Overcspans three president ial leadership surveys, taken between 2000 and 2017, Andrew Jackson drops from 13th to 18th place. Dwight eisenhower rises from the ninth to the fifth spot. What is your favorite president . Learn that and more about the lives and leadership skills of 44 chief executives. In cspans the president s. Its great vacation reading. Available wherever books are sold. Or at cspan. Org the president s. Later today on cspan, a debate between British Foreign secretary jeremy hunt and former foreign secretary boris johnson. The two candidates to replace theresa may as british Prime Minister and leader of the conservative party. Watch that debate live at 3 00 p. M. Eastern from itv in london. Right here on cspan. California senator Kamala Harris is running for the democratic nomination for president. Recently held a town hall meeting in deroin, iowa des moines, iowa. Just over an hour. [crowd chanting] thank you so very much. Please, can we give it up for one of the great leaders of iowa and america. You wear so many hats. You wear so many hats. And you deserve a voice for so many people. Sime honored to have your support. Thank you for everything. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Confluence brewery, thanks for aking us in. Thats the last minute as you know because you are here and you just you shifted the plan and you came here. I cant thank confluence brewery and all of you on a rainy afternoon for being here. Im very, very touched. Thank you. Im Kamala Harris, im running for president of the united tates. Sen. Harris and so i wanted to share with you a couple of my thoughts and i am looking forward to taking questions. As you probably heard me say before, i fully intend to win this election. I really do. Part of the measure of our success is going to be at the end of this process that we are relevant. And in order to ensure that, it is important to me that i and we listen as much as i talk, especially at this stage of the campaign, so i am here to listen as much as i am to talk but i will share with you a couple of thoughts. First of all, can we get a big shout out for naral. Yay. [cheers and applause] sen. Harris there we are. So i thank you for cohosting this meet and greet and i want to thank the leaders of naral, most of whom are volunteers for the work they do and you do every day. We all know this is a Pivotal Moment in the history of our country. It is a moment in time that is requiring us each to look in the mirror and ask a question, that question being, who are we . We all know part of the answer to that question is we are etter than this. And one of the issues upon which we base that perspective is that right now, and it is not a new moment in america, but it is a highlighted moment. Womens access to Reproductive Health is under attack in america. And we have got to stand firm. We have got to stand firm. Just a few weeks ago, i was in alabama, you all know what is happening and is likely to happen in georgia and missouri. We are not being alarmists when we say women will die. And in particular, poor women and women of color. Those who cannot leave where they are, which is in a place where politicians have decided to tell women what to do with their own bodies. They cannot leave where they are in a place where politicians have decided they know better about what a woman needs than her own physician, and we are at a moment in time that is requiring us to recognize that these women are going to need our support and our help and their families because they have a right of course, to make decisions about their lives, and so many of them will not even be able to leave the state in which they live. Naral, youre doing that work of supporting these women and helping them in those places and being leaders around the country. The access to health care for women is under attack. Many of you may know, my sister and i she is here somewhere. Here she is. But you know, i grew up, we grew up hearing about Womens Health issues. Our mother was a Breast Cancer researcher. She was a scientist. My earliest memories, she would come home enraged often about the lack of dignity that women were given in the Health Care Delivery system in the context of scientific research, in the context of taking women seriously and at their word when they indicate or express what their needs are. So this issue is all too familiar to me. It is an issue that is an issue that not only represents what is right in terms of giving a woman her constitutional right to privacy and to exercising free will and exercising agency, it is not only an issue that is about the health and wellbeing of women and that women may actually die. It is also an issue about understanding equality, fundamental aspects of equality. Many of you watched the kavanaugh hearings. You remember when i asked that question, is there any law that you can think of that tells a man what to do with his body and you could see people going to all kinds of interesting places with that, right . No, it is about equality. It is a fundamental issue of equality. So im going to tell you on this issue specifically, part of what i am prepared to do is not only continue enjoying with all of our brothers and sisters in this fight for full reproductive freedom for women, but i will also tell you after elected, i am prepared to require that as it relates to any state that has a history of restricting a womans access to Reproductive Health care, that that state has to clear that law, to clear it for constitutional muster, to clear that it comports with roe v. Wade through the u. S. Department of justice, that is called preclearance. And until that law clears for constitutional muster, it cannot go into effect. [applause] sen. Harris because clearly, we need some oversight, constitutional oversight, so we will play on the defense, but lets also take it on the offense. [applause] sen. Harris this issue is one of the many