Hadley Duvall (photo by Lucy Valeski)

A new campaign ad from Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign features sexual abuse survivor Hadley Duvall, a Kentucky woman who was raped by her stepfather and became pregnant when she was 12 years old.

Duvall says in the 30-second spot, titled “Monster” that at the time she discovered she was pregnant, she “had options” that survivors of rape and incest no longer have after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Kentucky’s current abortion ban has no exceptions for rape or incest.

“I didn’t know what to do. I was a child. I didn’t know what it meant to be pregnant, at all,” Duvall says in the ad.? “Donald Trump overturned Roe v. Wade, girls and women all over the country have lost the right to choose, even for rape or incest.”

Trump appointed three of the Supreme Court justices who voted in favor of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe. He has boasted about the appointments, and said during a Sept. 10 debate with Harris that he would not sign a nationwide abortion bill into law, but did not answer whether he would veto such a ban.

“What I did is something, for 52 years, they have been trying to get Roe v. Wade into the states, and through the genius and heart and strength of six Supreme Court justices, we were able to do that,” Trump said. He added that he “strongly” believes in exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.

Harris said during the debate that she would “proudly” sign a bill into law that restored the federal right to an abortion.

Duvall first spoke publicly about her experience after Roe was overturned and Kentucky’s trigger law took effect. She appeared in a 2023 campaign ad for Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, criticizing Beshear’s GOP opponent for his support of Kentucky’s abortion ban.

“To tell a 12-year-old girl she must have the baby of her stepfather who raped her is unthinkable,” she said in the Beshear campaign ad.

Beshear won his bid for reelection.

Duvall also appeared at the Democratic National Convention last month with other women who had been affected by abortion bans in southern states, and joined Gov. Josh Shapiro in Philadelphia on Sunday to kick off the Harris campaign’s “Fighting for Reproductive Freedom” bus tour. The tour stops in Harrisburg on Wednesday.

The soundtrack to the “Monster” ad is the song “When the Party’s Over” by Billie Eilish, who on Tuesday endorsed the Harris-Walz ticket “because they are fighting to protect our reproductive freedom.”

Harris was in Philadelphia on Tuesday for an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists, where she reiterated her support for reinstating Roe and codifying its protections into law. Women, she said, should be able to decide what is best for them when it comes to their own bodies, “instead of having her government tell her what to do —? especially a bunch of people in these state capitals who think they’re in a better position to tell her what to do than she is to know what’s in her best interest.”

“Monster” begins airing today on national TV and on broadcast and cable networks across battleground states, including Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kim Lyons for questions: [email protected]. Follow Pennsylvania Capital-Star on Facebook and X.

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at the Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote Presidential Town Hall at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on July 13, 2024 in Philadelphia. (Photo by Drew Hallowell/Getty Images)

Vice President Kamala Harris will make her first visit to Pennsylvania as the Democratic Party’s likely presidential nominee next Tuesday, and will be joined by her yet-unnamed running mate, the Harris campaign confirmed.

“Next week, Vice President Harris and her future running mate will crisscross the country together to campaign to the voters who will decide this election, including a stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,” a Harris campaign official told the Capital-Star.

The news was first reported by Politico. Politico reported Tuesday that in addition to Philadelphia, Harris will campaign with her running mate next week in Wisconsin, Detroit, Raleigh, Savannah, Phoenix and Las Vegas.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is believed to be on the short list of candidates to be Harris’ running mate, but he has declined to comment, referring all questions to the Harris campaign. Harris became the Democrats’ likely presidential nominee after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid on July 21 and endorsed her.

Harris has since secured commitments from enough state delegates to clinch the nomination, which is expected to be made official at the Democratic National Convention next month, or possibly before.

In the short time since Biden dropped out, Shapiro has stumped for Harris at campaign events across the state, on Saturday in Carlisle, and on Monday at a rally in Montgomery County.

He was joined Monday by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was herself rumored to be a candidate for Harris’ running mate, but has said she had no plans to seek higher office. CNBC reported Shapiro will be in the Hamptons in New York state on Sunday to rub elbows with wealthy donors.

Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee for president, will be in Harrisburg on Wednesday for his first campaign rally in Pennsylvania since he was injured during an assassination attempt in Butler on July 13. Trump named U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio his running mate on July 15, and the two have campaigned in battleground states over the past two weeks.

Vance is not expected to be at the rally in Harrisburg, but GOP U.S. Senate candidate David McCormick, who was also at the Butler rally, will be in attendance. Vance has not campaigned in Pennsylvania since being officially named as the vice presidential pick.

A poll from Susquehanna Polling released Tuesday found Harris leading Trump by 4 points in Pennsylvania, 47% to 43%. Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. received 3% in the poll, conducted between July 22 and 28.

With its 19 electoral votes, Pennsylvania is the biggest prize of all the battleground states, and is considered key to winning the presidency. Harris most recently visited the Keystone state in a July 13 appearance in Philadelphia, to address the Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote) Presidential Town Hall.

Biden beat Trump in Pennsylvania in 2020 by just over 80,000 votes.

UAW President Shawn Fain talks to picketing workers at Ford-owned Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan the night of September 14, 2023. (photo: Anna Liz Nichols)

Members of United Auto Workers walked off the job Monday morning at Mack Truck facilities in three states, after rejecting a tentative contract agreement with the company.

According to a statement from UAW, 73% of the 4,000 workers voted to reject the tentative agreement with Greensboro, N.C.-based Mack, which was reached shortly ahead of an Oct. 1 deadline. The Associated Press reported the contract would have included a 19% pay raise.

“I’m inspired to see UAW members at Mack Trucks holding out for a better deal, and ready to stand up and walk off the job to win it,” UAW president Shawn Fain said in a statement Monday. “The members have the final say, and it’s their solidarity and organization that will win a fair contract at Mack.”

Fain said in a letter to Mack company officials that there were several topics that remained at issue, including wage increases, cost of living allowances, job security, work schedules, health and safety, pensions, and overtime.

UAW Locals 171, 677, 1247, 2301, and 2420 in UAW Region 8 and Region 9 represent workers at Mack Trucks locations in Macungie and Middletown, Pennsylvania; Hagerstown and Baltimore, Maryland; and Jacksonville, Florida, the union said.