共和党总统候选人在大选期间争夺选票周一全国第一次爱荷华州党团会议，副总裁卡玛拉·哈里斯我当时在南卡罗来纳州，在下个月将开始民主党初选的州争取支持。

“回来真好，”哈里斯在进入车队前说，这是她自新年伊始第二次前往南卡罗来纳州。

在拜登-哈里斯2024年竞选活动进入高潮之际，美国广播公司新闻频道(ABC News)获准在副总统访问期间独家采访她，获得了罕见的幕后画面。美国广播公司新闻首席白宫记者玛丽·布鲁斯跟随哈里斯乘坐空军二号出行，在南卡罗来纳州议会大厦外发表演讲并会见支持者。

哈里斯在竞选活动中发挥了越来越大的作用，在过去六个月中前往至少18个州，就堕胎权、种族和投票权等问题展开政治斗争。

正如许多选民所说，乔·拜登总统的年龄是一个首要问题。作为有史以来最年长的在任总统，拜登在第二个任期结束时将86岁。新的ABC新闻/益普索投票调查显示，只有28%的受访者认为拜登有精神状态再干四年，低于2020年5月的约50%。

2024年1月15日，美国副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯在南卡罗来纳州首府哥伦比亚的南卡罗来纳州议会大厦外发表讲话。

凯文·沃姆/路透社

布鲁斯就竞选团队计划如何改变这种看法向哈里斯施压。

“我会告诉你，事实是，我已经和拜登一起度过了很多时间，无论是在椭圆形办公室，还是在情况室和其他地方——他非常聪明。他有能力预见到我们作为一个国家或全球可能面临的挑战。”

哈里斯补充说:“嗯，我的意思是，听着，你现在和我一起在南卡罗来纳州。你看到了我们进去的每个房间。那里的许多人都在大声鼓掌，他们为我鼓掌，为乔·拜登和我们作为一个政府所取得的成就鼓掌。他们在那里是因为他们相信我们正在做的事情，他们希望看到我们继续做这项工作。”

周一，哈里斯在州议会大厦外对数百人发表讲话，纪念马丁·路德·金日，并阐述了她认为即将到来的选举中的利害关系。

哈里斯说:“作为美国副总统，我要说，此时此刻，在美国，自由正受到严重威胁。”“事实上，今天我们正在目睹对来之不易的自由的全面攻击。”

南卡罗来纳州在民主党初选政治中发挥了关键作用。大多数参加该州民主党初选的选民是黑人——该党的基础。这也重振了拜登在2020年的竞选活动，此前他在爱荷华州排名第四，在新罕布什尔州排名第五。

民主党全国委员会(Democratic National Committee)改变了2024年总统初选日历，将南卡罗来纳州提升为第一个投票的州，同时将爱荷华州和新罕布什尔州降级。尽管这两个州都表示强烈抗议，但全国民主党人认为这两个州并不代表他们的选民基础或国家。

竞选副经理昆廷·富尔克斯在本月早些时候的一次电话中告诉记者:“我们不会等待并在最后一刻空降到这些社区并要求他们投票，我们会赢得他们的选票。”

“嗯，这就是我来这里的原因，”哈里斯在离开哥伦比亚大学之前接受采访时告诉布鲁斯。“我们已经做了非常好的工作，我们的挑战将是让人们知道是谁把它带给他们的。”

她补充说:“我们已经完成了将失业率、黑人失业率降至我们所见过的最低水平的工作……我们在学生贷款债务方面所做的工作，我们现在已经为超过350万人免除了学生贷款债务，还有更多工作要做，所以我们已经完成了。”

根据美国广播公司新闻/益普索民意调查，他们没有兑现的一个领域是移民问题，这是选民的一个关键问题。只有18%的人认可拜登对边境的处理方式。

拜登指派哈里斯负责解决南部边境移民的根本原因。

民主党人和共和党人正在国会山进行谈判，因为美国在南部边境面临创纪录的遭遇。一些民主党人正在敦促政府采取更多行动，包括纽约市长埃里克·亚当斯，他指责华盛顿在这个问题上缺乏紧迫性。

“你的政府对此负责吗?“布鲁斯向副总统施压。

哈里斯回应道:“我们有一个破碎的移民系统，这对任何人来说都不是秘密，它需要得到修复，如果我们能够达成一些两党共识来做到这一点，那将是非常棒的。”

在堕胎权利方面，哈里斯也发挥了主导作用。这位加州本地人将于下周开始一场全国性的“生殖自由之旅”，以突出政府为堕胎权所做的斗争。

尽管白宫表示希望将罗诉韦德案时期保障的权利写入法律，但在众议院和参议院没有民主党多数席位的情况下，其行动能力有限。

“你能现实地向美国人民承诺你会做些什么来保护这些生育权?”布鲁斯催促道。

“嗯，我们将继续做我们一直在做的事情，因此这包括我们通过法院系统所做的事情，我们正在做的事情以确保所有人在获得紧急护理方面获得紧急护理和保护，我们正在做的事情以保护获得避孕是另一大部分，”哈里斯说。

“但底线是:从堪萨斯州到加利福尼亚州，从俄亥俄州到弗吉尼亚州。当这个问题进入投票时，美国人民投票支持自由，”她补充说。

随着拜登和特朗普可能再次交锋，拜登-哈里斯竞选团队表示，未来几个月选民将面临涉及“民主和自由”的严峻选择。哈里斯告诉布鲁斯，竞选团队正在为一场硬仗做准备。

“嗯，我的意思是，我们正在谈论美国总统和副总统的选举，我们必须赢得连任。我的意思是，现在是充满挑战的时期，”她说。“我一直在我们的国家旅行，对我来说很明显，有人企图攻击这些最基本的自由和自由。”

布鲁斯问哈里斯，与前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)的复赛是否已成定局。特朗普在周一晚些时候轻松赢得了爱荷华州的党团会议。

“我不知道，”哈里斯说。“但你看，如果是唐纳德·特朗普，我们以前击败过他，我们会再次击败他。”

ABC News gets rare access to VP Kamala Harris as she hits the 2024 campaign trail

As the Republican presidential candidates jockeyed for votes during thefirst-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses on Monday, Vice PresidentKamala Harriswas in South Carolina, shoring up support in a state that will kick off Democrats' primary season next month.

