A roaring crowd of battleground state voters greeted Vice President Kamala Harris Tuesday as she opened her Democratic political case against Republican former President Donald Trump.
In the November election, she said, “it's a choice between freedom and chaos.”
“In this campaign, I promise you, I will proudly put my record against his any day of the week,” Harris said. “We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead.”
Harris arrived in the Milwaukee area having locked up nomination support from Democratic delegates after President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid on Sunday. It was her first campaign rally since she launched her campaign just two days ago with Biden’s endorsement.
The event reflected a vibrancy that had been lacking among Democrats in recent weeks, adding to the evidence along with $100 million in donations since Sunday afternoon, that Harris looks to project a sense of steady confidence about the November election. The vice president has also scored the backing of Democratic officials and political groups, including congressional leaders Charles Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries.
By stopping in Wisconsin, Harris was going to one of the “blue wall” states along with Michigan and Pennsylvania that Democrats see as essential for securing a presidential victory.
The visit comes a week after the Republican National Convention wrapped up in the city and as Harris works to sharpen her message against the GOP nominee with just over 100 days until Election Day.
Harris' trip to the state was a sharp contrast with Biden's July 6 trip when he was trying to reassure Democrats who were wary of his continued candidacy after his troubling performance in the June 27 debate against Donald Trump. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., is up for reelection this year. She skipped the Biden event, but she spoke before Harris on Tuesday.
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Harris is leaning into her resume as a former district attorney and California attorney general, seeking to draw a contrast with Trump who is the first former president to be convicted of felony crimes. She said at the rally that as a prosecutor she had dealt with fraudsters and cheaters, concluding that she knows the type of person Trump is.
“She’s prepared to meet this moment because she was professionally trained to prosecute a criminal, and unfortunately that’s who the Republicans have put forward,” said Sen. Laphonza Butler, D-Calif.
Harris strode onto the stage Tuesday to the anthem “Freedom” from Beyonce’s Lemonade album. She opened by contrasting herself with Trump.
“I took on perpetrators of all kinds. Predators who abused women. Fraudsters who ripped off consumers. Cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type,” she said.
Harris also cast her campaign as “people first,” again aiming to draw a contrast with Trump who she said represented special interests and corporations.
She also portrayed her rival’s policies as being antiquated and backward looking. “We are not going back,′ she said. “And I’ll tell you why we are not going back. Ours is a fight for the future.” That echoed Barack Obama who frequently deployed the refrain during his 2012 reelection fight to argue against Republican ideas.
Harris' swift ascent over the past few days has required her to vet possible running mates, a process being led by Eric Holder, who was attorney general during Barack Obama's presidency. But her key impact so far has been galvanizing Democrats.
Before the Tuesday speech, Diane Walter, 68, of South Milwaukee said she’s thrilled that Harris is the candidate.
“I’ve been a Democrat my whole life," Walter said. "She’s energizing the party again.”
Tevin Humphrey, 21, came with his mother Myeesha Johnson, 41, and described the vice president as “a great figure to look up to.”
“She’s a better representative of the diversity we’re looking for,” he said.
By Monday night, Harris, who also ran for president in 2020, had the support of well more than the 1,976 delegates she’ll need to win on a first ballot, according to the AP tally of delegates. No other candidate was named by a delegate contacted by the AP.
Still, the AP is not calling Harris the new presumptive nominee. That’s because the convention delegates are still free to vote for the candidate of their choice at the convention in August or if Democrats go through with a virtual roll call ahead of that gathering in Chicago.
The AP tally is based on interviews with individual delegates, public statements from state parties, many of which have announced that their delegations are supporting Harris en masse, and public statements and endorsements from individual delegates.
Trump and his campaign have quickly turned most of their focus on Harris and have asserted that they were prepared for the change and it did not alter their plans.
The former president has nicknamed the vice president “Lyin’ Kamala Harris,” accused her of not being tough enough on crime as a prosecutor and sought to bind her to the administration’s policies on the border as he seeks to make immigration a focus of his campaign.
But there are signs that Trump seems to be unhappy about facing the younger vice president rather than making his case against the aging president. Twice since Biden dropped out, Trump has said the planned second presidential debate should not be hosted by ABC News and suggested it be moved to Fox News, which has a perception of being friendlier to him.
Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, said he was unimpressed by Trump's attacks, telling reporters Tuesday, “That’s all he’s got?”
Harris was to be joined by major elected officials in Wisconsin, including Gov. Tony Evers, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Attorney General Josh Kaul, Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski and Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler, as well as state labor leaders.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin Republican leaders are branding Harris as an “extreme liberal” who is out of step with most voters in the swing state.
"Kamala Harris’ favorables are as bad as Joe Biden’s,” said Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming at a news conference ahead of the Harris event at a high school outside of Milwaukee. “So they are exchanging one bad candidate for another bad candidate in the hope that the people of this state and this country don’t notice where she actually stands on the issues.”
