Vice President Kamala Harris made the trip to Hampton University in Virginia on Thursday, to kick off a multi-state “Fight for Our Freedoms College Tour" as the Biden-Harris administration seeks to energize what could be a key voting bloc in the 2024 presidential election.

“What concerns me sometimes is that our young leaders will be told that their vote doesn't matter,” Harris told a boisterous crowd at the historically Black research university. 

“They will be told, by just the forces, that ‘oh, they are unlikely to vote.’ And I know that is not true,” she added, mentioning there was voter registration on campus during her visit. 

The vice president, sitting down for a moderated conversation, took questions from students on gun control, climate change and student loan debt. She argued when it comes to gun violence and the climate, policies will change when young people vote in high numbers. 

“I think that the people who are currently in elected office, who have the power to make decisions about this, don't understand what you all have been through. They don't get it,” she said pointing, to active shooter drills in school and telling the audience “your generation has, your entire life, been acutely aware of the climate crisis.” 

“That's why I can't wait for you to continue in your role of leadership, because when you all start voting in your numbers, this is gonna change.” 

The administration is seeking to mobilize young Americans by highlighting key issues it argues "disproportionately impact young people," like reproductive rights, gun safety, voting rights, LGBTQ+ equality and climate change – with Harris having emerged as a leading voice for the White House on the first three issues in particular.  

This summer, Vice President Harris notably traveled to Florida to condemn Republican-led efforts to overhaul educational standards — condemning efforts by officials to “replace history with lies” — declaring that the nation does not have “a moment to spare, nor do we have a life to spare” in the fight to enact stricter firearm legislation at a major gun safety conference in Chicago, and traveled to Iowa to condemn the state’s six-week abortion ban.

Harris on Thursday made the case – as she often has at events centering on issues mentioned above – that “there is an intentional, full-on attack against hard won freedoms,” encouraging students to consider the moment a “call to action” and a reminder they can “never take anything for granted.” 

The vice president was greeted on Thursday at Hampton University by a group of students with pom poms and balloons. She spoke briefly with students outside the auditorium. 

“It is an honor to welcome Vice President Kamala Harris to our ‘Home By the Sea,’” Hampton University President Darrell K. Williams said in a statement. “The excitement across our campus is palpable, and we are grateful for Vice President Harris’ focus on higher education and our students. The bright minds and student leaders of character at Hampton and other institutions are our future.”

Harris' tour will also take her to Morehouse College in Georgia and North Carolina A&T State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Ariz. The White House said the tour is a continuation of Harris’ recent travel — she has been to 17 states this summer— and continues a trend of college visits; she has already been to 11 college campuses in 2023 so far, and 14 institutions last year.

Ahead of the vice president’s college tour kick-off, the White House sought to highlight the actions the administration has taken to support younger generations, including funding 14,000 new mental health professionals in schools through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and investing $39 billion in colleges through the American Rescue Plan to help them continue serving students during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The White House is also pointing to its work on student debt despite major legal setbacks and challenges around its agenda on the topic. The Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness plan earlier this summer. 

Harris encouraged students to look into the administration’s student loan repayment plan – which is separate from debt forgiveness – that officially launched last month. 

“I think the responsible thing to do is keep pushing and fighting,” she said, speaking on forgiving student debt. 

"The Vice President has been very outspoken, especially of late, on the attacks that we're seeing on Americans basic freedoms," Ernie Apreza, Harris' deputy press secretary told Spectrum News in an interview last week. "She's also very aware and has highlighted just how critical young people have been to any civil rights movement, and certainly how critical they are to the urgent issues that are at stake today."

Spectrum News' Cassie Semyon contributed to this report.