Sen. Kamala Harris is ‘fucking moving to Iowa’ in an effort to finish in the top three in the Iowa Caucus

During her town hall in Cedar Rapids last week, Sen. Kamala Harris stressed the importance of electing a president who will help unify the country and said “it’s time to turn the page on the current administration.”

“The greatest fights we face in terms of challenges are not each other, and we must invest in the strength of our nation, understanding the commonalities between us and the common hopes and dreams we have, including the challenges we face,” the Democratic presidential candidate told the audience gathered at Kirkwood Community College for the town hall on Thursday night.

Iowa will be seeing a lot more of the California senator in the coming weeks. Harris will be in Iowa every week in October. She’s also bringing on 60 additional staff members — almost doubling the number of her campaign staff in the state — and opening 10 new offices across Iowa.

Harris’ new push in Iowa follows a series of both national and state-level polls showing a decline in support. Increasing her presence in Iowa is an effort to finish in the top three of the Iowa Caucus.

Harris will be spending so much time in Iowa that she joked she’s “fucking moving to Iowa” in an exchange with Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono, accidentally revealing plans which weren’t public yet. The quote quickly went viral, leading to a Raygun T-shirt with the phrase on it.

“I’m f****** moving to Iowa,” Sen. Kamala Harris joked to Sen. Hirono (before she noticed me) pic.twitter.com/dv0PRWLY8g

— Matt Laslo (@MattLaslo) September 18, 2019

While Harris didn’t mention her “move” to Iowa during the Cedar Rapids town hall, Harris and her team are embracing the slip-up. Harris’ communications director Lily Adams tweeted she was going to stop at Raygun and buy one of the shirts. Following the Iowa Steak Fry, Harris tweeted “I don’t know if you heard, but I’m moving to Iowa!”

Linn County Supervisor Stacey Walker referenced Harris’ move to Iowa when introducing her to the audience at Kirkwood’s Michael J Gould Recreation Center on Thursday.

“We all know we could use some more Democrats in the state of Iowa, but we certainly know we need a Democrat in the White House,” Walker said.

“Kamala has been a fearless advocate for the voiceless, the vulnerable, a vocal and determined fighter on behalf of all people.”

Harris’ current fight, she said, is to take back the presidency.

“That is not Donald Trump’s White House — that’s our White House,” Harris said.

“Nothing that we have achieved as a nation and as a country that has been about progress came without a good fight. We were born out of a good fight. We’re up for a good fight.”

Before answering questions from the audience, Harris spent time discussing parts of her 3 a.m. agenda. The agenda is an effot to address the “issues that wake people up at night,” such as health care access, gun violence and student debt, the senator explained.

Harris also repeatedly emphasized how people are more similar than different.

“People want to focus on where we are now and where we need to go,” she said. “Our campaign is about saying ‘Let’s do that,’ and address the biggest issues that face people in their real lives — those issues that wake people up at night. That’s what this campaign is about, and it is about understanding something that is fundamental to the strength of who we are as a nation: The vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us.”

One of the questions Harris received from the audience had to do with what she will do to protect women’s reproductive rights, a topic that received little to no attention during the most recent presidential debate.

If elected, Harris said she would put in place a pre-clearance requirement. It would require states with a history of violating Roe v. Wade to get approval from the U.S. Department of Justice before an abortion law or regulation goes into effect.

“Reproductive health care is full-on under attack,” Harris said. “These out of touch legislators have no right to tell a woman what to do with her body.”