The small city of Ripon in eastern Wisconsin is perhaps best known as the site of a historic one-room schoolhouse where the Republican Party was founded in 1854. Kamala Harris and former Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney will campaign together Thursday night — about a month after Cheney and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, publicly announced their support for Harris and Her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, is in this year’s election. Still, the Ripon affair represents a kind of cross-partisan cooperation that has become rare in American politics.
Harris currently holds only a slim lead over former President Donald Trump in Wisconsin polls, but with Nov. 5 less than a month away, every public appearance matters — especially in swing states , especially if Harris happens to be accompanied by a prominent Republican. “Our republic faces an unprecedented threat as a former president seeks to remain in power by dismantling the foundation of our republic by refusing to accept the legitimate results of the 2020 election,” Cheney told a crowd gathered at Ripon College on Thursday. Confirmed by ten courts, Cheney spoke at length about Trump’s actions during the January 6 insurrection (and in the months leading up to it) and urged that “Donald Trump is unfit to lead this good and great country.” ”. She added that a lifelong Republican — she has been involved in politics since she was 10 years old, when she volunteered for Gerald R. Ford’s re-election campaign — and for the first time in 1984 Vote for Ronald Reagan – Cheney will support the Democratic candidate for president. (“I was a Republican even before Donald Trump started spray tanning,” she laughs appreciatively.)
“You may not have supported a Democratic candidate for president before, but as you also said, we all love our country and we respect our democratic ideals,” Vice President Harris told Cheney after taking the stage on Thursday. She went on to praise Cheney as “a leader who puts country before party, before person – a true patriot” and encouraged the crowd to chant “Thank you, Liz.”
Cheney, for her part, urged voters to “reject the depraved cruelty of Donald Trump” because “violence does not and must not determine who governs us. Voters do. Just behind her, a giant sign read “Country is better than party,” dotted with red, white and blue bunting, embodying the night’s conscientious bipartisanship. One can only hope that Harris and Cheney’s alliance can deliver in the remaining weeks leading up to November 5. A message of civility and unity from a tense and grieving nation.
