Harris' First Rally Bursts With Energy Democrats Have Been Yearning For

Vice President Kamala Harris kicked off her campaign Tuesday with a high-energy rally in Wisconsin reflecting the swarm of enthusiasm around her ascendent race for the White House.

An estimated 3,000-plus supporters filled a gymnasium in the Milwaukee area and cheered for the entire first minute Harris took the stage at her first official campaign rally. Throughout her remarks, she played up what’s shaping up to be a central part of her campaign: She’s a former prosecutor and attorney general competing against a convicted felon.

“In those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds: predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type,” she said, echoing remarks she made to staff Monday about the GOP nominee’s criminal history.

A record-breaking first 24 hours of fundraising, largely from small donations, gave Harris another thing to hit Trump on.

“Just look at how we are running our campaigns. Donald Trump is relying on support from billionaires and big corporations, and he is trading access in exchange for campaign contributions,” she said.

“We are running a people-powered campaign, and we just had some breaking news,” she continued. “We just had the best 24 hours of grassroots fundraising in presidential campaign history. And because we are a people-powered campaign, that is how you know we will be a people-first presidency.”

She pointed to a dinner Trump hosted at his Mar-a-Lago resort in May, where he reportedly promised oil executives and lobbyists he’d roll back environmental regulations in exchange for $1 billion in campaign donations.

The crowd lit up when Harris began digging into Project 2025, the