Milwaukee (Associated Press) Vice President Kamala Harris On Tuesday, he flew to his first battleground state after securing the nomination’s endorsement. Democratic Party RepresentativeHe is determined to prosecute the Democratic Party’s political case against former Republican President Donald Trump.
Harris arrived in Milwaukee just two days after President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid, and was scheduled to hold her first campaign rally since launching her campaign on Sunday. Biden’s supportHarris has raised more than $100 million since Sunday afternoon.
The vice president has also garnered the support of Democratic officials and political groups, including congressional leaders Charles Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, a sign of the party’s focus on defeating Trump.
Harris had planned to use her background as a former district attorney and attorney general of California to contrast herself with Trump, the first former president to be convicted of a felony.
“She is professionally trained to prosecute criminals and is ready for this moment, and unfortunately, that’s exactly who the Republicans have put up,” said Sen. LaFonza Butler, D-Calif.
Tuesday’s visit was scheduled before Biden wrapped up his campaign rally, but it took on new resonance as Harris sought to project calm and confidence after the campaign ended. Weeks of chaos for the Democratic Party Examining Biden’s political future.
The visit took place a week later. Republican National Convention With just over 100 days until Election Day, Harris is trying to clarify her message to Republican candidates. Wisconsin is The Democratic Party’s “Blue Wall” Three states – Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – have produced election results that will be crucial to winning the November election.
The vice president on Monday previewed a key theme in his campaign against Trump. Stop by her campaign headquarters In Wilmington, Delaware, when he was a prosecutor, Trump’s beliefs “I know what type of person Donald Trump is,” she said, positioning herself as a champion of economic opportunity and abortion access.
“This election presents a clear choice between two distinct visions: Donald Trump seeks to return our country to a time before many of us had full freedom and equal rights,” she said in a statement. AP Delegate Count“I believe in a future that strengthens our democracy, protects reproductive freedom, and ensures that all people have the opportunity to thrive, not just survive.”
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“I thank President Biden and the Democratic Party for the confidence they have already placed in me, and I look forward to making our case directly to the American people,” she added.
Associated Press reporter Julie Walker reports that Democrats plan to hold a virtual roll call before their convention, with Kamala Harris being endorsed.
By Monday night, Harris He ran for president in 2020She has far surpassed the 1,976 delegates needed to win in the first round, according to an Associated Press delegate tally. Delegates contacted by The Associated Press did not name any other candidates.
Still, the AP is not calling Harris the new presumptive nominee because convention delegates will be free to vote for the candidate of their choice at the August convention or if Democrats proceed with the election. Virtual roll call Ahead of the rally in Chicago.
AP tally It is based on interviews with individual delegates, public statements from many state parties announcing their delegation’s endorsement of Harris, and public statements and endorsements from individual delegates.
Trump and his campaign quickly shifted their focus to Harris, arguing they had been preparing for the change and had not changed their plans.
The former president called the vice president “lying Kamala Harris,” criticized her for not being tough enough on crime as a prosecutor and tried to pin her down on his administration’s border policy as he seeks to make immigration a campaign focus.
But Trump seems more frustrated at being faced with a younger vice president than he is with an older president. Since Biden withdrew, Trump has twice said that ABC News should not host the second scheduled presidential debate, suggesting that it be switched to Fox News, which he sees as more friendly to him.
Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, said he was unfazed by Trump’s attacks, telling reporters Tuesday, “Is that all he can do?”
Harris was scheduled to be accompanied by some of the state’s key elected officials, including Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, Senator Tammy Baldwin, Lt. Governor Sara Rodriguez, Attorney General Josh Kaul, Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler, and the state’s labor union leaders.
Wisconsin Republican leaders, meanwhile, have portrayed Harris as a “radical liberal” who they say is out of step with most voters in the battleground state.
“The support for Kamala Harris is just as bad as Joe Biden’s,” Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Simming said at a press conference ahead of an event for Harris at a suburban Milwaukee high school. “So they’re trying to trade one bad candidate for another bad candidate so that people in this state and this country don’t realize where she actually stands on the issues.”
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Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, and Michelle Price in New York contributed.
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