(The Center Square) – In her first campaign rally since receiving President Joe Biden’s endorsement, Vice President Kamala Harris addressed voters in Milwaukee, urging them to rally around her campaign to stop Donald Trump and protect their freedoms.
The rally marks Harris’ 10th visit to Wisconsin since becoming vice president, and her fifth visit this year. Harris lived in Madison, Wisconsin, for a short time during her childhood.
Harris spoke for 15 minutes, starting by praising the current “incredible president.”
“It has truly been one of the greatest honors of my life to serve as vice president to our president, Joe Biden. Joe’s legacy of accomplishment over his entire career, and over the past three and a half years, is unmatched in modern history,” she said, echoing other Democrat’s responses to Biden stepping aside from the presidential race.
Harris then compared Trump to criminals she dealt with during her time as a courtroom prosecutor and California attorney general, naming scammers, sexual abusers and fraudsters. “So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type,” she finished, drawing applause and chants of “Kamala, Kamala!” from the crowd.
“But let’s also make no mistake: this campaign is not just about us versus Donald Trump; this campaign is about who we fight for,” she said, adding that unlike her opponent, “we are running a people-powered campaign.”
Harris claimed the 2024 election features two different national visions, saying her campaign is focused on the future, not the past.
“We believe in a future where every person has the opportunity not just to get by, but to get ahead. A future where no child has to grow up in poverty. Where every worker has the freedom to join a union. Where every person has affordable health care, affordable child care and paid family leave,” she said. “So all of this is to say, that building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency.”
“But Donald Trump wants to take our country backward,” Harris continued, referencing the Project 2025 agenda, which Trump has repeatedly denied involvement with. “But we are not going back,” she said, evoking chants of “We’re not going back!” from the audience.
Harris ended with a focus on protecting democracy, saying her campaign is a fight for freedom.
“We who believe in the sacred freedom to vote will make sure that every American has the ability to cast their ballot and have it counted. We who believe that every person in our nation should have the freedom to live safe from the terror of gun violence, will finally pass red-flag laws, universal background checks and an assault weapons ban. And we who believe in reproductive freedom will stop Donald Trump’s extreme abortion bans,” she said over the cheering crowd.
Other speakers and attendees at the event included Wisconsin’s Gov. Tony Evers, Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski.
Delegates of the Wisconsin Democratic Party unanimously endorsed Harris as the presidential candidate the day after Biden’s announcement.
“There’s no one better prepared to prosecute the case against Donald Trump than Vice President Harris, and our endorsement makes it official: Wisconsin Democrats are all in for Kamala Harris,” Wikler said in a statement Monday.
Only 7% of Democrat-leaning likely voters preferred Harris as the Democratic candidate, ranking her 7th out of 11 listed options in a recent The Center Square poll conducted with Noble Predictive Insights.
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