Kamala Harris, Liz Cheney to campaign in Wisconsin’s GOP birthplace

Republican former Congresswoman Liz Cheney will campaign with Vice President Kamala Harris in Ripon Thursday during an event focused on putting country above party, according to a senior campaign official.

Ripon has long been known as the birthplace of the GOP. It’s home to a one-room schoolhouse that hosted a meeting in 1854, which led to the creation of the Republican Party. The schoolhouse has been maintained as a local museum.

During the event, the campaign official says Harris will reference that history to appeal to Republican and independent voters.

It will mark Harris’ fifth stop in Wisconsin since launching her presidential campaign. It’s her first stop to northeast Wisconsin since beginning her campaign.

The stop in traditionally-Republican Fond du Lac County comes just days after former President Donald Trump campaigned in Democratic strongholds of Dane and Milwaukee counties.

During Thursday’s event, Harris is expected to praise Cheney for her character and for putting country above party. Cheney, when representing Wyoming in the U.S. House of Representatives, served as the top Republican on the committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. 

Cheney announced her support for Harris last month while speaking at Duke University in North Carolina. 

“As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this,” she said in a recording of the event. “And because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris.”

Her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, has also thrown his support behind Harris. They are among more than 200 Republicans who have endorsed Harris.

A Marquette University Law School poll released Wednesday shows Harris maintaining a 4-point lead over Trump among registered Wisconsin voters.