someone higher up gave the word to engage in tracker-like activity by trailing the media.

In an update to this story, it appears that what happened at that Nevada campaign event was not just a one-off. According to Associated Press reporter Steve Peoples, a Monday Kamala for President campaign rally in Pennsylvania featuring Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and PA Gov. Josh Shapiro saw staffers actually trying to block reporters from interviewing rallygoers beyond what he called the "press pen."

Here's what he wrote on his Twitter feed in a mini-thread:

Harris campaign is blocking reporters from talking to voters outside the press pen here at Whitmer/Shapiro event in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
Note that the Harris campaign staff here at PA event allowed me to leave the press pen to talk to voters after someone from Delaware headquarters intervened.
Appreciate all the feedback. Glad everyone agrees that press access and transparency is an important part of our democracy.

The incident sparked talk of how Harris' press avoidance campaign in the coming weeks and months would make Biden's 2020 basement hideout campaign strategy look like child's play:

If you thought Biden’s basement strategy in 2020 was impressive, just wait until you see the masterpiece the Harris campaign is about to produce over the next 100 days. https://t.co/EeqTTXGtZE
— a newsman (@a_newsman) July 29, 2024

There was also this:

I'm sorry Steve, but they are blocking journalism so that they can save democracy https://t.co/v9umqKGFpL
— Blue Shift Blog (@BlueShiftBlog) July 29, 2024

Needless to say, these situations (and many others similar to them that we've seen over the years with both Biden and Harris) will lend further credence to the claim by their critics that the presumptive 2024 Democratic presidential nominee doesn't believe in free speech and freedom of the press (a claim that has a solid basis in reality, I should note).

What remains to be seen is if there will be a very out-in-the-open revolt among the traveling Kamala press corps going forward assuming these tactics continue. I'm not holding my breath on it, of course, especially considering how the media has gone to bat for her so far, but then again, a lot of things I never thought I'd see happen did indeed happen over the last several weeks, so we shall see.