Kamala Harris campaigned in Madison, Wisconsin, the deep blue capital of the state and college town that Democrats hope will turn out enough voters to turn the election in the presidential nominee’s favor.
“We know this is gonna be a tight race until the very end,” said Harris. “We are the underdog in this race, and we have some hard work ahead of us.”
Wisconsin voters delivered razor-thin margins during the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Donald Trump won the state in 2016 by about 22,000 votes, and in 2020 Joe Biden scraped by with just 20,000 more than Trump.
Polling in Wisconsin so far shows Harris and Trump neck-and-neck. Three polls conducted this week underscore just how tight the race could be here: polling by AARP, Marist and Quinnipiac University suggest the race is virtually tied here, with Harris leading Trump by just one point in each.
On the trail, Harris has emphasized her support for abortion rights, a centerpiece of her campaign and a galvanizing issue for young voters.
“It is immoral,” said Harris of the numerous abortion bans that were implemented after Roe v Wade was overturned. “Let us agree one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do.”
Harris described meeting with the mother of a young woman who died of sepsis after being denied abortion care in Georgia.
“Amber Nicole Thurman,” said Harris. “I promised her mother I would say her name every time.”
Whoever wins Wisconsin’s popular vote earns the state’s full 10 electoral votes, giving the state a disproportionate say over the presidential election, and groups such as Madison’s large college-age population will play a critical role in deciding the result. Some of those students attended the Friday rally.
“It’s just so nice to see someone who’s actually joyful,” said Kaitlin Olson, a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. During Biden’s painful debate performance against Trump, Olson said, “it was like, ‘This is scary.’ Now that Kamala is running, I’m like, ‘OK, a little more joy.’”
“I think we’re gonna turn out higher than expected,” said Jake Leismer, a college freshman who took the bus from campus, joining up with Olson and a group of students at the rally.
The Democratic-coordinated campaign, which campaigns for Democrats up and down the ballot, has hired seven full-time campus organizers across the state and a youth organizing coordinator, according to a source familiar with the Harris campaign’s staffing operations in Wisconsin. Kelly Connor, a campus organizer based in Madison, said the campaign has been met with enthusiasm – even hosting a bonfire to ceremonially burn copies of Wisconsin’s gerrymandered electoral maps, which the state abandoned this year after years of progressive and Democratic party organizing.
“We have lots of volunteers that have never volunteered before that want to get out and knock doors,” said Connor.
The young people effect in Wisconsin came to light fully in 2023, when college students turned out in droves to elect Janet Protasiewicz to the Wisconsin supreme court, creating a liberal majority on the bench. At the heart of the race was abortion access, which has been caught in a legal snarl since the fall of Roe v Wade triggered a 175-year-old ban in the state.
“They know the stakes,” said Connor. “This election is about fascism versus democracy, and students are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that Donald Trump never sets foot in the White House again.”
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