Harris Campaign Planning Rally During Week of DNC at Same Milwaukee Arena Where RNC Was Held: Report

AP Photo/John Bazemore

Vice President Kamala Harris plans to take a 90 mile jaunt north during the Democratic National Convention next week to hold a rally at the exact same arena that hosted the Republican National Convention in July.

The Harris campaign has deployed notably more aggressive tactics against former President Donald Trump than when the Democrats’ presidential hopes were tied to President Joe Biden , and it seems that pattern will continue next week, when she will hold a rally at Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee, according to a report by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel .

The DNC will begin on Monday, August 19, and run through Thursday, August 22, in Chicago, only about 90 miles away from Milwaukee. The two cities are close enough that Trump was reportedly initially planning to stay at his Trump International Hotel in Chicago during the RNC in Milwaukee until reporters caught wind of his intentions.

Wisconsin is viewed as a key battleground state , part of the “blue wall” Democrats need to defend in order to prevail in the Electoral College votes, and this rally would be the vice president’s third stop in the Badger State since she became the Democratic nominee. One of those visits was a rally in Eau Claire with her new running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz , that drew a crowd of 12,000 people, according to the Journal .

The Journal’s reporting cited “sources with knowledge of the plans” who said Harris would have the rally at Fiserv Forum on Tuesday, August 20. It wasn’t yet known if Walz would attend as well, and the sources told the paper that details like the exact time were still being determined.

The New York Times first reported on the Harris campaign’s intentions to hold a Milwaukee rally during the week of the DNC, citing “four people briefed on the discussions who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to reveal the campaign’s plans,” and also noted the hope to use the Fiserv Forum location, with agreements still not yet formalized.

“Holding a rally in the same arena where Republicans gathered last month would provide a direct contrast between the Harris-Walz ticket and Mr. Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio,” wrote Times campaign and elections reporter Reid J. Epstein .