In town halls with Liz Cheney, Kamala Harris has made no known concessions to win Cheney’s support, while Cheney has come out in opposition to the Dobbs decision. What’s not to like?
Vice President Kamala Harris at a town hall with former representative Liz Cheney in Brookfield, Wisconsin.(Scott Olson / Getty Images)
Monday’s unlikely Kamala Harris–Liz Cheney “Blue Wall” tour, to three suburban counties in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, made some heads explode on the right and the left.
“Kamala Harris Town Hall With Liz Cheney Blows Up on yhe Launch Pad,” blared a Red State headline. On social media, progressive and other critics of US support for Israel’s merciless attack on Gaza were horrified to see Harris campaigning with “war hawk” Cheney.
“Michigan: Key swing state, highest concentration of Arab Americans in the nation. Harris: Let’s campaign with Liz Cheney!” tweeted The Hill’s Niall Stanage.
My friend and colleague John Nichols wrote in The Nation: “If Harris wants to win Wisconsin, she should stop talking about, and appearing with, the Cheneys, and start talking up the support she has received from Barack Obama.”
I would argue that Harris can do both, already has, and will continue to. In fact, her vice-presidential nominee, Tim Walz, will appear with Obama in Madison on Tuesday. Then Harris and Obama will appear in Detroit—reportedly introduced by Eminem. The pair will be in Georgia on Thursday. And Michelle Obama will join Harris in Michigan on Saturday. I’d love Harris and both Obamas to go to Milwaukee before November 5. We’ll see.
Importantly, Harris has made no known policy concessions to win Cheney’s support. Indeed, the only big news from the town halls came when Cheney, a staunch abortion opponent, agreed with Harris that since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, states have gone too far with abortion bans and restrictions that harm women.
“I think there are many of us around the country who have been pro-life, but who have watched what’s going on in our states since the Dobbs decision, and have watched state legislatures put in place laws that are resulting in women not getting the care they need,” she said. “This is not an issue that we’re seeing break down across party lines,” Cheney continued. “In places like Texas, for example, the attorney general is suing to get access to women’s medical records. That’s not sustainable for us as a country, and it has to change.”
Cheney didn’t say what changes to policy she would support, but her remarks were… remarkable. She hailed the Dobbs decision when it came down in June of 2022, welcoming it for returning the issue to the states. While the former Wyoming congresswoman got immediate flak from the right for changing her stance, Cheney doubled down in the tour’s third stop, in Waukesha County: “It’s crucially important for us to find ways to have the federal government play a role and protect women from some of the worst harms that we’re seeing.” Clearly, she no longer believes that the states should control the issue.
National Review’s Charles C.W. Cooke was apoplectic: “I’m sorry, but if your preference for/against a politician also leads you to change your mind on abortion or school choice or taxes or whatever, then you have completely, disastrously, categorically misunderstood why we have politicians and what their role is,” Cooke tweeted, noting her past support for bills that declared that life began at the “moment of conception.”
Repeatedly asked whether other prominent Never Trump Republicans—looking at you, Mitt Romney—might jump off the fence and endorse Harris, Cheney said yes, but added, “I certainly have many Republicans who will say to me, ‘I can’t be public.’ They do worry about a whole range of things, including violence, but they’ll do the right thing. And I would just remind people, if you’re at all concerned, you can vote your conscience and not ever have to say a word to anybody.” Millions of Republicans, she predicted, would do exactly that.
Otherwise, the town halls were mainly noteworthy because of the warmth between the two women. Cheney, who once derided Harris as a “radical liberal,” now describes her as someone with a “sincere heart,” “character,” and “courage.” Harris likewise called Cheney courageous for opposing Trump and supporting her. The vice president, who opposed the Iraq War, nevertheless aligns with Cheney on support for Ukraine and maintaining the NATO alliance, which Trump opposes. “If Trump were president, Vladimir Putin would be in Kyiv right now,” Harris said in Waukesha County.
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The tragedy in Gaza only came up there, when an audience member shouted, “What about Gaza?” and was reportedly removed from the room. Critics have noted that the town hall questioners were pre-screened, and while they were described as “undecided” voters, at least a couple seemed already inclined to vote for Harris.
The screened questions didn’t bother me much (this happens at most presidential town halls). These events were already risky enough for Harris, given liberals’ and progressives’ disdain for the Cheneys. Personally, I appreciated the events, especially the last one in Waukesha County. That traditionally conservative, “white flight” county gave one-third of its votes to racist Alabama Governor George Wallace in the 1964 Democratic Party. It was the launching pad for former GOP Governor Scott Walker’s political career (he started out as Waukesha County executive). But on Monday, the man widely credited with helping launch Walker, broadcaster Charlie Sykes, endorsed Harris and moderated the Cheney-Harris conversation there. “Welcome to a production of The Odd Couple,” Sykes told the crowd.
The day’s funniest moment came in Royal Oak, Michigan, after a question from moderator Maria Shriver. “Everybody I talk to says you know, I have to turn off the news, I can’t read anything, I’m mediating, I’m doing yoga. I’m so anxious… I’m eating gummies. What are you doing?” Harris quickly replied, “Not eating gummies!” to loud laughter. It also led to a poignant moment, when the vice president told people not to give into despair.
“I say do not despair because in a democracy, as long as we can keep it, in our democracy the people, every individual has the power to make a decision about what will be. And so let’s not feel powerless. Because then we have been defeated.… The baton is now in our hands, to fight for, not against, but for this country we love.” The crowd gave her a standing ovation.
Will Harris’s strategy work? All three counties voted heavily for Nikki Haley in the GOP primary, even after she’d withdrawn from the race. The most recent New York Times/Siena poll, taken after Cheney and many other Republicans began endorsing Harris, found that 9 percent of registered Republicans said they’ll vote for her, and it was just 5 percent in its previous poll.
I’ve seen folks complain that Monday’s events were a replay of 2016, when Hillary Clinton spent too much time at the end courting white suburban women and neglecting her diverse, urban base. But Harris isn’t doing that. Last weekend, she was in Detroit with Lizzo and Atlanta with Usher. She spoke to the UAW in Lansing on Friday. She has many more such events coming up. But abortion is going to be a driving issue November 5, and Cheney giving even “pro-life” women a push to vote for Harris—and to rethink what it means to be “pro-life,” as abortion bans are killing women across the country—is a big deal. I thought Monday was a good day.
Joan WalshTwitterJoan Walsh, a national affairs correspondent for The Nation, is a coproducer of The Sit-In: Harry Belafonte Hosts The Tonight Show and the author of What’s the Matter With White People? Finding Our Way in the Next America. Her new book (with Nick Hanauer and Donald Cohen) is Corporate Bullsh*t: Exposing the Lies and Half-Truths That Protect Profit, Power and Wealth In America.