November 2, 2024 in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
MILWAUKEE – Call it the grand finale of the high-stakes campaign for battleground Wisconsin.
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris held dueling rallies in Milwaukee Friday night at nearly the same time and just six miles apart as both campaigns made what could be the final push for the pivotal state with just four days until the election.
And though the candidates were close in proximity, their closing messages were worlds apart.
Speaking to a crowd in Fiserv Forum, Trump described the current state of the country in dark terms as he railed against the Biden administration and hurled insults at Harris. He pledged to make the country “stronger than ever before” but went on tangents throughout his remarks, becoming frustrated with his microphone at multiple points.
Harris, joined by a cast of musical artists at Wisconsin State Fair Park, attempted to strike a unifying tone. She again pledged to “seek common ground and common sense solutions” and reiterated her promise to give those who disagree with her “a seat at the table.”
The rallies served as the closing messages from Harris and Trump to the key swing state in the frenzied fight for the White House that only began in full just four months ago.
They underscored Wisconsin’s importance, and the uncertainty of the outcome here, on the electoral map. Polling has shown a toss-up race in the state. A Marquette University Law School poll released on Wednesday showed Harris with a 1-point edge over Trump among likely voters — 50% to 49%.
Attendees at both rallies on Friday expressed confidence in their candidate’s chances, though some reflected the up-in-the-air state of the race.
“I have no idea. I really don’t know,” Kirk Chovenac, a New Berlin resident, told the Journal Sentinel when asked outside the Trump rally how he felt about the former president’s chances in the state. “I don’t believe any polls ever.”
During what could be his last rally in the state, Trump claimed his reelection would bring about the “four greatest years in the history of our country” as he encouraged his supporters to turn out to vote.
“Just pretend we’re one down, right, we’re one point down, please,” Trump said after saying he was leading in all swing states, despite multiple polls showing Harris leading in some of those states.
His nearly 90 minutes of remarks snaked from the economy to immigration to casting doubt on the seriousness of climate change. He criticized the recent jobs report showing hiring slowed in October.
“America will be bigger, better, bolder, richer, safer and stronger than ever before” if he is elected, Trump said.
But the former president also lobbed personal insults at Harris, calling her names like “a low IQ person” and “grossly incompetent.” And he reiterated his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and claimed that illegal immigrants “have taken so many jobs away from African Americans.”
When some members of the crowd said they couldn’t hear him, Trump became frustrated with the microphone. He complained throughout the remainder of the speech about the microphone, which he removed from its stand and lamented he had to hold.
Harris, meanwhile, called Nov. 5 the “most consequential election of our lifetime.” She said Democrats will win because “when you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for.”
“In this election, we have an opportunity to finally turn the page on a decade of Donald Trump trying to keep us divided and afraid of each other,” Harris said Friday night. “We are done with it, we are exhausted with it. We are turning the page.”
Harris said Trump is about “trying to have Americans point their fingers at each other, but that’s not who we are.” She attacked her opponent as “unstable, obsessed with revenge” and “consumed with grievance.”
Her speech was preceded by a series of performances from top Black female rappers and hip-hop artists, including MC Lyte, Flo Milli and GloRilla. The rapper Cardi B also spoke.
The scenes in Milwaukee reflected those not seen in the state since perhaps 2004, when Republican George Bush and Democrat John Kerry stopped in the state’s largest city on the Monday before that election — Bush at what is now UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena and Kerry outside near City Hall.
Friday’s stops were among the last in a furious string of visits to the state from both campaigns since Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, accepted their party’s nomination in the same building in July.
Trump and Vance over that time have made 17 individual visits to Wisconsin cities. Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, meanwhile, have made stops in Wisconsin cities 22 times since Harris launched her presidential campaign in West Allis on July 23. Walz and Harris appeared together during two of those visits. Harris visited Janesville and Little Chute on Friday before the Milwaukee rally.
Walz on Monday is scheduled to make campaign stops in La Crosse, Stevens Point and Milwaukee, according to the Harris campaign. Vance is also scheduled to stop in La Crosse Monday morning.
Harris and Trump are set to campaign across Pennsylvania the same day, though Trump will end Monday in Michigan.
Still, both candidates on Friday encouraged their supporters to get out to vote in a dead heat race that could come down to turnout.
Inside Fiserv Forum, Trump made the stakes in Wisconsin clear.
“The fate of our nation is in your hands,” he said. “We win this state, we win the whole thing.”
Lawrence Andrea 