The Harris-Walz campaign held a Get Out the Vote rally in Madison Wednesday at the Alliant Energy Center. The event featured remarks from Vice President Kamala Harris, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and University of Wisconsin students.
The event also featured special guest performances by Gracie Abrams, Mumford & Sons, Remi Wolf, The National’s Matt Berninger and Aaron Dessner.
Over 13,000 attended the event, according to the Harris-Walz campaign.
The Get Out the Vote rally specifically targeted the student population of Madison, encouraging students to use their voice and vote in the 2024 Presidential Election, according to The Badger Herald.
During her speech, Harris discussed her connection to Madison, where she lived briefly as a child while her parents taught at UW.
Harris encouraged the crowd to vote early, emphasizing Wisconsin’s importance as a battleground state.
“In Madison, you can vote early now through Sunday, November 3 and we need you to vote early in Wisconsin, because we have six days left in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime and we have work to do,” Harris said.
Shortly after Harris started speaking, members of Students for Justice in Palestine and protesters began chanting across the stadium in protest of the ongoing war in Gaza.
This is not the first time pro-Palestine protesters have demonstrated at Harris rallies, having shown up at Harris’ Michigan rally earlier in the day, according to NBC.
“We all want the war in Gaza to end and get the hostages out as soon as possible and I will do everything in my power to make it heard and known,” Harris said. “Everyone has a right to be heard, but right now I am speaking.”
Harris spoke to her time as prosecutor and attorney general of California, focusing on fights against corporate banks and for profit colleges.
Harris vowed to fight for Wisconsin, declaring nothing will stand in her way.
Harris outlined her presidential goals, including lowering the cost of living, providing a middle-class tax cut for over 100 million Americans and expanding Medicare to cover home care for seniors.
She also pledged to make healthcare more affordable, calling it a right, not a privilege, and contrasted her plans with former President Donald Trump’s intent to dismantle the Affordable Care Act and enact tax cuts for billionaires she claimed would burden the middle and lower classes.
“He will pay for it with a 20% national sales tax on everything you buy that is important, clothes, food, toys, cell phones, a Trump sales tax would cost the average American family nearly $4,000 more a year,” Harris said.
Harris criticized Trump for appointing three Supreme Court justices aimed at overturning Roe v. Wade, a goal he achieved. Now, she noted, one in three women live in states with restrictive Trump-backed abortion bans, often without exceptions for rape or incest. Harris vowed to sign any congressional bill restoring reproductive rights nationwide if elected president.
Harris pledged, as president, she will seek common ground, listen to experts and put the country above herself and her party.
Harris addressed her views on those who disagree with her, vowing to always hear their concerns. In comparison to Donald Trump, who hates all those who disagree with him, Harris said.
Harris gave credit to the younger generation for remaining hopeful and diligent. The generation most affected by climate change and who grew up practicing active shooter drills is the same generation fighting to fix climate change and advocating for safety in schools, Harris said.
This is one of the reasons younger voters are so impatient for change, something she deeply admires, Harris said.
“You, who now know fewer rights than your mothers and grandmothers, are standing up for freedom and what I know about you is these issues are not theoretical,” Harris said. “This is not political for you. This is your lived experience and I see you, I see your power and I am so proud of you.”
Democratic Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin, took the stage, emphasizing Wisconsin’s pivotal role in deciding the presidency and Senate control.
Baldwin spoke on her opponent, U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde and his background as a California banker.
Hovde is the owner of a $3 billion California bank and has been named one of the most influential residents of Orange County three years in a row, Baldwin said.
Baldwin also addressed her opponents views on reproductive rights, which directly oppose hers, Baldwin said.
“Eric Hovde celebrated when the Dobbs decision came down overturning Roe v Wade, he said that he’s 100% anti choice,” Baldwin said. “Meanwhile, I’m leading the effort to restore Roe by passing my Women’s Health Protection Act.”
Baldwin juxtaposed her policies with Hovde’s by addressing healthcare. Hovde wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, while Baldwin wrote the provision in the Affordable Care Act allowing children to remain on their parents’ healthcare past the age of 18.
Furthermore, Baldwin addressed Hovde’s demeaning comments, saying he has belittled almost everybody in the state of Wisconsin. If you are not a rich man like him, he doesn’t like you, Baldwin said.
“Farmers, single moms, children of single moms, the LGBTQ community, seniors in nursing homes, young people, immigrants in Wisconsin, people struggling with their weight, you name it, he’s demeaned Wisconsinites” Baldwin said.
Wisconsin deserves a Senator that not only fights for them, but respects and understands them, Baldwin said.
A graduate student at UW, who wished to be addressed as Wynter, talked about her personal reasons for wanting Harris for president and spoke to undecided voters.
“I am a trans woman myself, so I feel like she’s the best person to vote for for my rights,” Wynter said. “Getting medical care as a trans woman is already hard enough and I feel like she will defend that.”
Harris has said decisions about what is medically necessary should be made by doctors, according to NBC.
Wynter said she feels there is an obvious choice in this election, given her values as a woman. Undecided voters may have an easier time making the decision than they thought, she said.
“It’s not much of a choice, [Harris] is just presidential, she speaks so eloquently about Americans … [and] then you see Donald Trump and hear anything that comes out of his mouth, so it’s just a simple choice,” Winter said.
The rally primarily focused on gathering student voters to make a plan to vote. Students at UW changed their residency in order to vote in a swing state this November, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Students can register to vote through Nov. 1 or on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5. Students can also vote on election day or early in Wisconsin if they aren’t voting in their home state, according to the Harris-Walz campaign.
