Harris kicks off her campaign in Wisconsin

I’ve officially seen both candidates now, Trump addressing the RNC at Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee, and Harris in her campaign kickoff in a high school gym in West Allis, a suburb just west of the city. I would estimate there were about 3000 people in the crowd, though I am not especially known for my crowd-estimation skills. I ran into a number of people I knew, including some current and former students, though the crowd looked to me to trend older (as one might expect at 1pm on a Tuesday). The speech was strong if not electrifying. I can’t help but contrast with Hillary Clinton, even if unfairly. Clinton most likely anticipated running against a normal candidate, and her critiques of Trump’s character were generally accurate but lacked linkage to any kind of larger story of her candidacy. Harris has woven her background as a prosecutor into her opposition to Trump, drawing on some lines from her 2019 presidential bid, and turned this into a broader narrative about holding power to account, bolstering the rule of law, and highlighting gender as she talks about prosecuting sexual predators. It felt like the positive and negative parts of the message were well-integrated. Here are three more takeaways:

Roe, Roe, Roe (but maybe gender issues more generally)

I tried to do some highly unscientific analysis of the t-shirts, and the thing that kept coming up was gender-related stuff. There were some 2016 throwbacks, like “nasty women vote.” There were several LGBTQ-theme shirts (Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is up for reelection this year, was the last speaker before Harris). But messaging I saw most was related to Roe v. Wade and reproductive rights. I overheard a conversation between two women in which both disavowed being radical. “Not a radical,” they agreed. “But on that issue…”

Of course, this was an important theme in the speech, and Harris spoke about it clearly and with force. Her approach was a real contrast to Biden, who never really sounded comfortable or found a line he could deliver persuasively. (And this was, in my opinion, one of the worst parts of the June debate.) But what really stood out to me was the way this issue motivated the crowd.

We have a change candidate. Sort of.

One of the chants of the rally was “not going back,” used in direct reference to the days before the Affordable Care Act, but seemingly applicable to so much else. This was the bridge to talking about what she would do as president – restoring reproductive rights, passing gun control legislation. This was standard Democratic fare, packaged under her campaign theme of “freedom” and framed around a “future” message. What’s striking is how different it sounded from someone who isn’t the incumbent president and can thus enjoy just a bit more, well, freedom to talk about breaking away from the status quo. Something I’d been meaning to write about was how difficult it was for a campaign without a real “change” candidate to fulfill the expectations of a modern presidential contest. And there’s still not a true change candidate – Harris will be called on to defend the administration’s record as well. But there is more of one than there was before.

Democrats and recent history  

The gear at this rally was somewhat unusual because, of course, the campaign is just getting started. So there were plenty of Biden t-shirts and things, as I mentioned above, from 2016. One of the things that struck me most was a group of people in the audience holding letters that spelled out “Yes We Kam” revisiting Obama’s signature slogan (from a very change-oriented campaign). It was subtle, but there was an evident line of continuity with Obama and Hillary Clinton. I wouldn’t make too much of this, but it’s a real contrast with Trump’s approach to Republican politics. There was a historical presidency display at the RNC, and a surprising (maybe not really) amount of Richard Nixon imagery. But I’ve been writing about Trump’s ahistorical rhetoric for some time now – his speeches rarely locate themselves relative to past Republicans, whether Dwight Eisenhower or Ronald Reagan or Calvin Coolidge or whatever. (It’s hard to imagine that Eisenhower would be terribly taken with Trump, but I digress). The elevation of past leaders and ideas on the edges of a Democratic campaign emphasizes continuity and the enduring nature of a party beyond a single individual. After last week’s extraordinarily Trump-centered convention, it was a noticeable distinction.

Once the streets had opened again after the event, I waited for the bus a few blocks away. Other rally-goers were walking and waiting at the bus stop with “Kamala” signs. The driver of a car with a giant Trump flag waving out the window laid on the horn, and the driver next to him honked enthusiastically. Finally the light changed and they drove off. A man carrying a clipboard that said “Kenosha Democrats” walked up to the people waiting with their Harris signs, and said, “I don’t find their arguments all that persuasive.”

Welcome to the next 105 days in Wisconsin.