Liz Cheney campaigns with Kamala Harris for first time, as campaign continues GOP outreach

Ripon, Wisconsin — Former Rep. Liz Cheney, the highest-profile Republican to announce her help for Vice President Kamala Harris, joined her on the marketing campaign path at an occasion at Ripon, Wisconsin, the birthplace of the Republican Social gathering.

“I’m proudly casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris,” Cheney mentioned Thursday. 

Cheney, alongside along with her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, introduced in September that Harris would have their vote. The Cheneys and Harris have virtually nothing in widespread of their views on coverage, however they a shared antipathy for former President Donald Trump and see him as a menace to democracy after the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

On the rally, Harris praised each. 

“Liz Cheney actually is a frontrunner who places nation above get together and above self, a real patriot,” Harris instructed the gang. “And it’s my profound honor to have your help. You and I additionally wish to thank your father, Vice President Dick Cheney, for his help and what he has carried out to serve our nation. “

Cheney was the third highest-ranking Republican within the Home earlier than she was ousted for voting to question Trump. A Trump-backed challenger then defeated Cheney in her main. Cheney was certainly one of two Republicans who served on the Home Jan. 6 choose committee that investigated the riot and what led as much as it. That committee really useful that Trump be prosecuted for his conduct surrounding the assault on the Capitol.

“As a conservative, as somebody who believes in and cares in regards to the Structure, I’ve thought deeply about this. And due to the hazard that Donald Trump poses, not solely am I not voting for Donald Trump, however I shall be voting for Kamala Harris,” Cheney introduced final month throughout an occasion at Duke College.   

The Little White Schoolhouse in Ripon hosted conferences in 1854 that led to the creation of the Republican Social gathering. It was designated a nationwide historic website in 1974, and Harris is predicted to handle the importance of the placement throughout her speech, in keeping with a senior Harris marketing campaign official. 

Cheney’s look with Harris is a part of a concerted effort by the marketing campaign to enchantment to Republicans disaffected by Trump. 

On Wednesday, the marketing campaign launched a brand new advert that includes a direct-to-camera enchantment from a two-time Trump voter in Pennsylvania who argued the previous president’s financial plan is not going to profit working voters. 

The marketing campaign can also be internet hosting “Republicans for Harris” occasions throughout the battleground states this week, together with an occasion with former Reps. Denver Riggleman in North Carolina and Adam Kinzinger in Las Vegas. Kinzinger additionally served on the Home Jan. 6 committee, whereas Riggleman served as an adviser. 

Harris’ operating mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, famous the Cheney endorsement throughout the vice presidential debate on Tuesday to argue their coalition of help is large.

“I am as shocked as anyone of this coalition that Kamala Harris has constructed, from Bernie Sanders to Dick Cheney to Taylor Swift and a complete bunch of parents in between there,” Walz mentioned. “They do not all agree on the whole lot, however they’re really optimistic individuals. They consider in a optimistic way forward for this nation, and one the place our politics could be higher than it’s.” 

Whereas solely a small variety of voters who establish as conservative are backing Harris, in keeping with a September CBS Information ballot, voters who establish as “reasonable” favor Harris over Trump by double digits. 

A number of Republican officers spoke on the Democratic Nationwide Conference in August, together with Kinzinger, Georgia Lt. Gov.Geoff Duncan and Olivia Troye, a former adviser to then-Vice President Mike Pence.

Their exercise for the marketing campaign has continued. Troye has appeared in a Harris marketing campaign advert, and Duncan has additionally been dispatched as a surrogate for the marketing campaign in latest weeks. 

After a September occasion in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a GOP-leaning portion of the state, Duncan mentioned Trump “makes it more durable for himself” to not lose Republican help due to a few of his criticism of Republican officers, comparable to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

“There’s actually no thriller to this. Help for Donald Trump amongst the vast majority of Republicans is a mile large and an inch deep. Virtually each Republican outdoors of a small wing of MAGA supporters would like to have any person aside from Donald Trump as their nominee, however that simply did not occur,” Duncan instructed CBS Information.

Kate Horning, an undecided Pennsylvania voter who attended the occasion and backed Trump in previous elections, mentioned she likes the outreach to Republicans however needs it to be “real.”

“There’s numerous points right here. I am not right here to speak about abortion — I am involved in regards to the quantity of individuals coming throughout the border and the way it impacts faculties,” she mentioned. 

Since she grew to become the nominee, Harris has tried to enchantment to centrists by supporting restrictions on immigration backed on a bipartisan degree in Congress, touting herself as a pro-business capitalist and reiterating she wouldn’t ban fracking — a place she held as a 2020 presidential main candidate however deserted after turning into President Biden’s operating mate later that cycle.