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Liz Cheney is campaigning with Harris in the birthplace of the GOP, Wisconsin

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Liz Cheney is campaigning with Harris in the birthplace of the GOP, Wisconsin

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RIPON — Vice President Kamala Harris took her presidential campaign to the literal heart of GOP territory in Wisconsin — the community of Ripon, known as the birthplace of the Republican Party.

And she had a prominent Republican supporter at her side – former congresswoman Liz Cheney, a leading critic of former President Donald Trump, who made her first campaign appearance on the Democratic ticket to urge Republicans with doubts about Trump to switch.

“I have never voted for a Democrat, but this year I am proudly casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” Cheney said. “Vice President Harris stands in the breach at a critical moment in our country’s history. It works to unite sensible people across the political spectrum.”

Against a backdrop of signs at Ripon College with the slogan “Country Over Party,” Harris criticized Trump, saying he was “recklessly trampling on our democratic values.”

“Anyone who has actively and violently obstructed the will of the people and the peaceful transfer of power, as Donald Trump has done, anyone who has, and I quote, called for the 'denunciation of the Constitution of the United States,' as Donald Trump has done , must never do this.” “We stand behind the seal of the President of the United States again,” she said.

“The tragic truth, the tragic truth that we face in this election for President of the United States is that there is actually a real question about whether any of the candidates will uphold the oath to the Constitution of the United States,” she said.

Incumbents, regardless of their political party, must uphold the Constitution and protect democracy, she said.

“If you share this view, regardless of your political party, there is a place for you with us and in this election campaign, because these principles that I know unite us across party lines, and in this election I take mine “Make a serious promise to be a president for all Americans,” Harris said. “In my entire career I have only had one customer: people.”

Cheney says Trump is 'unfit' to lead America

Cheney, a Madison native, is one of the country's most prominent anti-Trump Republicans and her visit to Ripon came two days after Trump campaigned in the heart of the Democratic Party's electoral power in Wisconsin, Dane and Milwaukee counties. Another campaign stop is planned for Sunday in Dodge County.

Cheney was ousted as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference – the third-highest ranking Republican in the House – over her criticism of Trump following his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. She was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and served as vice chairwoman of the House special committee that investigated the insurrection.

Cheney noted the history of the Republican Party in Ripon and how a group of abolitionists came together to form the party.

“Now, of course, you all know that the Republican Party was founded here in Ripon. It was founded in 1854 at a meeting in the little white schoolhouse and was founded by people who were anti-slavery,” she said. “It was this Republican Party, the party of Lincoln and Eisenhower, the party of Reagan and Bush. It is this party that I have belonged to all my life.”

She compared this vision of the party to the events of January 6, 2021, calling it a “dissolution” in which police were brutally beaten and former Vice President Mike Pence was “hunted” while Trump looked on and refused to quell the violence .

“At the heart of our survival as a republic is the peaceful transition of power,” Cheney said. “Ronald Reagan said it is nothing short of a miracle that every four or eight years the most powerful office in our country – indeed, the most powerful office in the world – is peacefully handed over to a new president in the United States of America. Violence does not and must never determine who governs us.”

“What January 6 shows us is that there is not an ounce of compassion in Donald Trump,” she said. “He is petty, he is vengeful and he is cruel, and Donald Trump is unfit to lead this good and great nation.”

Cheney also singled out former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for comments he made at a Trump event in Wisconsin that people were “over” Jan. 6.

“When you think about what it means that a former elected official is so willing to downplay what happened and say things like I've heard others say, 'Don't worry, our institutions held up that day,'” says she said. “We all have a responsibility to remind people that our institutions do not defend themselves.”

Cheney urged other Republicans to “seize this moment.”

“I ask you to stand by the truth and reject the depraved cruelty of Donald Trump. And I ask you instead to help us elect Kamala Harris as president.”

Cheney is not the only Republican who has broken with Trump

On Wednesday, a group of more than 20 Republicans, from elected district attorneys to Republican county chairs to everyday Wisconsinites, supported Harris in an open letter.

“Donald Trump does not align with Wisconsin values. To ensure our democracy and our economy remain strong for another four years, we must elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the White House,” the letter said. “We have many policy differences with Vice President Harris. But what we agree on is more important.”

The group highlighted election denial, the threat of inflation, his relationship with autocrats like Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping and the “chaos under Donald Trump's leadership.”

The Wisconsin Republican list includes former Sen. Barbara Lorman of Fort Atkinson, former Rep. Margaret Lewis of the town of Middleton, former Rep. Susan B. Vergeront of Sun Prairie and Tiffany Koehler, a Slinger resident.

Republicans in Wisconsin call Cheney incident 'pathetic'

Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming described Cheney as a “support” for the Harris campaign, noting that she had previously criticized the vice president as a “radical liberal” who would raise taxes, take away guns (and) health insurance, and “The size and power of the federal government would explode.”

He, along with other conservatives now supporting Harris, called her performance “pathetic.”

Her support “is clearly an anti-Trump thing, because otherwise the things she advocates for a Harris win are … bad border policy, inflation, foreign wars, high interest rates, high food prices,” he said.

“They think it's cute to do this in Ripon, but the truth is people aren't going to vote on Liz Cheney going to Ripon today,” Schimming said. “You know, of the top 20 things that could move voters in this election, Cheney is number 270.”

Trump's campaign spokesman in Wisconsin justified the election decision based on facts.

“Wisconsin families once again have a clear choice: freedom or communism, tax cuts or tax increases, the Green New Scam or unleashing American energy,” said Jacob Fischer, communications director for Team Trump Wisconsin. “In November, Wisconsin voters will choose common sense and vote overwhelmingly for President Donald J. Trump.”

More: Why is Kamala Harris in Ripon, Wisconsin, the birthplace of the Republican Party?

Harris leads in polls, enthusiasm in Wisconsin

Harris visited Ripon at a time when voter enthusiasm for her campaign was high.

In the latest Marquette University Law School poll, Harris maintained a four-point lead over Trump, well within the poll's margin of error.

According to figures released Wednesday, it was 52% for Harris and 48% for Trump among both registered and likely voters. That shows no change from the numbers Marquette released in mid-September.

Asked about recent polls and former Republican President Donald Trump's efforts to court voters in traditionally deep blue Dane and Milwaukee counties, Schimming said Wisconsin is “really a purple state.”

“Across the state, I just say, 'Look, there are hundreds of thousands of people out there who think like us, act like us, live like us, believe like us, but don't vote.' And the truth is, there are hundreds of thousands out there. If we get a fraction of that, we win Wisconsin.”

Editor's note: The Journal Sentinel requested an interview with Kamala Harris during her event Thursday in Ripon. The campaign declined to provide it. The Journal Sentinel also sought interviews with Donald Trump during his events in Prairie du Chien on Saturday and Waunakee and Milwaukee on Tuesday. The campaign declined to make it available.

Laura Schulte can be reached at [email protected] and on @SchulteLaura.

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