Vice President Kamala Harris laid out her economic agenda Wednesday in Pittsburgh and placed a strong focus on cutting costs for middle-class families, boosting innovation and small business, and contrasting her plan with that of her rival, former President Donald Trump.

Harris spoke for about 40 minutes on Wednesday afternoon in front of an invite-only crowd of 400 supporters at a theater in Carnegie Mellon University’s campus in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood. The Economic Club of Pittsburgh hosted the event.

She detailed how her administration would help grow wealth for the middle class and boost small business. Harris said lowering costs for people is her top priority. She touted her plan to offer $6,000 in tax breaks for new families, and increase the federal tax deduction for small business tenfold, from $5,000 to $50,000.

“I want to chart a new way forward and grow America’s middle class,” she said. “Donald Trump intends to take America backward. To the failed policies of the past.”

She said a president should help take care of Pittsburghers who grew up in towns that have seen economic decline, and do what they can to lift them back up.

“No one who grows up in America’s greatest industrial or agricultural centers should be abandoned,” Harris said.

Harris praised Carnegie Mellon University for its growth in machine learning and having the largest robotics center in America. She said those high-tech industries are some of the businesses she wants to support. Harris praised Pittsburgh’s innovation to drive the nation forward and resiliency in bouncing back from economic hardship.

“The proud heritage of Pittsburgh reveals the character of our nation. A nation that harnesses the ambitions, dreams, and aspirations of our people,” she said. “That is what we have always done. And that is what we must do now.”

Harris’ speech focused on three economic pillars: lowering costs by offering tax breaks and tackling price gouging; investing in innovative companies in manufacturing, energy, aerospace, and tech; and cutting red tape to make building homes and starting new companies and small business easier.

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“Not only must we build the industries of the future in America, we must build them faster,” she said. “The simple truth is, in America, it takes too long and costs too much to build.”

She touted policies like eliminating college degree requirements for many federal jobs and building 3 million new homes to address the national housing shortage. She vowed to double the amount of apprenticeships positions for by the end of her first term.

Though many of these proposals she had previously advocated for, she focused them through a Pittsburgh lens, narrowing in on support of unions and the building trades.

“I am going to try to visit every IBEW local as I can,” she said, referencing the trades union workers of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

The crowd of invited supporters applauded throughout the speech, especially when she spoke about corporate price gougers and local Pittsburgh references like a battery manufacturing plant over in Turtle Creek.

Harris also gained some high-profile support in Mt. Lebanon native and billionaire venture capitalist Mark Cuban. He attended the speech and has become a campaign surrogate for Harris, not afraid to share his criticism of Trump.

“Donald is just so impetuous and so impulsive in everything he says about policy,” Cuban said to reporters after the Harris speech. “You can tell that the Kamala Harris team has vetted every single thing she said. Not just ‘does it sound good, does it poll good’ but really, is it good, strong policy.”

During her visit to Pittsburgh, Harris was interviewed by Stephanie Ruhle of MSNBC.

Harris has faced criticism for avoiding media interviews during her abbreviated campaign for the presidency. The conversation with Ruhle was her first one-on-one interview with a national network since becoming her party’s nominee. Harris previously sat down with CNN’s Dana Bash alongside Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, her running mate.

Kush Desai, Trump’s campaign spokesman for Pennsylvania, said that Harris should be helping people currently as vice president, instead of “campaigning on vague promises.”

“Kamala’s all talk, no action campaign is another reason why Pennsylvanians are going to vote for another four years of peace, prosperity, and stability under President Trump over another four years of gross incompetence and empty promises from Kamala,” Desai said.

The Trump campaign announced Wednesday that he will return to the Butler Farm Show grounds in Butler Township, where he was wounded in an assassination attempt on July 13, for a campaign rally on Oct. 5.

Supporters, critics turn out

Elizabeth Pagel-Hogan, 49, of Ross Township, a children’s author, was invited to the speech but found the theater was filled as she waited in line.

This would’ve been Pagel-Hogan’s second time seeing Harris, but she said she was OK that she wasn’t able to get a seat.

“I’m already gonna vote for her,” she said. “I’m hoping maybe this will give somebody else an opportunity to have (their) mind changed or commit to doing something.”

Brandon Williams, 27, a master’s music student at CMU, said in the last election, he voted for Joe Biden, and before that, he wrote in Bernie Sanders.

“I was a never Trumper, and I remember my boyfriend at the time, he was voting for Trump.”

Now, he’s switched sides and when asked about his stance on women’s reproductive rights, he said, “I think women are currently too promiscuous.”

Aurora Henning, 21, a sophomore majoring in vocal performance at CMU, was working behind the stage for a class and was asked to stop working because of the Harris event.

This November will be Henning’s first time voting and, though she’s originally from Los Angeles, she will be voting for Harris in person here in Pennsylvania.

“I really want there to be a woman president,” Henning told TribLive. “It is terribly and horribly embarrassing that we are a first world country, and we’ve never had a woman in a serious position of power like this.”

Pennsylvania — especially the Pittsburgh area — has become a key focus of the 2024 presidential race.

Harris, Trump, and their running mates have stopped in Western Pennsylvania several times over the last two months.

Trump rallied in Indiana, Pa., Monday, pledging protectionist economic policies like tariffs and criticizing immigrants’ impact on Pennsylvania towns.

The GOP presidential nominee will reportedly return to the region next week for another rally in Butler, which would mark his return to the county where he was the target of an assassination attempt.

Harris was last in the area two weeks ago. She campaigned in Johnstown, meeting with voters one on one and plugging her policies to boost small business.

She will visit the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona on Friday as her campaign increasingly tries to make the issue of immigration more of a strength, countering a line of political attack from Trump.

Two people familiar with the matter confirmed the trip but insisted on anonymity on Wednesday to confirm details that had not been announced publicly, according to the Associated Press.

She spent nearly a week in Pittsburgh earlier in September preparing for a debate with Trump.

Harris has run out to a slight lead in Pennsylvania following a good debate performance.

Several polls of Keystone State voters were released last week, and the majority of them showed Harris with a narrow lead, but the political experts said the Pennsylvania’s race is still too close to call. They predict a tight contest.

Pennsylvania, with 19 Electoral College votes, is the nation’s largest swing state. Several political prognosticators believe it will be the tipping point in the November election.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.Ryan Deto and Megan Swift are TribLive staff writers. They can be reached at rdeto@triblive.com and mswift@triblive.com.

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