Kamala Harris deploys Liz Cheney to woo anti-Trump Republicans

The pairing once would have been unthinkable.

In Ripon, Wisconsin, the sentimental birthplace of the GOP, Kamala Harris hit the campaign trail with Liz Cheney on Thursday in what marked the vice president’s highest-profile attempt yet to woo non-MAGA Republicans.

The California liberal and Wyoming conservative agree on little besides their view that former President Donald Trump is a threat to democracy who shouldn’t return to the White House after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. At Ripon College, in a small city where a group of Whigs, Free Soilers and Democrats met in 1854 to form a new party, calling themselves Republicans, Cheney said she would vote for a Democrat for the first time in her life to stop Trump.

“Our republic faces a threat unlike any we have faced before,” said Cheney. “A former president who attempted to stay in power by unraveling the foundations of our republic, by refusing to accept the lawful results confirmed by dozens of courts of the 2020 election.”

At the small-scale event, Harris framed the presidential race as an existential event and sought to draw voters’ attention back to the riot at the Capitol nearly four years ago.

“One of the most fundamental questions that is facing the American people in this election,” Harris said, is “who will abide by the oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America?”

Harris acknowledged that she and Cheney “may not see eye to eye on every issue” and even said “we are going to get back to a healthy two-party system” in which they would fiercely debate. But she praised Cheney, who stood behind her during her remarks, as a “true patriot.”

Harris has made a sustained effort to attract disenchanted Republicans. Her team is airing ads featuring endorsements from former Trump supporters, one of whom said in a spot that “Jan. 6 was a wake-up call for me.” Conservative surrogates are also fanning out across the country this week at campaign events for Harris.

Harris’ path to victory in November may hinge on college-educated and suburban voters, including at least some disaffected Republicans. Those voters could be all the more critical amid signs of softening support for Harris among working-class voters, including the announcement Thursday that the firefighters union, an early backer of President Joe Biden in 2020, would not endorse a candidate for the White House. The Teamsters also said recently it would withhold its support.

The event in Wisconsin underscored that animus toward Trump is what energizes the Democratic Party above perhaps all else, and it’s a large part of what Harris’ team hopes will keep everyone from Cheney to Bernie Sanders in her tent. Campaigning alongside Cheney also served for Harris as an implicit rebuttal to claims from Trump that she is too far left.

It was the first time Cheney campaigned with Harris since she endorsed the vice president last month. Cheney, a former House member, lost her Wyoming seat in 2022 after voting to impeach Trump for his role in inciting the Jan. 6 riot. Her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, is also backing Harris.

At the Wisconsin event, Harris expressed thanks “for his support and what he has done to serve our country.”

Harris’ strategy of courting Trump-skeptical Republicans is not new for Democrats in the Trump era. President Joe Biden’s team spotlighted an endorsement by former Ohio Gov. John Kasich at his 2020 convention. In the 2022 midterms, down-ballot Democrats likewise won support from disaffected GOP officials who helped make the case that their opponents were extreme.

This year, anti-Trump Republicans, such as former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, Mesa, Arizona, Mayor John Giles and political commentator Ana Navarro, spoke at the Democratic National Convention. At times, these efforts have irked progressives.

Trump has for years used Cheney as a punching bag. On Thursday, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung reiterated that, saying in a statement that “Liz Cheney is a stone-cold loser who is so desperate for relevance and attention, she has debased herself by campaigning with a weak, failed and dangerously liberal in Kamala Harris.”

Earlier Thursday, Trump held a rally in another key battleground. In Saginaw, Michigan, he continued to falsely claim that the federal government is not providing support to victims of Hurricane Helene. Flanked by supporters wearing bright green “Teamsters for Trump” shirts, Trump criticized both Harris and Biden in long-winded remarks.

He also briefly remarked on the performance by Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, during the vice presidential debate Tuesday. “He called himself ‘knucklehead,’” Trump said. “We don't want a knucklehead as a president.”