Topic: Essence Festival

Vice President Kamala Harris appeared at the Essence Festival and in a BET Awards sketch with Taraji P. Henson to mobilize black female voters. The messaging focused heavily on "Project 2025," claiming the plan would reinstate the draft and target vulnerable citizens. Critics noted Harris's use of slang and "code-switching" during these appearances, as well as Henson's inaccurate claims regarding the criminalization of homelessness.

At the Essence Festival, Kamala Harris described herself as a "daughter of the Civil Rights Movement." Critics questioned this framing, noting that Harris spent much of her youth in Canada and does not have a family history rooted in the American Jim Crow era.