The Ellipse, in between the White House and the Washington Monument, has always been an iconic location – and was an especially meaningful location for Kamala Harris to use, in counter to Trump’s last speech there on January 6th.
The gates opened at 3:00, more than four hours before Harris’s speech. The grounds quickly filled up.
Many politicians came to the event, including:
Senator Chris Coons
Representative Barbara Lee
Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks
Representative Ilhan Omar
The Ellipse had reached capacity long before nightfall, with everyone waiting excitedly for Harris to come on stage.
The crowd was electrified when Harris started speaking:
The Line
The early arrivals
First in line was Tracee Loran from Brooklyn. She got there at 7:20 am, about 12 hours before Harris’s speech began.
Other early arrivals, getting there by mid-morning, prepared for a long wait:
The later arrivals
The line got longer and longer by early afternoon. Many of the people waited in line for a couple of hours only to find that the Ellipse had reached capacity and they were directed across the street to the overflow area.
The Overflow
The thousands of people who did not get into the Ellipse formed a huge crowd on the grounds of the Washington Monument – listening to the speech and viewing it on a Jumbotron on Constitution Avenue.
