Elections

Harris returns to Madison for a rally to rouse voters before Election Day

Vice President Kamala Harris held rallies in a trio of swing states in the closing week before the 2024 election culminates on Nov. 5, making campaign stops in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Associated Press

October 31, 2024 • South Central Region

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Kamala Harris speaks while standing behind a podium with the Seal of the Vice President of the United States affixed to its front, with two teleprompters and mirrors on stands on either side, and a low backdrop with signs reading Vote and Madison, WI behind her on a stage, with cheering audience members holding signs reading Vote, Badgers for Harris-Walz and Freedom Freedom Freedom on bleachers in the background, and cheering audience members standing below the stage facing her and recording photos and videos with smart phones in the foreground.

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks on Oct. 30, 2024, in Madison. (Credit: AP Photo / Morry Gash)


AP News

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris crisscrossed several swing states on Oct. 30, passing each other in Wisconsin, where the former president appeared in Green Bay with a one-time local icon, retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre.

The vice president held rallies in a trio of states as part of a blitz in the closing week of the election, with stops in Raleigh, North Carolina; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Madison, Wisconsin.

Harris stressed unity and common ground, expanding on her capstone speech on Oct. 29 in Washington, where she laid out what her team called the “closing argument” of her campaign.

As she has done all day on the campaign trail, Harris struck a conciliatory tone in Madison on Oct. 30, telling voters she is looking for “common ground” with people who disagree with her.

“As president, I will seek to find common ground and common sense solutions to the problems you face,” she said. “I’m not looking to score political points, I am looking for progress.”

Harris has spent considerable time in the close of her campaign reaching out to one-time Trump voters and those who disagree with her on certain issues.

She has had former Trump supporters introduce her at events. And has touted that she wants to put a Republican in her would-be cabinet. “Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy,” she said in Madison.

At each of her three rallies on Oct. 30, a group of people protested on behalf of Palestinians, criticizing Harris for the Biden administration’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas. Harris used each interruption to fire up her supporters.

“We all want the war in Gaza to end and to get the hostages out, and I will do everything in my power to make it heard and known,” Harris said in Madison. “And everyone has a right to be heard, but right now I am speaking.”

Harris’ supporters erupted at her comment, a reference to what she told then-Vice President Mike Pence during their debate in 2020. The reaction largely drowned out the protesters.

Mumford & Sons, Gracie Abrams, Remi Wolf and members of the band The National appeared at the rally in Madison.

With just days to go before the end of the campaign, many of Harris’ supporters were on edge. Holly Meyer, 65, said she was nervous as she attended the Madison rally.

“But I’m also optimistic,” she said. “People just seem to be energized by Vice President Harris.”

Associated Press writers Will Weissert, Chris Megerian, and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.


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