Zac Schultz on Harris in Madison, Kennedy's Ballot Status

Frederica Freyberg:
Tonight is the fourth visit to Wisconsin for Kamala Harris since her bid for the White House began in late July. With another big rally this time in Madison, we turn to senior political reporter Zac Schultz, who joins us on location at the Alliant Energy Center. And hey, Zac. So this rally ended about 50 minutes ago. Set the scene for us.

Zac Schultz:
Well, it was quite the event. The crowds were here late afternoon. There was a DJ playing. There were — people had color coded bracelets and there were colored lights. It was really more of a party environment reflecting the intentions of the Harris campaign to treat this as a momentum builder, a motivating factor for these people to volunteer, get out, vote and activate and energize the rest of the Democrats that they know and their family and friends group. So from that point of view, it was definitely designed to get people excited about this campaign.

Frederica Freyberg:
So why in Madison and why now?

Zac Schultz:
Well, Madison is always a good place for any Democrats to come to. It’s very friendly territory. Dane County is the fastest growing county in the state. Democrats need to run up the score here in order to win statewide, but it’s also a place where you can show that energy and motivation to people around the state. It’s really important for Democrats to come here. John Kerry in 2004 came in October. Barack Obama in 2012 came in October. As those big motivating rallies to try and show all the momentum to the rest of the nation. The question is, then why did Harris come here in September? Well, because campaigns are earlier now. We’ve already seen more than 400,000 absentee ballots being sent out around the state. Early voting has started in some states. It starts — early in-person voting starts in Wisconsin in just a few weeks. And as Harris said from the stage, the election has already started.

Frederica Freyberg:
Yeah, in fact, important timing because people could already be voting with 400,000 ballots already sent out. As to those ballots though, having dropped out, RFK Jr. is in court to get his name removed from the Wisconsin ballot. He knows it’s too late to get those reprinted, but he wants clerks to cover his name up with stickers. But here’s what the City of Milwaukee elections chief said about that.

Paulina Gutierrez:
It could muck up our machines, right? Because they do have to process through our machines. And so that is a concern. Other concern is what if the sticker moves or, you know, falls off? Just — there’s a lot about what putting a sticker on a ballot could do that could really disrupt the process.

Frederica Freyberg:
Just today, as you know, the Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed to take this case directly. What does this signal?

Zac Schultz:
Well, at the moment, the Dane County judge already ruled it’s too late for RFK Jr. to pull his name off the ballot. His campaign appealed, trying to go to the Second District Court of Appeals in Wisconsin, a more conservative court, to try and put a stay in place and try to get those stickers in place. And the Supreme Court took that case directly away from them. And what, more importantly, what they said is there will be no oral arguments in this case. The RFK Jr. campaign has until tomorrow to finalize their last appeal, and then they will make a decision. And in this case, the facts and the law are not on RFK Jr.’s side. State law does not allow you to pull out as an independent candidate. The only case for stickers is if the candidate dies, and that’s certainly not the case here. And the Wisconsin Supreme Court said that they expect to issue a decision in writing very soon to give clarity to clerks around the state.

Frederica Freyberg:
Right, because of course, time is of the essence. But the bottom line here, why does Kennedy want his name removed from the ballot?

Zac Schultz:
Well, recently he came out and endorsed Donald Trump, and polling has shown in Wisconsin that RFK Jr. is polling around 6%. Now, that’s a little misleading. Third party candidates always poll better in the summer and early fall compared to what they actually receive in November, but most of that polling has shown also that a large percentage of those RFK Jr. voters are also Donald Trump fans, and he was actually pulling those votes away from Donald Trump. So the Trump campaign specifically, and RFK Jr.’s campaign, want those voters eligible to vote for Donald Trump and not to be convinced to vote for RFK Jr. So that’s why they’re looking to do this at this time.

Frederica Freyberg:
Yeah. Well, it will be interesting to see what they decide. And as you said, this is on an expedited schedule because time is of the essence. Zac Schultz thanks very much.

Zac Schultz:
Thank you.