Liz Cheney is helping Kamala Harris take Michigan Republicans to court

Vice President Kamala Harris said Monday that she could not have imagined running for president alongside Republican former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who in turn said she would vote for a Democrat for the first time.

Cheney sent a message to conservatives about Harris. “I would say I don’t know if anyone is more conservative than me. And I understand that the most conservative value there is is to defend the Constitution,” she said, drawing loud applause from the audience at the art deco Royal Oak Musical Theater on Monday night. For about an hour, Cheney and Harris argued that former President Donald Trump posed a fundamental threat to the rule of law and America's standing on the world stage.

Harris rejected Trump's “America First” promise and called her Republican rival's foreign policy approach a threat to national security. “Isolationism is not isolation,” Harris said.

Harris and Cheney answered questions from journalist Maria Shriver, who moderated the event, and pre-selected audience members. While Shriver delved most into politics, he gave Harris a chance to show a more personal side of herself by asking the vice president to tell the audience three things about herself that voters can't learn in an ad or campaign phone call .

“How much time do we have? I have lived a fulfilling life. I am a wife, I am a mother, I am a sister, I am a godmother. “I love cooking,” Harris said, before giving an overview of her resume from the beginning of her career as a prosecutor to her current work in the White House.

It wasn't until the end of the event that Harris opened up a little more, sharing that she had been caring for her ailing mother to highlight her policy proposal to redesign Medicare to cover home health care. Harris also said that she wakes up in the middle of the night these days, but to stay grounded, she said she works out every morning and makes sure to talk to her husband and stepchildren every day.

But there's one thing she doesn't do to stay calm? Gummy bears. The topic came up when Shriver mentioned that those overwhelmed by the political cycle are coping with meditation, yoga and gummies – presumably infused with cannabis. “What are you doing?” Shriver asked Harris. “I don’t eat jelly beans,” she said, joining in the audience’s laughter.

Attendees of the event were greeted by the theater’s marquee that read “COUNTRY OVER PARTY.” Screens in the lobby also showed the phrase, proclaiming: “A NEW WAY FORWARD.” Melissa LeDuc, 44, of Birmingham, who attended the event, described it as an intimate and small gathering where Harris spoke to her as “a very real person” stood out who connected with the audience.

LeDuc hopes Harris' attempts to woo Republican voters will work. “I definitely hope it’s a good strategy,” she said. But it's hard to say because she said eight years of political drama have led to some reluctance among voters to share her positions.

Cheney directly addressed the possible hesitation on the GOP side. “I just want to remind people that if they are at all concerned, they can vote according to their conscience and never have to say a word to anyone,” she said.

Cheney served as vice chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives special committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, which was intended to shed light on Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. The committee's final report contains extensive references to battleground Michigan, including Trump's fixation on a human error in Antrim County that briefly showed him losing the conservative stronghold, the then-president's attempt to pressure Republican lawmakers into the election intervention, and the search by Trump's allies to attract Republican presidential voters.

Cheney said Monday evening that Trump's behavior on January 6, 2021 makes him unfit to be president.

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The Trump campaign opposed Harris' event with Cheney. “Unfortunately for Kamala Harris, Michigan voters don’t give a damn about what Liz Cheney thinks,” Victoria LaCivita, communications director for Team Trump Michigan, said in an emailed statement. She described Trump as building his own diverse political coalition.

Cheney is among the Republicans whose support the Harris campaign has touted.

Oakland County — where the Harris event with Cheney took place — is Michigan's second-largest and wealthiest county. In the 21st century, it leans toward the Democrats. The last time a Republican presidential candidate won the county was in 1992.

Before the event began, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham, addressed a portion of the audience to cheer her on. “Are we winning Oakland County?” she yelled. “Yes,” the audience shouted back.

Harris was in Michigan for the last time on Saturday to attend a campaign rally, where she delivered brief remarks at a Detroit high school on the first day of early voting in the city. Trump was in the Motor City last Friday after visiting Hamtramck and Auburn Hills earlier that day.

Absentee voting is underway in Michigan and early voting will be available in every community on October 26th. Election Day is November 5th and polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m

Contact Clara Hendrickson: [email protected] or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, formerly called Twitter, @clarajanehen.

Want to learn more about this year's elections in Michigan? Check out our voter guide, subscribe to our election newsletter and share your thoughts in a letter to the editor at any time.

Liz Cheney is helping Kamala Harris take Michigan Republicans to court

ByVanessa

By Vanessa

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