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With Beyoncé as her warm-up act, Kamala Harris packed a Houston stadium Friday night with a late campaign through a state where a win for her is unlikely and was not the goal. From deep in Texas, the vice president’s goal was for the rest of the country to hear his message: Texas’ abortion ban could become the national standard if Donald Trump gets a second term in the White House.

“Freedom must not be granted. Not to be given away. It’s ours by right, and we’re prepared to fight for it because we understand the stakes,” Harris told a crowd that roared with the excitement usually reserved for mega-events like a World Series or, well, a Beyoncé tour. “Texas, you are ground zero in the fight for reproductive freedom.”

The Harris campaign said the 30,000 people in attendance made it the largest rally yet. The biggest attraction of the night, of course, was Beyonce Knowles-Carter, the incomparable artist who hails from Houston. Although she didn’t perform, Beyonce and her former Destiny’s Child co-headliner Kelly Rowland introduced the vice president. And the legend Willie Nelson, introduced simply as “the voter from Texas,” also performed a two-song set earlier in the evening. Tina Knowles, Beyoncé’s mother, also made the case for a Harris presidency.

But it was Queen Bey who understood the task best. One of the most popular musicians on the planet, her political chops are less often used than other stars like Taylor Swift, who has also endorsed Harris. While Beyoncé has a clear history of supporting Democratic candidates, her brand is one that extends beyond traditional corners, and her remarks landed firmly in that sweet spot.

“We’re on the precipice of incredible change, on the brink of history,” Beyoncé told a packed Shell Energy Stadium in Harris’ presentation. “I’m not here as a celebrity. I am not here as a politician. I am here as a mother. A mother who cares deeply about the world my children and all our children live in. A world where we have the freedom to control our bodies. A world where we are not divided.”

In addition to creating the kind of animated event that garnered national attention, the event was also meant to boost Democrat Colin Allred, who spoke earlier at the rally and is fighting to unseat Ted Cruz in a race surprisingly competitive for the Senate.

With Democrats facing a particularly dangerous Senate map, the Harris/Beyoncé event was part of a larger effort by Democrats to boost down-ballot races as a last-minute insurance policy in case in which Harris could prevail in her bid for the White House. If Republicans claim the Senate by a net margin of two seats, they could effectively veto Harris’ agenda. (The same can be said for the House, where Republicans are trying to maintain a narrow but unbridled majority.) Clearly, the reasoning behind a visit to GOP-friendly Texas so close to Election Day was multiple, and Harris made a big bet that the resonance of the state’s near total abortion ban could spark action for others within the state as well as for her in must-win states.

“Women have died because of Trump’s abortion ban,” Harris said. “In just four years as president, Donald Trump has managed to erase half a century of rough progress for women. Now he wants to go even further. … If Trump wins again, he will ban abortion nationwide.”

Trump said he was proud of the appointment of three justices who helped overturn the Supreme Court Roe v. Wade and ended half a century of federal protections against abortion. The former president claimed that he prefers the states themselves set the standards on its own, a reality that has created an inconsistent environment for abortion seekers and a very uneven patchwork of policies and practices.

Harris clearly had the audience watching in other states in mind as he hammered home the case that this is about a lot more than what’s happening in Texas.

“Reproductive freedom is on the ballot in this presidential election and in 10 states across the country, including Arizona, Florida and Nevada,” she said. “With the work of everyone here, freedom will prevail.”

Republicans need to pick up just two seats in the Senate to have a majority to check a potential Harris era. If Trump wins, Vice President JD Vance would be the tiebreaker in a 50-50 Senate if the GOP manages to pick up just one seat, and that’s almost a given because Sen. Joe Manchin has decided not to run in West Virginia ; Democrats all but abandoned that contest in short order.

So Harris’s alarmism about the prospect of Trump and a GOP-controlled Congress is not unfounded. Trump has already signaled that his return to power won’t necessarily be marred by the amateurism of his first term. His allies around Washington have drawn up a detailed agenda, one that Harris and her allies have used with success to the point where some authors of Project 2025 have already been barred from all access to Trump.

But abortion rights were the focus of the evening’s message. One in three American women live in a state where abortion is not an option. In Texas, for example, health care providers face jail time if they perform abortions, and there are cash incentives — rewards, really — for Texans who report those who have the procedure or help someone obtain one. That’s why about three dozen doctors in white coats took the stage before Harris, and several Texans spoke of their own personal crises trying to provide abortions for non-viable pregnancies.

Read more: That Texas abortion case is even worse than you think

The evening was one that brought a major dose of excitement to a campaign that has struggled to lift the race from coin-toss status. The line stretched block after block. Some arrived before dawn to ensure they had prime seats when the doors opened in the late afternoon. With an atmosphere more akin to a music festival than a political rally, the turnout was big — which is exactly what Democrats need if they’re going to have a chance in the Senate race — or perhaps the longest of chances. since 40 years of the state. electoral votes.

As a political matter, Harris presented the event as a rally about reproductive rights that, frankly, are lacking in Texas. But the audience was far from those inside the stadium.

The message, at least at the concert where he happened to sprinkle in a political PSA, appeared to have accomplished its surface-level mission. That’s why, like TIME’s Charlotte Alter recently reportedDemocrats suddenly hope that the outcome of the election could hinge on abortion rights.

“I’m not really into politics, but I wanted to come see for myself,” says Lakeita Crawford, a 32-year-old self-employed Houston resident. “I feel like people want to support Kamala, but she needed to come and connect with us. I’m not a fan of Donald Trump, but I want to be here to hear Harris.”

Across the football field, Jasman Worthy, 24, stood in front of the barricade at her first political event. “Girl power,” she enthused. “We have to support Kamala. She’s getting Houston and we’ve got to get her back.”

In this sense, the communal nature of the evening suggests that Harris may have tapped into a stream of politics that few have been able to credibly tap into. Movements rarely come across such a short timeline, but they usually lack a built-in brand loyalty like Beyoncé. In that sense, her campaign does nothing to mitigate the built-in fierceness that comes with that icon.

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