Harris makes first trip to battleground Wisconsin since launching presidential campaign
Harris’ rally in Milwaukee opens a new phase in the 2024 race — one she previewed in a Monday trip to campaign headquarters, where she drew sharp contrasts with the former president in a much more energetic style than President Joe Biden has in recent months.
It also caps a historic two-day stretch that turned the race on its head.
By Monday night, less than 36 hours after Biden had announced he was dropping out of the race and endorsing his vice president, Harris had secured enough commitments from Democratic National Convention delegates to effectively lock down the nomination.
She had also raised more than $100 million from 1.1 million different donors — 62% of them first-time contributors — between Sunday and Monday, a Harris campaign official said. The enormous figure reflects the new energy within what had been a morose Democratic base.
The trip to Wisconsin — one of the three “Blue Wall” states, alongside Pennsylvania and Michigan — is Harris’ fifth there this year and ninth since becoming vice president.
With Biden as the Democratic nominee, the party’s path to winning 270 electoral college votes went directly through these states.
It may be the same for Harris. However, it’s too early to tell whether another path — one that includes Sun Belt swing states Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia — might be a larger part of the Harris calculation.
The governor of one of those states, North Carolina’s Roy Cooper, and a senator from another, Arizona’s Mark Kelly, are among the names being floated as being a part of her vice presidential shortlist, a group that also includes Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and others.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder and his law firm, Covington & Burling, will handle the vetting of Harris’ running mate, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
The auditions are already in full swing, with Beshear taking a rhetorical two-by-four to Ohio Sen. JD Vance, calling the GOP vice presidential nominee a “phony” and “fake” while pointing to his evolution from Trump critic to MAGA heir.
“The problem with JD Vance is he has no conviction. But I guess his running mate has 34,” Beshear said Monday night during an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
What to expect in Wisconsin
Top Wisconsin Democratic officials, including two-term Gov. Tony Evers and Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is up for reelection this year, have endorsed Harris. They are among a long list of Democratic officials and candidates who will appear with the vice president on Tuesday.
Harris’ campaign, inheriting the infrastructure put in place during Biden’s candidacy, has 48 coordinated offices in 43 counties in Wisconsin, including 160 full-time staffers.
The campaign is also touting a boost in its organizing since Harris announced her intention to seek the Democratic nomination, with more than 58,000 individuals signing up to volunteer as of Tuesday morning – up from the nearly 30,000 announced Monday afternoon.
Harris previewed how she’ll campaign against Trump in a speech Monday at what had been the Biden campaign headquarters — quickly converted to the Harris campaign headquarters — in Wilmington, Delaware.
Speaking to campaign staff, Harris invoked the former president’s scandals and legal troubles.
She pointed to her time as a district attorney and California attorney general, saying that she “took on perpetrators of all kinds.”
“Predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own game,” Harris said. “So hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type.”
CNN’s Arlette Saenz and Jeff Zeleny contributed to this report.
In the context of Harris' 2024 presidential campaign, her energetic style during her rally in Milwaukee stands in stark contrast to President Joe Biden's recent approaches in politics. As the race enters a new phase, influential figures in politics, such as North Carolina's Governor Roy Cooper, are being considered for Harris' vice presidential shortlist.
