Wisconsin DNC delegates fired up after Kamala Harris’ speech accepting nomination

As they poured out of the United Center arena Thursday night, Wisconsin delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago were beaming.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ speech accepting her party’s nomination for president left them fired up, they said. The address capped off a week of appearances by celebrities, rising Democratic stars and even some former Republicans.

Harris used her moment in the national spotlight to pledge support for labor unions, restoring federal abortion protections and uniting the nation. She also attempted to speak to voters of other political persuasions by promising to “be a president for all Americans.”

“I will be a president who unites us around our highest aspirations. A president who leads and listens. Who is realistic, practical and has common sense, and always fights for the American people, from the courthouse to the White House. That has been my life’s work,” said Harris.

It was exactly the message Wisconsin delegates from around the state said they wanted to hear, with some promising to go back home and make the final push to get Harris and vice presidential nominee Tim Walz over the finish line.

“I will go door to door,” said John Krizek of Hudson. “I will talk to every neighbor I can find, and I’ll go to coffee shops, and I pledge my future. Because right now, I am radicalized in her support.”

Krizek said Harris’ speech left him feeling “full of power.” As a former pledged delegate for President Joe Biden, he said he was nervous after Biden’s debate performance with former President Donald Trump. Krizek said it felt like “an anvil had been lifted off my chest” when Biden decided not to run for reelection.

“I felt Donald Trump was going to win and that he was going to destroy our democracy and our future,” said Krizek.

Krizek’s comments and others suggested a sense of relief that Biden dropped out of the running. But Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said he doesn’t see it that way.

“I don’t know if it’s a sense of relief,” said Johnson. “I think that there’s a sense of history that’s about to be made here, that we have our chance, an opportunity to elect the first woman president and the first Black woman president and get through those 60 some million cracks that Hillary Clinton put in that highest and hardest glass ceiling in 2016. We finally have the opportunity to shatter that.”

Harris’ vow to unite Americans and be a “president for all” was one of the things that excited Wisconsin Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton. She said whenever she hears Trump talk it’s aimed at dividing citizens.

As for the notable rise in enthusiasm among Democrats, Hesselbein said she thinks it will trickle down to state legislative races, too.

“I think with Kamala at the top of the ticket, you’re going to see so many people voting for Kamala and Democrats up and down the ticket,” Hesselbein said. “It’s going to be fantastic for all of us.”

Deiadra Queary, a delegate from Milwaukee, said she thought Harris spelled out the high stakes of the election. 

“This is serious. It is a serious matter,” Queary said. “One wrong choice, and we’re living in a world that wouldn’t be good for us.”

The theme of the final night of Democrats’ weeklong rally was “For our Future.” While attacks aimed at former Republican President Donald Trump and GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance featured prominently throughout the convention, Harris said the upcoming election is about more than defeating them this fall. 

LaToya Bates of Mayville said that future-oriented message left her feeling hopeful. 

“We see a candidate who has a plan, who is energized, who is excited — who’s exciting — who can articulate all of those questions and things that we may not have been able to form for ourselves but we were burdened and worried about, and we can see hope,” Bates said.

Harris also focused her speech on economic concerns, saying that building out the middle class, and offering a middle class tax cut, will be a cornerstone of her presidency. 

Ann Jacobs, a Milwaukee-area delegate and member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said that message suggested that Harris would represent all Americans. 

“She’s standing up for the union workers. She’s standing up for the middle class. She’s standing up for the persons on Social Security. She’s standing up for the things we actually believe in,” Jacobs said.

At the start of her speech, Harris described the unusual path she took from supporting Biden’s candidacy to receiving his endorsement and launching her own campaign in just a month.

Jacobs said that that dramatic shift over the summer “changed the dynamic in a way no one’s ever seen before.”

“That has electrified everybody, maybe for its novelty, maybe for its her youth and her enthusiasm,” she said. “Whatever it is, it changed everything.”

With the convention in Chicago, there were fewer overtures to Wisconsin from the DNC’s main stage than there were during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. But a handful of Wisconsin Democrats took the stage throughout the week, including Lt. Gov. Sarah Rodriguez, Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

Partly leaders also paid special attention to Wisconsin at the delegation’s daily meetings over breakfast, which featured political dignitaries from from vice presidential nominee Tim Walz to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

A Marquette University Law School poll of Wisconsinites released Aug. 7 showed Harris and Trump in a dead heat, though more recent polling from a variety of other sources has shown Harris opening up a lead in the state.

Editor’s note: WPR’s Anya van Wagtendonk and Shawn Johnson contributed reporting.