EAU CLAIR, WISCONSIN—Thousands had gathered to witness the second-ever Harris-Walz rally by the time a wild bald eagle soared over the crowd. Cheers erupted with ardency. Little kids jumped up and down.
People were still pouring through security gates and waiting to park cars. Those in the stands, hours into direct August sunlight, danced to ABBA and swag surfed with Kamala signs. By the time the programming began, more than twelve thousand people were in attendance.
Eau Claire is a small city in the western nook of this state, surrounded by small towns, farming communities, and little else until you reach St. Paul an hour west. It’s not the historically political Madison, iconic Green Bay, or city center Milwaukee—and yet, the Chippewa Valley has been a presidential campaign stop for over a century.
With Wisconsin more significant than ever to winning the presidency, both campaigns paid a visit last Wednesday.
Many saw Harris’s VP pick as reaching out to the Midwest and “rust belt” states, even though Minnesota has voted blue in presidential races for nearly half a century. Jeff, a lifelong Eau Claire resident who showed up to Kamala’s rally in an American flag button-up and a cheesehead, was thrilled.
“Kamala Harris is going to win the election—hopefully! And it’s really fun to see any political candidate, but Tim Walz being announced as running mate is really cool,” he told us. “Even though I’m from Wisconsin, I would really admire Minnesota’s politics. Minnesota’s politics are head and shoulders of Wisconsin politics. Minnesota has substantially better funding through legislation such as those Amy Klobuchar and Tim Walz have enacted – anything with the farm grant… Kamala Harris picking the governor of Minnesota as a running mate is actually a really cool thing. So, just as excited to see him as I am with her.”
Notable guests came to deliver their support. Among them were Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers and Wisconsin US Senator Tammy Baldwin—whose re-election race against Trump-backed Eric Hovde is provoking national attention and donations. Baldwin, a Democrat elected to the Senate in 2012 (and the first openly gay US Senator), will face Hovde on the ballot in November. Though born and raised in Madison, Hovde has faced criticism from some Wisconsinites for being a longtime California resident, and multimillionaire banker.
Needless to say, Jeff from Eau Claire had thoughts.
“[Hovde] in this ad is saying the phrase ‘a Wisconsin goodbye’—a Wisconsin goodbye means you’re not going anywhere soon. So when Eric Hovde says I can’t wait to wish Tammy Baldwin a Wisconsin goodbye, what it actually means if you’re from the area is, she’s not going anywhere soon.”
For Baldwin, a Harris-Walz administration means “[A] new beginning for our party and our country.” This comes after numerous Senate Democrats were nowhere to be found at Biden’s July campaign events.
After Walz was received joyfully by the crowd, a few minutes into his stump speech, he paused immediately when he heard a call for help. Many had foregone getting water to not lose their place in front of the stage, and the natural effects of the heat and direct sun were strengthening. Walz stopped, appeared to instinctually lurch toward the voice before remembering he couldn’t cross security lines, and continued to facilitate from the podium. He stood there and would not continue his speech until he saw that the person had been helped.
“I have to tell you again,” Walz said, off-script. “I have to say, this idea of caring for our neighbor in kindness and a hand up when somebody needs it, or just the sense that people go through things and to be able to be there when they need it, that’s who we are.”
A mother from Minneapolis made the hour-and-a-half drive with her young daughter (busy doing cartwheels on the grass while we talked). We asked if she would have made the effort had Biden remained the candidate.
“I mean, probably not,” she told us. “I had to take off work and everything—but with her, it’s no question. It’s historic. To attend with my daughter, I feel like everything might be worse for her [if Trump wins] … this feels different.”
The woman’s sister agreed, and contrasted the feeling with the 2016 Clinton campaign. “It feels a lot different. People feel excited. People are voting for [Harris].”
Some who attended and showed enthusiasm for the newfound Harris candidacy remain mostly concerned with the potential damage her opponent could inflict.
“When I read that [Project] 2025, that he wanted to get rid of Head Start, oh, that set me on fire. I used to work for Head Start,” Mary from Kentucky told us. She emphasized federal aid programs and reproductive freedom as significant issues to her.
When we asked why she’d made the trip, she simply said, “We had to come. We had to come.”
Wisconsinites and their neighbors are used to being a grueling stop on the campaign trail, but the passion from the midwestern left that greeted the Harris campaign was fresh and rekindled. Those who attended, from across the region and spanning generations, told us they were thrilled to show up in support of someone, and not just disdain for the other.
As Vice President Kamala Harris said: “The path to the White House runs right through this state.”