issues that for me, it relates to the issues people were talking about from the time of my birth. Our parents met when they were students in the 1960s when they were active in the civil rights movement. We joke that we grew up surrounded by adults who spent full time marching and shouting about this thing called justice and the fight for justice and equality. The fight for civil rights, for justice, for equality, is a fight that must be fought and won with each generation. Right . I think there were two points there. One, that it is the very nature of this fight for justice and equality, that whatever gains we make, they will not be permanent. It is the nature of it. The second part of it is, point then is, knowing it is the nature of it, do not despair. Do not be overwhelmed, lets not throw up our hands when its time to roll up our sleeves, right . So on this fight for womens reproductive freedom, this is one of those things where we get to work and do what needs to be done on the defense and the offense, but there are so many other issues right now at play as well. I will tell you, that same ours, she was five feet tall, but you could say she was seven feet tall. Was fierce. She was the kind of parent who if you ever came home complaining about something, our mother would look at you with a hand on her hip and with a very straight face asked, well, what are you going to do about it . So, i decided to run for president of the United States. [cheers and applause] sen. Harris there you go. [laughter] sen. Harris there you go. And lets talk about what is at play right now. Weve got this guy in the white house, currently. Ok . He talks about how hes going to make America Great again. But what i would suggest is that he has actually betrayed america. He ran on a platform that said i am going to take care of yall. I dont need to tell iowa that this socalled trade policy trade by tweet has resulted in iowa farmers, some of whom are looking at bankruptcy, those who had cultivated a market over at least the last decade in china to sell soybeans, now sitting rotting in bins. I dont need to tell you how he betrayed people when we are looking at the fact that it is very possible that as many as 700,000 autoworkers in the United States may lose their job by the industry year. By the end of the year. Lets talk about betrayal of the American Families with the socalled trump trade policy, which i call the trump trade tax, American Families are spending 1. 4 billion dollars a month more for everything from shampoos to washing machines. Its not about making America Great again. He wants to take america backward, and we are prepared to turn the page. We are prepared to turn the page. [applause] sen. Harris and to turn the page, we are going to need to prosecute the case against four more years of this administration. [cheers and applause] as a former prosecutor, im here to teach you about part of my background i have a background where successfully, i have prosecuted the big banks who preyed on homeowners, prosecuted pharmaceutical companies who preyed on seniors, prosecuted Transnational Criminal Organizations that preyed on women and children, and i will tell you, we have a predator living in the white house. [applause] sen. Harris and the thing about this person, is hes got predatory instincts and a predatory nature. Because let me tell you a secret about predators. They prey on the vulnerable. They prey on those who they assume are weak. They prey on those they assume are desperate. The thing about predators is this they are cowards. What we need and want in our america is a president of the United States who recognizes that her strength derives from an ability not to beat people down, but lift people up. [cheers and applause] sen. Harris lift them up. Look at the rap sheet on this case. Lets look at the rap sheet, shall we . So, lets look at the facts that promised working people that they would be helped, but then he passes a tax bill benefiting the top 1 and the biggest corporations. You look at the trump trade tax and what is happening in terms of yet again continuous attempts to take health care from American Families, including reviving preexisting conditions as a ban on getting access to health care. You look at the fact that there are children in cages and they are separating children from their parents in the name of order security, when in fact that is human rights abuse being committed by the United States government. [applause] sen. Harris there is plenty of evidence to prosecute this case, but lets also talk about the fact that what is before us is not only about the, it is about the future of our country, its also about the future of our country and fighting for the country we love. Tomorrow, we will celebrate our nations independence. Tomorrow, we will reflect on the fact that we are a nation who derives its greatest strength from the fact that by our very nature, we are aspirational. We are a nation that was founded on noble ideals. Ideals that were present when we wrote the constitution of the United States and all of the amendments and the bill of rights and declaration of independence and those words we that we are all equal and should be treated that way we are aspirational. We are also cleareyed. We have not yet reached those ideals, but the strength of who we are is we fight to get there, and so, fight we will and fight we must, and let us be clear this is a fight that is born out of optimism. This is a fight that is born out of seeing and knowing what can be, and believing in that, unburned by what has been. This is a fight that is born not only of knowing we must fight for the soul of our country, but a fight born out of love your love of country, and this is a fight, therefore, for our america and the america we believe in. The america we believe in. Because we believe that working people should be able to get through the end of the month without worrying about