On Monday, October 21st, Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris, along with her Republican ally Liz Cheney, once again joined forces in an attempt to sway Republican voters. Meanwhile, former President Trump visited North Carolina to continue attracting voters in swing states.
Cheney and her father Dick Cheney are prominent conservative Republicans who are now among the most famous Republicans supporting Harris.
Harris, speaking at an event in the suburbs of Philadelphia, expressed concerns about whether Americans truly understand the importance of their role in the world.
Cheney, a former Wyoming congresswoman, emphasized her conservative Republican stance and voiced her support for Harris.
Harris is striving to demonstrate a bipartisan spirit of cooperation, promising that good ideas from any source will be considered and advocating for trimming bureaucracy. She also called for a healthy two-party system in the U.S. that can engage in fierce debates based on facts.
Harris and Cheney had two other events on Monday, with their next stops being Oakland County in the Detroit suburbs and Waukesha County in the outskirts of Milwaukee.
These three events took place in counties where Nikki Haley emerged victorious. Haley, a former governor of South Carolina and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, once competed with Trump for the Republican nomination.
With just over two weeks left until the presidential election, the outcome remains unpredictable, and Harris is seeking support from all possible voters. Her campaign team aims to convince undecided individuals and rally Democratic voters considering abstaining from voting, especially in areas where support for Trump may be waning, such as in Waukesha County, where Haley secured over 9,000 primary votes before withdrawing from the race.
In 2020, Wisconsin decided to support Joe Biden by a margin of 20,000 votes. Early voting in the state will begin on Tuesday.
Cheney stated that her support for Harris stems from concerns about Trump. Following the unrest at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, where Trump supporters were accused of breaching the building, engaging in clashes with law enforcement, and attempting to disrupt the certification of Biden’s victory, she lost support from Republican voters and eventually lost her seat in the House of Representatives after co-chairing a congressional committee investigating the incident.
Cheney is not the only Republican supporting Harris. Last week, over 100 former Republican legislators and officials attended an event hosted by Harris in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania, where General George Washington led hundreds of soldiers across the Delaware River to secure a crucial victory in the Revolutionary War.
During the gathering, Cheney urged Republican voters to act patriotically by voting for Democrats.
As the election approaches, Harris increasingly emphasizes Trump’s actions in the 2020 election and his role in the violent attack on the Capitol on January 6.
Trump has consistently denied inciting his supporters to commit violence at the Capitol and has sought to downplay the violence that occurred on January 6, stating that it was a “day filled with love” from the perspective of millions of people.
While inspecting storm damage in North Carolina on Monday, Trump criticized the emergency response personnel from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), stating that their work has been hindered by armed harassment and misinformation.
In Asheville, he told reporters, “You have to let people know how they are doing. If they are doing a good job, they should be rewarded, don’t you think?”
He also expressed that he is not concerned about the impact of Hurricane “Helen” on the outcome of the crucial state’s election. However, many Republicans are worried that the severe damage caused by Hurricane “Helen” may lower voter turnout among conservative voters in the mountainous regions of the battleground state.
North Carolina is one of the seven closely contested swing states where Trump and Harris are vigorously campaigning for every vote. Polls indicate that both candidates are neck and neck in North Carolina.
The areas most severely affected by Hurricane “Helen” happen to be strongholds of the Republican Party. In 2020, Trump won roughly 62% of the votes in 25 counties. However, post-Hurricane “Helen,” these areas have been declared disaster zones.
On October 9th, North Carolina lawmakers passed legislation including measures to facilitate voting for residents affected by “Helen.” Some Republicans remain concerned that even a slight decrease in Republican voter turnout in these areas could lead to Harris winning the state.
(This article references reporting from the Associated Press and The Hill)