Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include more accurate numbers from the Harris campaign regarding the size of the crowd at Fiserv Forum.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz held a campaign event Tuesday evening at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum. The pair attempted to maintain a high level of enthusiasm following their appearance at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago the previous night.
Walz denounces Project 2025
Up first, Walz was welcomed to the stage by over 18,000 supporters, according to the campaign. Walz emphasized his support for abortion rights and environmental regulations, and he condemned the conservative-based agenda Project 2025.
“And J.D. Vance, he writes the foreword for the architect of Project 2025 … on Oct. 1 we’re gonna have a little talk — he and I on the same stage,” Walz said, referencing the upcoming vice presidential debate.
Walz said Project 2025 would alter the economy to hurt the middle and lower classes while benefiting the upper class.
Harris reaffirms support for working families
Harris later entered and gave a speech in which she fired up the crowd and described some of the key issues at stake for Democrats this election season.
“This [election] is about two very different visions for our nation,” Harris said. “One focused on the future, the other focused on the past. And in Wisconsin, we fight for the future.”
Harris said she supports a future with affordable healthcare and housing, paid leave and a chance for citizens to fulfill the American Dream.
Harris promoted her recently released plan to lower costs for American families. Harris said her plan would build millions of new homes and help first-time homebuyers provide a down payment.
The plan would also deliver tax relief to over 100 million Americans and provide a $6,000 tax cut to families with newborn children, Harris said.
“If we care about children, then let’s help people,” Harris said. “… I will always put the middle-class and working families first.”
Harris talks ‘Freedom’
The rally centered around the theme “Freedom” which Harris used to describe the freedom of giving women the right to an abortion, the freedom for people to be safe from gun violence and “the freedom to love who you love and with pride.”
Harris criticized former President Donald Trump’s three appointees to the U.S. Supreme Court and said that if Congress were to pass a bill reinstating Roe v. Wade back into law, she would proudly sign it.
Harris also alerted her supporters of Trump’s proposals to cut Social Security and Medicare funding and to eliminate the Affordable Care Act. Harris said these policies could lead to a country of chaos and fear as opposed to her desire for freedom and compassion.
Harris concluded her speech with a look to the possible future.
“We must remember — [just] as the generations of Americans before us who led the fight for freedom — the baton is now in our hands,” Harris said.
Harris is expected to formally accept the Democratic parties’ nomination for president in a speech at the DNC Thursday.