'Country over party': Liz Cheney campaigns with Kamala Harris in the Wisconsin birthplace of the GOP

RIPON — Vice President Kamala Harris took her presidential campaign to the literal heart of GOP territory in Wisconsin — the community of Ripon, known as the birthplace of the Republican Party.

And she had a high-profile Republican supporter at her side — former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, a leading critic of former President Donald Trump who made her first campaign appearance with the Democratic ticket in a bid to exhort Republicans with doubts about Trump to cross over.

"I have never voted for a Democrat, but this year, I am proudly casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris," Cheney said. "Vice President Harris is standing in the breach at a critical moment in our nation's history. She's working to unite reasonable people from all across the political spectrum."

Against a backdrop at Ripon College of signs displaying the slogan "Country Over Party," Harris slammed Trump, saying he "recklessly tramples on our democratic values."

"Anyone who has actively and violently obstructed the will of the people and the peaceful transfer of power as Donald Trump has, anyone who has called for, I quote, 'termination of the Constitution of the United States,' as Donald Trump has must never again stand behind the seal of the President of the United States," she said.

"The tragic truth, the tragic truth that we are facing in this election for president of the United States is that there is actually an honest question about whether one of the candidates will uphold the oath to the Constitution of the United States," she said.

Office holders regardless of political party must uphold the Constitution and protect democracy, she said.

"If you share that view, no matter your political party, there is a place for you with us and in this campaign, because those principles I know unite us across party lines, and in this election, I take seriously my pledge to be a president for all Americans," Harris said. "My entire career I've only had one client: the people."

Cheney says Trump 'not fit' to lead America

Cheney, who was born in Madison, is one of the most high-profile anti-Trump Republicans in the country and her visit to Ripon came two days after Trump campaigned in the heart of Democratic Party election power in Wisconsin, Dane and Milwaukee counties. He has another campaign stop scheduled Sunday in Dodge County.

Cheney was ousted as chair of the House Republican Conference — the third highest-ranking House Republican — over her criticism of Trump following his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. She was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and served as the vice chair of the House select committee investigating the insurrection.

Cheney took note of the Republican Party's history in Ripon and how a band of abolitionists gathered to form the party.

"Now you all know, of course, that here in Ripon, the Republican Party was founded. It was founded in a meeting in 1854 in the little white schoolhouse, and it was founded by people who were opposed to slavery," she said. "It was that Republican Party, the party of Lincoln and Eisenhower, the party of Reagan and Bush. It's that party that I belonged to my entire life."

She contrasted that vision of the party to the events of Jan. 6, 2021, calling it an "unraveling," where police were brutally beaten and former Vice President Mike Pence was "hunted," while Trump looked on, refusing to quell the violence.

"At the very heart of our survival as a republic is the peaceful transition of power," Cheney said. "Ronald Reagan said this was nothing short of a miracle, that every four or eight years, the most powerful office in our land — indeed the most powerful office in the world — is passed peacefully to a new president in the United States of America. Violence does not and must never determine who rules us."

"What January 6 shows us is that there is not an ounce, not an ounce of compassion in Donald Trump," she said. "He is petty, he is vindictive, and he is cruel, and Donald Trump is not fit to lead this good and great nation."

Cheney also singled out former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker over remarks at a Trump event in Wisconsin that people are "over" January 6.

"When you think about what that means that a former elected official, is so willing to minimize what happened, to say things like I've heard from others to say, 'Don't worry, our institutions held that day,'" she said. "We have a responsibility, all of us, to remind people that our institutions don't defend themselves."

Cheney urged other Republicans to "meet this moment."

"I ask you to stand in truth, to reject the depraved cruelty of Donald Trump. And I ask you, instead, to help us elect Kamala Harris for president."

Cheney not the only Republican to break with Trump

On Wednesday, a group of more than 20 Republicans ranging from elected district attorneys to Republican county chairs and everyday Wisconsinites endorsed Harris in an open letter.

"Donald Trump does not align with Wisconsin values. To ensure our democracy and our economy remain strong for another four years, we must elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to the White House," the letter reads. "We have plenty of policy disagreements with Vice President Harris. But what we do agree upon is more important."

The group highlighted election denialism, the risk of inflation, his relationship with autocrats like Vladimir Putin and China's Xi Jinping and the "chaos of Donald Trump's leadership."

Included in the list of Wisconsin Republicans are former state Senator Barbara Lorman of Fort Atkinson, former state Representative Margaret Lewis of the Town of Middleton, former state Representative Susan B. Vergeront of Sun Prairie and Tiffany Koehler, a Slinger resident.

Wisconsin Republicans call the Cheney event 'pathetic'

Republican Party of Wisconsin chairman Brian Schimming described Cheney as a "prop" for the Harris campaign and noted that she'd previously criticized the vice president as a "radical liberal who would raise taxes, take away guns (and) health insurance, and explode the size and power of the federal (government)."

He called her appearance, along with other conservatives now backing Harris, "pathetic."

Her endorsement "is clearly an anti-Trump thing, because otherwise, the list of things that she's endorsing for a Harris victory are ... a bad border policy, inflation, foreign wars, high interest rates, high grocery store prices," he said.

"They think it's cute to go do this thing in Ripon, but the truth of the matter is, people are not going to vote on the fact that Liz Cheney went into Ripon today," Schimming said. "You know, of the of the top 20 things that might move voters in this election, Cheney is like, number 270."

Trump's Wisconsin campaign spokesman framed the choice in the election based on issues.

"Wisconsin families have a clear choice once again: freedom or communism, tax cuts or tax hikes, the Green New Scam or unleashing American energy," said Team Trump Wisconsin Communications Director, Jacob Fischer. "In November, Wisconsin voters will choose commonsense and resoundingly vote for President Donald J. Trump."

More: Why is Kamala Harris in Ripon, Wis., the birthplace of the Republican Party?

Harris leads in polling, enthusiasm in Wisconsin

Harris visited Ripon at a time that enthusiasm among voters for her campaign is up.

In the latest Marquette University Law School poll, Harris maintained a four-point lead over Trump, within the poll's margin of error.

Among both registered and likely voters, it was 52% for Harris and 48% for Trump, according to numbers released Wednesday. That shows no change from the numbers Marquette released in mid-September.

Asked about recent polling and efforts by Republican former President Donald Trump to court voters in the traditionally deep-blue Dane and Milwaukee counties, Schimming said Wisconsin "is truly a purple state."

"Across the state, I just say, 'Look, there are hundreds of thousands of people out there who think like us, they act like us, they live like us, they believe like us, but they don't vote.' And the truth is, there are hundreds of thousands out there. We get a sliver of those, we win Wisconsin."

Editor's note: The Journal Sentinel requested an interview with Kamala Harris during her event Thursday in Ripon. The campaign declined to make her available. The Journal  Sentinel also sought interviews with Donald Trump during his events in Prairie du Chien on Saturday and Waunakee and Milwaukee on Tuesday. The campaign declined to make him available.

(This story was updated to add a photo or video.)

Laura Schulte can be reached at [email protected] and on X at @SchulteLaura.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Liz Cheney campaigns with Harris in the Wisconsin birthplace of GOP