In the birthplace of the Republican Party, former United States Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., will hit the campaign trail with Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday, 33 days before Election Day.
The unlikely pair are campaigning in Ripon, Wisconsin, with a goal of appealing to moderate and independent voters who are still on the fence when it comes to deciding who they will cast their vote for in the 2024 presidential election. The event is a part of Harris’ two-day campaign trip to Wisconsin and Michigan, while former President Donald Trump will campaign in Saginaw, Michigan, on Thursday, The Associated Press reported.
Harris and Cheney will campaign together for the first time Thursday night in Ripon, the town home to the historic Little White Schoolhouse — “where a series of meetings held in 1854 to oppose slavery’s expansion led to the birth of the Republican Party,” per AP.
Harris is expected to underscore the symbolism of the event’s location, a senior Harris campaign official said, acknowledging “the founding principles of the Republican Party and pledging to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law,” according to NBC News.
Cheney, who endorsed Harris in early September, is a prominent name among the list of Republicans who have endorsed the Democratic presidential nominee. The daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who also endorsed Harris, the former GOP congresswoman is among Trump’s most vocal critics; Cheney voted to impeach the former president after the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol and served on the House committee that investigated the attack.
“As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this. Because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris,” Cheney said during an event at Duke University in North Carolina last month.
“Cheney said in September that she had serious policy disagreements with Harris on a variety of issues but chose to support her this year because she feels that ‘those of us who believe in the defense of our democracy, in the defense of our Constitution, and the survival of our republic have a duty in this election cycle to come together to put those things above politics,’” CNN reported.
Harris’ campaign appearance in Ripon alongside Cheney comes a day after the release of special counsel Jack Smith’s 165-page filing that includes details from his investigation into “Trump’s alleged efforts to subvert the transfer of presidential power after the 2020 election,” per CBS News. In response to Smith’s filing being unsealed by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, Trump called Smith a “deranged person” in an exclusive interview with NewsNation on Wednesday in Houston, Texas.
“He works for Kamala, and he works for Joe (Biden),” Trump claimed of Smith. “This was a weaponization of government and that’s why it was released 30 days before the election.”