Harris returns to her roots and childhood haunts to make her final pitch

MADISON, Wisconsin – Vice President Kamala Harris went back to a familiar place in the final stretch of her presidential campaign.

As she runs on preserving personal freedoms and protecting democracy, she made her pitch on Wednesday evening a few miles from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where her progressive parents participated in various civil rights causes in the late 60s. She spoke at the nearly 10,000-seat Alliant Energy Center here, to a majority-female crowd.

As president, Harris pledged that she would seek common ground and common-sense solutions to problems.“I am not looking to score political points. I am looking to make progress," she said in her speech.

Harris has often talked about spending part of her childhood (from age 3 to 5) in a 2-bedroom home overlooking Lake Mendota. The home also happens to be in a pivotal swing state.

Her father, Donald Harris, a Jamaican-American economics professor, publicly supported Black students in 1969 as they sought the creation of a Black Studies department. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, an Indian-American, worked as a cancer researcher at the university.

“I grew up with a stroller’s-eye view of the civil rights movement, surrounded by adults who were committed to service and community involvement,” she said in 2016 Facebook post. “These moments inspired me from a young age to want to be a lawyer and fight for justice for the voiceless.”

While aligned on social and political causes, Harris’s parents’ marriage did not last. They divorced in the early 70s.  Her mother, who raised Harris, left to work as a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, and her father joined Stanford University, nearby, as a professor.

On the tree-lined street in the Spring Harbor neighborhood where she grew up, signs supporting Harris are everywhere.

John Wiencek, who was taking a stroll in the neighborhood Wednesday morning, said he’d already voted for Harris.

The 68-year-old dentist, who considers himself an independent, had only voted for Republicans until former President Donald Trump first became the Republican nominee in 2016.

He voted for the Democratic presidential candidates in 2016, 2020 and 2024 as a sign of his displeasure with Trump.“I think America is great and it's never not been great as far as I'm concerned,” he said, alluding to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” pitch.

As far as the neighborhood, he would describe it as one where “50% of the residents have Ph.D.’s and tend to be liberal-leaning.”

Early supporter of African American studies

Over at the university’s Department of African American Studies, Professor Emerita Freida High Wasikhongo Tesfagiogris, who was visiting the department on Wednesday said she was grateful for Donald Harris’ support of Black students at a crucial time in history.

High, who was a graduate student in 1969, was part of the steering committee looking into the formation of an “Afro-American” studies department.

“There were faculty who did not want Black studies. They said there was no need for African American studies,” she said. “So to support it was revolutionary at the time.”

Family ties: Her mother's daughter: What Shyamala Gopalan's legacy means to Kamala Harris

High said it was “fantastic to have a faculty member who was on the right side whose daughter is now the vice president.”

That Harris has been influenced by her parents’ progressive outlook is evident in her campaigning, she said.

“She’s really about humanity. And so that's what African American studies is about,” said High. “It's about humanity, understanding humanity, and making sure that everyone's story is told.”

Waiting for their first presidential election

On the campus, young people were eagerly waiting for the Harris rally Wednesday afternoon. USA TODAY spoke to four Harris supporters getting ready to vote in their first presidential election.

To have a female candidate to vote for who cares about reproductive rights and unifying the country is energizing, they said.

Violet Bluestein, 21, a senior at the university, was gearing up to attend her second Harris rally since September.

She recalled a moment at that earlier rally that moved her:

“There was a young Black girl who was being held up on her dad's shoulders,” said the Vermont native. “And that just made me so emotional. Being able to see yourself in politics is so amazing.”

Bluestein said she is hopeful a Harris presidency would get the country back to a place of “humanity and goodness and unity.”

“I just want a country that I can feel proud of again,” she said.

Elizabeth Cahill, 20, a junior studying sociology and genetics, grew up just outside Chicago.

"I think a lot of people see her as like just an empowering person and someone who stands up for herself and someone that stands up for people that don't look like her, " she said.  "Representing all demographics is really beautiful in my opinion."

She said Harris' candidacy "feels like a long time coming" and hopes it will set a precedent for other female politicians to run for office ? and win.

Margaret Murphy-Weise, 21, who grew up in San Francisco, said she's happy to be voting in a pivotal state.

Harris, she said, has a “maternal instinct,” and is doing a good job of leaning into her feminine side ? contrasting her approach with Hillary Clinton’s failed run for the presidency in 2016.

“I think what makes a strong woman is when you can have both, the feminine side and at the same time be able to be in strong, powerful positions,” she said. “That makes her relatable."

Murphy-Weise, a political science and Chinese double major, said she is also glad, as an Asian American, to have a woman of color running for the country's highest office.

"To see someone that represents me is so important and cool," she said.

Marley Miller, 21, a political science and international relations double-major from Wayland, Massachusetts, agreed, saying she finds Harris' acknowledgment of women and women's rights appealing.

"To have a woman of color to become the president of the United States would be a monumental accomplishment for American democracy despite all of our nation's shortcomings and all the enduring systemic inequalities," the senior said.

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(This story has been updated to add new information and photographs.)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Harris returns to her childhood haunts to make her final pitch