‘The Path to the White House Goes Through Wisconsin’: Kamala Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris is beginning her campaign for president with a rally in West Allis outside of Milwaukee.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you everyone. Good afternoon Wisconsin. It is good to be back,” Harris said on Tuesday — her first words from the campaign trail, in a state decided by only about 10,000 votes in 2020.

To chants of “Kamala, Kamala, Kamala!” Harris thanked statewide elected Democrats, Gov. Tony Evers and Tammy Baldwin.

“I had the privilege of serving with Tammy when I was in the United States Senate. And I know that the folks that are here are going to make sure you return her to Washington, D.C., in November,” she said.

“The path to the White House goes through Wisconsin,” she said.

 Vice President Kamala Harris flew to her first battleground state Tuesday after locking up nomination support from Democratic delegates, determined to prosecute the Democrats' political case against Republican former President Donald Trump.

Just two days after President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid, Harris arrived in Milwaukee, where she was to hold her first campaign rally since she launched her campaign on Sunday with Biden's endorsement. Harris has raised more than $100 million since Sunday afternoon.

The vice president has also scored the backing of Democratic officials and political groups, including congressional leaders Charles Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries in a sign of her party's focus on beating Trump.

Harris planned to lean 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’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.

Tuesday’s visit was scheduled before Biden ended his campaign, but it took on new resonance as Harris looked to project calm and confidence after weeks of Democratic Party turmoil over Biden's political future.

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. Wisconsin is part of the Democrats' “blue wall” of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania that is critical for their hopes to win in November's election.

The vice president previewed the themes that will be prominent in her campaign against Trump on Monday during a stop at her campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, contrasting her time as a prosecutor with Trump’s convictions — “I know Donald Trump’s type,” she said — and casting herself as a defender of economic opportunity and abortion access.

“This election will present a clear choice between two different visions. Donald Trump wants to take our country back to a time before many of us had full freedoms and equal rights," she said in a statement responding to the AP delegate tally. “I believe in a future that strengthens our democracy, protects reproductive freedom and ensures every person has the opportunity to not just get by, but to get ahead.”

“I am grateful to President Biden and everyone in the Democratic Party who has already put their faith in me, and I look forward to taking our case directly to the American people," she added.

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.”