Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Seattle on Wednesday to speak about the administration’s low-emission school bus initiative, her office announced on Friday. She will also attend a private fundraiser, an opportunity to raise money during a pivotal moment in the midterm election season.
Harris plans to attend a public event where she’ll share remarks on the clean school bus program, a $5 billion national plan to replace school buses with zero-emission or low-emission alternatives. The initiative is spearheaded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
EPA Administrator Michael Regan will join Harris for the Seattle speech. The White House has yet to release details on the location or time of the event.
The vice president’s second stop, the fundraising event, will be closed to the general public.
The visit will mark Harris’ first return to Seattle since her presidential campaign in 2019. The then-candidate shared plans for gun safety measures at a speech in the city’s Central District. After meeting with weeping mothers of gun-violence victims, Harris aimed to bolster background checks and ban assault weapons, she told a packed theater at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute in September 2019.
Harris’ stop in Seattle appears similar to Jill Biden’s early October visit. The first lady visited the Pacific Science Center to talk about caregivers and also attended a fundraiser where she discussed helping a friend recover after an abortion.
In Washington, Sen. Patty Murray is seeking a sixth term against Republican challenger Tiffany Smiley in what appears to be the closest Senate contest here in more than a decade. And Rep. Kim Schrier is trying to hold on to the competitive 8th District House seat against Republican Matt Larkin.
