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- By Marlon WhiteEagle
Native Vote 2024. MILWAUKEE, Wisc. — It’s been a busy 48 hours for Vice President Kamala Harris as she begins her bid for the White House with her first campaign rally in Milwaukee. She announced her presidential campaign Sunday night, after President Biden ended his campaign for reelection.
In a Biden letter posted on his X account, he wrote, “I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
President Biden endorsed the vice president almost immediately after leaving the race. He asked Democrats to “come together and beat Trump.”
On her X account, Harris thanked Biden for his leadership and service to the country. She wrote that she is “honored to have the President’s endorsement” and that she intends to “earn and win” the Democratic nomination.
Harris wasted no time and began reaching out to delegates for their support. By Monday night, she gained the support of more than 1,976 delegates needed to become the nominee.
On Wednesday morning, the Harris campaign reported they raised more than $126 million, raising a record-setting $81 million in the first 24 hours of the campaign.
Harris kicked off her campaign with a rally in Milwaukee, at the West Allis Central High School, a few days after Republicans held their national convention 10 minutes down the road.
Campaign officials said they were inundated with RSVPs that late Monday night they decided to move to a larger venue. More than 3,000 supporters showed up, making it the largest event for either the Biden or Harris campaign.
The Milwaukee rally was Harris’ ninth visit to Wisconsin as Vice President and her fifth visit this year. Prior to Harris taking the stage, the crowd heard from Democratic party leaders and elected officials.
Many speakers focused on Trump’s felony conviction, the abortion ban, and Project 2025. Secretary Underly, of the Department of Public Instruction, said Project 2025 includes plans to eliminate the Department of Education and has severe cuts to public schools.
Leia Esser, an educator who received student loan debt forgiveness under the Biden administration, introduced Vice President Harris.
Harris delivered a 17-minute speech that drew on her experience and contrasting approaches and views between the two tickets that Americans will choose from on Election Day.
“The path to the White House goes through Wisconsin, and to win in Wisconsin, we are counting on you, right here in Milwaukee,” Harris said. “You all helped us win in 2020, and in 2024, we will win again.”
The Trump-Pence ticket won Milwaukee in 2016, but Biden-Harris won the city’s vote in 2020.
Drawing on her experience as a prosecutor and attorney general, Harris said she knows “Donald Trump’s type.”
“In those roles, 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,” Harris said. “And in this campaign, I will proudly put my record against his any day of the week.”
As attorney general in California, Harris took on one of the largest for-profit colleges that scammed students. She said Donald Trump ran a for-profit college that scammed students.
As a prosecutor, Harris specialized in cases involving sexual abuse. She said that Donald Trump was found liable for committing sexual abuse.
“As attorney general for California, I took on the big Wall Street banks and held them accountable for fraud,” Harris said. “Donald Trump was just found guilty of fraud, on 34 counts.”
Pointing to the contrasting approaches between the two campaigns, Harris said Trump is relying on support from billionaires and big corporations, while her team is running a “people-powered” campaign.
“He’s trading access for campaign contributions. A couple of months ago, at Mar Lago, he literally promised big oil companies, big oil lobbyists, he would do their bidding for $1 billion in campaign contributions,” Harris said. “Because we are a people-powered campaign, that is how you know we will be a people-first presidency.”
Further, Harris said her campaign has a vision for “the future,” while the Trump campaign is focused “on the past.”
The Harris campaign supports unions, affordable healthcare and childcare, paid family leave, and social security, while the Trump campaign wants to eliminate Medicare and social security.
“Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency,” Harris said. “Here's the thing. We here in Wisconsin know when the middle class is strong, America is strong.”
Harris points back to Project 2025 and how its measures will “weaken the middle class.”
“He intends to give tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations, and make working families foot the bill,” she said. “They intend to end the Affordable Care Act and take us back to a time when insurance companies had the power to deny people with preexisting conditions.”
The crowd chanted, “Not going back.”
Harris mentioned election rights, gun violence, and reproductive freedom.
“We will make sure every American has the ability to cast their ballot and have it counted. We believe every person in our nation should have the freedom to live safe from the terror of gun violence,” Harris said. “We, who believe in reproductive freedom, will stop Donald Trump’s extreme abortion ban, because we trust women to make decisions about their own bodies, without the government telling them what to do.”
Harris asked the crowd if they want to live in a country of “freedom, compassion, and rule of law,” or a country of “chaos, fear, and hate?”
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