"It's good to be back," Harris, who was making her second trip to South Carolina since the start of the new year, said before getting in her motorcade.

ABC News was granted exclusive access to the vice president during her trip, getting a rare, behind-the-scenes look as the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign kicks into high gear. ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce followed Harris as she traveled on Air Force Two, delivered a speech outside the South Carolina State House and met with supporters.

Harris has taken an expanded role on the campaign trail, traveling to at least 18 states over the last six months -- taking on political fights over abortion access, race and voting rights.

This, as many voters say President Joe Biden's age is a top concern. The oldest-ever sitting president, Biden would be 86 at the end of a second term. A new ABC News/Ipsospollshows only 28% of those surveyed say Biden has the mental sharpness to serve another four years, down from about 50% in May 2020.

Bruce pressed Harris on how the campaign plans to change that perception.

"I'll tell you, the reality of it is, and I've spent a lot of time with Biden, be it in the Oval Office, in the Situation Room and other places -- he is extraordinarily smart. He has the ability to see around the corner in terms of what might be the challenges we face as a nation or globally."

Harris added: "Well, I mean, listen, you're here with me in South Carolina. You saw every room we went in. The numbers of people who are there, applauding quite loudly, and they're applauding for me and they're applauding for Joe Biden and for what we as an administration have accomplished. They're there because they believe in what we're doing and they want to see us continue to do this work."

On Monday, Harris spoke to a crowd of hundreds outside the state Capitol to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day and laid out what she saw was at stake in the coming election.

"As vice president of the United States, I'd say, at this moment, in America, freedom is under profound threat," Harris said. "Today, in fact, we are witnessing a full-on attack on hard-fought, hard-won freedoms."

South Carolina has played a critical role in Democratic primary politics. Most voters who participate in the state's Democratic primary are Black -- the party's base. It also revived Biden's campaign in 2020 after he came in fourth in Iowa, and fifth in New Hampshire.

In a nod to South Carolina's role in Biden's 2020 win, the Democratic National Committee changed its 2024 presidential primary calendar to elevate South Carolina to be the first state to vote while demoting Iowa and New Hampshire, which national Democrats argue are not representative of their voter base or of the country, despite sharp outcry from both states.

"We're not going to wait and parachute into these communities at the last minute and ask them for their vote, we're going to earn their vote," deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks told reporters on a call earlier this month.

"Well, that's why I'm out here," Harris told Bruce in an interview before departing Columbia. "We've done really good work, our challenge will be to let people know who brung it to them."

She added: "We have done the work that has been about bringing down unemployment, Black unemployment, to some of the lowest numbers we've ever seen … What we've done on student loan debt, we have now erased student loan debt for over three-and-a-half million people and with more to do, so we've delivered."

An area where they have not delivered, according to the ABC News/Ipsos poll, is on immigration, a critical issue for voters. Just 18% approve of Biden's handling of the border.

Biden assigned Harris the responsibility of addressing the root causes of migration at the southern border.

Democrats and Republicans are negotiating on Capitol Hill as the country faces record-shattering numbers of encounters at the southern border. Some Democrats are pressing the administration to do more, including New York Mayor Eric Adams, who has chided Washington for lacking urgency on the issue.

"Does your administration bear responsibility for that?" Bruce pressed the vice president.

"It is no secret for anyone that we have a broken immigration system, and it needs to be fixed and it would be great if we could get some bipartisan consensus to do just that," Harris resonded.

Harris has also taken a leading role when it comes to abortion rights. The California native will be embarking upon a nationwide "Reproductive Freedoms Tour" next week to highlight the administration's fight for abortion access.

While the White House has said it wants to codify the rights previously guaranteed under Roe v. Wade, without Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, its ability to act is limited.

"What can you realistically promise the American people you would do to protect these reproductive rights?” Bruce pressed.

"Well, we're gonna continue to do what we've been doing, and so that includes what we're doing through the court system, what we're doing to ensure emergency care and protection for all people in terms of access to emergency care, what we're doing to protect access to contraception is another big piece of this," Harris said.

"But here's the bottom line: From Kansas to California from, from Ohio to Virginia. When this issue has been on the ballot, the American people have voted in favor of freedoms," she added.

With a potential Biden-Trump rematch on the horizon, the Biden-Harris campaign says in the coming months voters will be presented with a stark choice involving "democracy and freedom." Harris told Bruce the campaign is gearing up for a tough fight.

"Well, I mean, we're talking about an election for president of the United States, vice president of the United States, and we have to earn that reelect. I mean, these are challenging times," she said. "I have been traveling our country, and it is clear to me that there is an intent to attack these most fundamental freedoms and liberties."

Bruce asked Harris if a rematch with former President Donald Trump, who went on to handily win the Iowa caucuses later on Monday, was a foregone conclusion.

"I don't know," Harris said. "But look, if it is Donald Trump, we've beat him before and we'll beat him again."