Takeaways from Kamala Harris’ Milwaukee rally with Cardi B, MC Lyte

VaselineNovember 2, 2024

3 4 minutes read

Takeaways from Kamala Harris’ Milwaukee rally with Cardi B, MC Lyte

WEST ALLIS — With just four days to go, Vice President Kamala Harris brought her closing arguments to Milwaukee for a raucous rally and concert featuring some of the top Black female rappers and hip-hop artists.

The energetic event brought more than 13,000 people to the Wisconsin State Fair Exposition Center on Friday evening.

After performances from MC Lyte, Flo Milli and GloRilla, rapper Cardi B fired up the crowd with an impassioned speech in which he branded former President Donald Trump a “hustler” – and not the good kind.

During Harris’ 23-minute speech, she drew sharp contrasts between herself and Trump and made clear she was ready to fight.

“Because when you know what you stand for, you know what you have to fight for,” she told the crowd to loud applause.

Harris said she has spent her life fighting for people who have been hurt and excluded, but “who never stopped believing in our country — that anything is possible.”

“I have lived the promise of America, and today I see the promise of America in everyone who is here, in all of you, in all of us,” she said. “We are the promise of America.”

Here are some insights from Harris’ rally and concert, which took place the same night Trump rallied supporters at the Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee.

Cardi B brings her signature swagger to her political speech

Cardi B did not perform in her first ever appearance in Milwaukee at Harris’ rally on Friday. But the hip-hop superstar delivered a fiery speech with thought-provoking sound bites paired with her signature swagger.

After taking the stage in a Jackie Kennedy-esque power suit, Cardi B briefly got choked up and said she was a little nervous. But it didn’t take long for her to regain her confidence.

“Are we ready to make history?” she shouted to cheers.

“I do not take lightly the call to show up, the call to speak up, the call to deliver a message that has been in my heart for a minute,” she said.

She also made comparisons between herself and the vice president.

“Like Kamala Harris, I too have been the underdog. I have been underestimated, my success belittled and discredited,” she said. “Women have to work ten times harder, perform ten times better and yet people wonder how we got to the top.”

“I can’t stand bullies,” Cardi B continued. “But like Kamala, I’m always against them.”

She specifically criticized Trump’s comments that he was going to protect women “whether they like it or not.”

“If his definition of protection is not freedom of choice, if his definition of protection means that our daughters have fewer rights than our mothers, then I don’t want that,” she said.

Women in the spotlight

Women, especially black women, took center stage—and basically the entire stage—at Friday night’s gathering.

There was Cardi B’s speech.

There were also performances by female rappers, hip-hop stars and DJs, including pioneer MC Lyte and fresh faces GloRilla, Flo Milli and DJ Gemini Gilly.

Harris also spoke to women and those who support them during her speech.

“We are the promise of America, of the fathers and mothers and grandparents who work hard every day for the future of their children, of the women who refuse to accept a future without reproductive freedom and of the men who support them.”

Milwaukee and Wisconsin Could Decide Things (Yes, Again)

Speakers made it clear that Milwaukee and Wisconsin should vote in this election.

Several speakers urged people to vote early or have a plan to vote on Election Day. They also urged attendees to volunteer and talk to friends, family and neighbors about voting.

“Those doors don’t knock on their own,” Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said. “This is all hands on deck!”

Johnson told the crowd at the Wisconsin State Fair Expo Center that the state’s largest city will play a key role in the election.

“We are literally the crossroads of this election, we really are,” Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said. “And if Milwaukee turns out, we win.”

Speakers including Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin also emphasized the critical role Wisconsin will play in this election.

“We are the battleground state!” said Baldwin.

Harris calls for bipartisanship

During her speech, Harris took her typical shots at Republican Donald Trump, but she also called for bipartisanship after the election.

“As president, I pledge to seek common-sense solutions to the challenges we face,” Harris said. “It is not my intention to score political points. I am looking for progress.”

Harris also said she is willing to listen to people with opposing views.

“I promise to listen to experts, to people who disagree with me,” Harris said. “Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy. He wants to put them in prison, I will give them a place at the table.”

Harris thanked Republicans “who have never voted for a Democrat before, but have put the Constitution of the United States above party.”

Harris says Trump’s comments about Liz Cheney ‘should be disqualifying’

Shortly after Vice President Kamala Harris arrived in Wisconsin on Friday, she denounced former President Donald Trump’s comments that former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney should have guns pointed at her for her support of U.S. wars abroad.

“He has ramped up his violent rhetoric — Donald Trump has done that — about political opponents and proposed in detail that guns should be pointed at former Rep. Liz Cheney,” Harris told reporters in Madison. “This should be disqualifying.”

VaselineNovember 2, 2024

3 4 minutes read