Harris taps Cheney for ‘blue wall’ tour as she courts undecided independents, moderate Republicans

Vice President Kamala Harris is making an aggressive bid to win over independents and moderate Republicans in the suburbs, visiting vote-rich counties in three Great Lakes swing states Monday with former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney.

Vice President Kamala Harris is making an aggressive bid to win over independents and moderate Republicans in the suburbs, visiting vote-rich counties in three Great Lakes swing states Monday with former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney. In the presidential race’s closing days, Harris’ campaign is courting a small but potentially decisive group across what it sees as similar terrain in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — a trio of battleground states that tipped the 2016 race for Donald Trump but swung back in Democrats’ favor in 2020. They’re the kinds of voters who might have backed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, whose supporters in the 2024 Republican primary tended to be moderate and college-educated. And the push to reach them comes as Trump says he expects to deploy Haley in the race’s final stretch. “I think it just goes to show they’re literally just scrapping for every vote,” said former Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a Republican who opposes Trump and spoke at a recent Harris rally in Pennsylvania. “It’s not just about turning out your base. There is a group in the middle that probably would support a regular Republican candidate and they’re trying to get their head around, can they vote for Trump? Or can they actually vote Democratic? I just think it’s neck-and-neck.” The blitz of the “blue wall” states will see Harris and Cheney travel to suburban counties of Chester County, Pennsylvania; Oakland County, Michigan; and Waukesha County, Wisconsin. The conversations will be moderated by Bulwark publisher and Republican strategist Sarah Longwell, and Charlie Sykes, a conservative commentator who for decades shaped Wisconsin politics with his talk radio show before declaring in 2016 that the conservative movement had lost its way. Both support Harris.  Those counties are all populous suburban targets where Democrats have significantly expanded their share of the vote in recent elections. The focus on those areas underscores where the Harris campaign believes it can find undecided and persuadable voters — including those who backed Haley in the 2024 Republican primary, according to a senior campaign official.