how they will pay their bills. We believe in an america where you only have to work one job to have a roof over your head and put food on the table. We believe in an america where teachers are paid their value. [cheers and applause] sen. Harris we believe in an america where women are paid the same as men. We believe in an america where women will always have access to Reproductive Health. We believe in an america where no child has to attend a hearing to determine if they can hide in a closet because of a gunman roaming the halls of their schools. We believe in an america where everyone is given dignity and is treated with equality and fairness, and that is why we will continue to fight, and as we march toward the selection in this election in 2020, with and born out of an ultimate and fundamental belief that we are all in this together and that we all rise and fall together and that the power is in the people, with all that in our hearts and our souls, i promise you, des moines, we will win this election. [cheers and applause] sen. Harris we will win. Kamala Kamala KamalaKamala Kamala kamala woo ok, lets take some questions. Shall we go with katie here . Hello. My name is katie, and i am an undecided iowa democrat. Im excited to be here for two reasons. First of all, i was very impressed with your performance in the debate. [cheers and applause] that was awesome. And also, because im just very happy to be in a room with so many prochoice iowans. We really do not get together enough. About 10 years ago, i found myself facing an unplanned pregnancy. I was a college student, and to be totally honest, i had never thought too much about reproductive rights, because i never thought i would need them, but i do distinctly remember the moment i found out i was pregnant. I had two immediate thoughts before the denial and grief and all those thoughts that come later. I remember thinking, i need to have an abortion and, oh, i live in iowa. I knew abortion was a controversial subject, but up until that point, i never considered how the controversy what impact the trajectory of my life. I remember google searching if abortion is legal in iowa and how to get an abortion in iowa, and i remember seeing pages of results about all the different ways Iowa Republicans were trying to restrict reproductive rights. Fortunately, i was lucky and i was able to get abortion care in my home state without having to jump through too many legal hoops, but that feeling, that fear of i know what i need but i dont know if i will be able to legally access it, has stayed with me. It has been 10 years since my abortion, and if im totally honest, my feelings have fluctuated. Sometimes im 100 confident i made the right decision, and sometimes im not that sure. Sometimes, i think about it and im really happy that i was able to choose my own path, and sometimes i really am sad about the path i did not choose, but the one thing in which im confident is i am incredibly grateful that i was able to make that decision for myself. [cheers and applause] the other thing that has been constant is that republican lawmakers have been trying to take that power away. That is why, for me, it is essential the next president of the United States be an individual who is not just prochoice, but is someone who will be a National Leader for the cause of reproductive justice. As you said, i have not been around quite as long, but im very tired of this fight, and i want a president who will not just defend the status quo, but will do everything in her power to ensure that future generations have access to a full range of Reproductive Health care. My question this is a crowded field where we know defending Abortion Access is the floor, not the ceiling, for candidates. We know each candidate has promised to veto dangerous antichoice legislation, but with roe v. Wade under dire and immediate threat, we need more than that. My question for you is, what is your plan for proactively safeguarding reproductive freedom and locking in these reproductive rights and what would a Harris Administration do that others might not to protect reproductive choice . Thank you. [cheers and applause] first, i am in awe of your courage. Really, to speak in this venue with all who are here and with such grace, to tell your story that is a very personal story, and it is a story that many women in america can tell, but you have a special ability to have the confidence and courage to speak it in a room like this and those truths need to be heard by everyone, so i first just want to thank you for that. [cheers and applause] so, you know, listen, first of all, i think what im offering is something no one has talked about or offered before, a new approach, and maybe it comes from the fact that in my background, i was for two terms the attorney general of california. I ran the second Largest Department of justice in the United States second only to the United States department of justice. I will also tell you in terms of my background, i share with you that my parents were active in the civil rights movement. What inspired me to want to become a lawyer was actually those lawyers who were active in the civil rights movement. Thurgood marshall and Charles Hamilton houston. It was these individuals who understood the skill and power who understood the law to translate the passion of the streets to the courtrooms of our country and ensure that people who deserve full equality under the law receive it. Thats why i wanted to be a lawyer, to make sure that happens. And so, it is through that lens i actually do think of a number of issues, including this issue. Which is, lets continue with our activism and continue to take it to the streets. Lets also do what we need to do around litigation against these bad laws, but also from a proactive position, think about how this is a fundamental issue of justice and in that way, thats how i think about the role of the United Stat