On Nov. 5, former Vice President Kamala Harris brought her book tour to Portland’s Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Despite a high-wind advisory from the National Weather Service, about 70 protesters gathered outside to oppose her visit.

As lines began forming, two separate groups of protestors chanted by the front and back entrances to the concert hall. Their chants included “shame” and “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide. You funded a genocide.” 

Although Harris’ book tour is coming to a close with only five stops left, protests arose at many of her stops. Code Pink, an anti-war organization that has been active nation-wide since 2002, being particularly involved. 

According to the group’s website, members bought tickets to attend Harris’ stop in Madison, Wisconsin, where they chanted and disrupted the event. Wednesday’s protest in Portland was organized by Melanie Cambron, leader of Code Pink Portland, although no members entered the book reading.

Cambron has only been organizing since this summer, explaining she found out Code Pink was no longer active in Portland at the time. She shared she was impressed with how many other organizations had come out to protest.

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Josiah Pensado Alvarenga

Protesters rally outside the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall during Kamala Harris’ “107 Days” tour stop on Nov. 5, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (Josiah Pensado Alvarenga/Emerald)

Mog, an organizer with Resist US Led War attended the protest because they said they feel Harris is “the other side of (President Donald Trump’s) coin.” Additionally claiming that the former vice president had directly partaken in aiding a genocide against Palestinians.

“She likes to skate by on identity politics, being more polite than Trump is, but she is absolutely willing to commit human rights atrocities,” Mog said. 

At a nearby park, Asher and his friends set up a poetry reading event. He explained that their goal was to protest the concert hall for giving Harris a platform. He said the poetry reading was an alternative to the event inside. 

“So we’re a group of poets who get together regularly,” Asher said. “We came down to provide an alternative reading to someone who was a war criminal and did not write a real book.” 

The crowds did not clash physically, although some protesters attempting to pass out flyers to attendees had the papers thrown at them according to Mog. 

By 8 p.m. the crowd had dispersed, leaving only 10 protestors outside the event.