Harris, Cheney make blue wall swing to appeal to GOP voters

Vice President Harris and former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) spent Monday on a swing across the blue wall to try to appeal to Republican voters.

The vice president and former congresswoman traveled to Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin to sit for three campaign events, during which they took questions from attendees and were surrounded by “Country Over Party” signs.

They talked with voters in Brookfield, Wisc., on Monday night and fielded questions on topics from social security to reproductive health care.

Conservative columnist Charlie Sykes, who moderated the discussion, asked Cheney about Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday questioning why Republicans, like Cheney and her father, former vice president Dick Cheney, would endorse Harris.

“Don’t listen to Lindsey Graham, number one. It’s good life advice actually,” Cheney said.

Cheney and Harris also knocked former President Trump throughout the event, mentioning that some former Trump officials have warned against him. They highlighted that former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair and retired Gen. Mark Milley reportedly called former Trump “a total fascist.”

“If you think about, how you conduct your life outside of politics… those are the kinds of people that you trust, those are the kinds of people you would work with,” Cheney said. “If you wouldn’t hire somebody to babysit your kids, then you shouldn’t make that guy the president of the United States.”

Harris warned that Trump is someone “who is easily manipulated by flattery,” mentioning his relationships with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“Vladimir Putin would be sitting in Kyiv if Donald Trump were president,” Harris said.

The campaign events on Monday are part of an ongoing effort to attract Republican, independent and undecided voters. Harris pled with Republicans last week to join her campaign while in Pennsylvania and earlier this month had a rally in Ripon, Wis., which is known as the home of the GOP, with Cheney.

The second campaign stop of the day on Monday was in Oakland County, Mich., and hosted by Maria Shriver. Attendees asked Harris and Cheney questions ranging from curbing gun violence to what the U.S. can do to deter Russia from continuing the war in Ukraine.

Shriver asked Cheney why she isn’t afraid of backlash over supporting Harris and the former congresswoman replied, “the response that we all have should not be to be so afraid we don’t act.”

“It should be, vote him out,” Cheney added.

Harris said, “and don’t think it’s a sick sense of humor and relegate it to just being that… the consequences of him being ever in the White House again are brutally serious.”

The first campaign event on Monday morning was held in Malvern, Pa., and moderated by Bulwark publisher Sarah Longwell. Attendees asked questions ranging from helping the so-called sandwich generation to boosting maternal health care.

Harris was asked what it means to “turn the page,” which is one of her main campaign slogans as she as sought to create distance from President Biden in the homestretch of the election.

“Mine will not be a continuation of the Biden administration,” she said, adding, “I bring to it my own ideas, my own experiences.”

Cheney touted her at the event as someone who is “going to defend our Constitution.”

“We’re not always gonna agree, but I know Vice President Harris will always do what she believes is right for this country. She has a sincere heart, and that’s why I’m honored to be here and supporting her in this race,” the Republican said.

Harris embarked on a blue wall blitz last week too, highlighting the importance her campaign is putting on the three battleground states.

All three states are on a razor’s edge in the presidential race. Trump has a 0.2 percentage point lead over Harris in Pennsylvania and a 0.6 percentage point lead in Michigan according to Decision Desk HQ/The Hill’s aggregate polling. The two candidates are tied in Wisconsin.