Vice President Kamala Harris is set to campaign Thursday in Wisconsin with Republican former congresswoman Liz Cheney as Harris looks to emphasize her cross-party support in the final weeks before the November election.
Cheney, who endorsed Harris last month, will appear with the vice president in Ripon, Wis., which is known as the birthplace of the Republican Party, according to a senior campaign official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive planning of an unannounced event.
The Harris campaign has been quietly courting well-known GOP backers such as Cheney, looking to attract Republicans disillusioned with former president Donald Trump, especially after his efforts to reverse his 2020 reelection loss. The issue surged to the forefront again Tuesday after Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, refused to admit during a debate that Trump lost the last election.
Several Republicans spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August, including former Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger and former Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan.
The planned appearance with Cheney will mark Harris’s latest trip to Wisconsin, a battleground state, but the location will carry added significance. Ripon, which is located between Madison and Green Bay, is home to a one-room schoolhouse that has been designated a National Historic Landmark for hosting the first meetings that launched the Republican Party in 1854.
Harris is expected to use the joint appearance to address the symbolism of the location, to appeal to independents and Republicans and praise Cheney for her political courage.
The event is coinciding with the launch of Wisconsin Republicans for Harris-Walz, which released an open letter Thursday morning backing Harris “to ensure our democracy and our economy remain strong.” The letter has two dozen signees, including three former state legislators.
A Trump-backed challenger ended Cheney’s reelection bid in Wyoming’s 2022 Republican primary after she became a vocal critic of Trump’s actions in the lead-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. A former member of House GOP leadership, she voted to impeach Trump over his role in the attack and served as vice chair of the House select committee that investigated it.
Cheney announced she would be voting for Harris during an early September trip to North Carolina, another battleground state.
“As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this, and 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 appearance at Duke University.
Days later, Cheney’s father — former vice president Dick Cheney — announced he was supporting Harris, too.
Trump and his campaign have scoffed at the Cheney family’s backing of Harris. After Dick Cheney endorsed Harris, Trump said he was an “irrelevant RINO” — Republican In Name Only — “along with his daughter.”
Speaking at the Texas Tribune Festival shortly after backing Harris, Liz Cheney promised to spend the final stretch of the election “doing everything I can” to make voters understand the threat that Trump poses to the country if elected again.
“Officially I’m not technically out there as a surrogate, but [I am] absolutely going to be in many key battleground states, very much focused on how important it is that we defeat him in this cycle,” Cheney told the crowd in Austin.
Harris has promised to appoint a Republican to her Cabinet, raising speculation that a high-profile GOP backer such as Cheney could receive a post. Asked in Austin about possibly serving in a Harris administration, Cheney said she was “not focused on that.”
Harris running mate Tim Walz touted the Cheney family’s support during the vice-presidential debate Tuesday.
“I’m as surprised as anybody of this coalition that Kamala Harris has built,” said Walz, the Minnesota governor. “From Bernie Sanders to Dick Cheney to Taylor Swift and a whole bunch of folks in between there.”
