Mayor Reilly is the latest high-profile Wisconsin conservative endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, following Republican state Senator Robert Cowles from Green Bay, and political commentator Charlie Sykes. Vice President Harris has been endorsed by hundreds of prominent Republican leaders, as well as two dozen Wisconsin Republicans who signed onto an open letter. Republicans for Harris is a grassroots organizing coalition building on the campaign’s work to reach and mobilize the millions of Republican voters who reject the chaos and division of Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda. Earlier this week, Vice President Harris held an event in Waukesha County alongside former Congresswoman Liz Cheney to make clear there is a home on this campaign for all Americans, no matter their party affiliation.
Trump has been losing ground in Waukesha and across the WOW counties – historically Republican strongholds – where Nikki Haley received double-digit support in the Wisconsin Republican primary. Waukesha County, the largest of the WOW counties, swung six points to the left from 2016 to 2020 in the general election and it is poised to move the needle further this election.
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“The stakes are just too high to allow Donald Trump to become our president,” said Mayor of Waukesha Shawn Reilly. “I know that I won’t agree with all the policies of Vice President Harris. But for me, this is a crossroads. This is a time when we cannot allow someone to come into office because they are unfit to be our next president. He is running for president for himself. Not for us. Not for the U.S.”
“The reality is that a second Trump term would be far more dangerous than his first because if Trump regains power, he won’t have the guardrails that restrained him during his presidency or on January 6th,” said Joe Fitzgerald, Republican from Mequon in Ozaukee County. “Trump can never be trusted to be our commander-in-chief or to sit behind the seal of the presidency ever again. And today, I’m here to tell my neighbors and fellow voters that I am a Republican and I am proud to be voting for Kamala Harris to be our next president.”
“We all heard it: Trump blatantly vows to be a dictator on ‘day one,’ has suggested the ‘termination’ of the Constitution, and wants to reserve ‘every right’ to punish his political enemies,” said Tiffany Koehler, Republican from Washington County. “No conservative should support that.”
Trump not only refuses to acknowledge his loss and attempts to overturn the 2020 election – as JD Vance defended in primetime during the vice presidential debate – he has also suggested the “termination” of the Constitution. Just this week, new reporting highlighted that former Trump White House chief of staff John Kelly confirmed Trump said he wished he could have “the kind of generals that Hitler had” and Kelly warned Trump would govern like a dictator if allowed.
