By Tiffany Li for WisPolitics
MADISON — Kamala Harris told a rally here Friday night that the country is in “a healthcare crisis, and Donald Trump is the architect” due to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Harris referenced Trump’s comments during their Sept. 10 debate that “every legal scholar” and politician, regardless of party, wanted to see Roe v. Wade overturned.
“These Trump abortion bans, they mean doctors may have to wait until the patient is at death’s door before they take any action. Nobody wants that,” Harris said.
Harris addressed a rally at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, which her campaign said was at capacity with more than 10,500 attendees.
At the rally, Harris spoke about her encounter with the family of Amber Nicole Thurman, a 28 year-old Georgia woman who died after a wait to receive post-abortion medical care, which she eventually received after she developed sepsis. Harris said Thurman died as a result of doctors waiting until her condition worsened to give her medical care, out of fear of prosecution under Georgia laws that ban most abortion after six weeks.
“Recently medical experts determined that Amber’s death was preventable,” the vice president and Dem nominee said. “Are we saying we’re gonna craft our public health policy so that doctors only kick in when you’re about to die?”
Harris walked on stage after being introduced by the President of Teamsters Joint Council 39 Bill Carroll.
The local union council, alongside some other Teamsters groups in swing states, endorsed Harris on Wednesday after the national International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union announced it was not endorsing any presidential candidate for November, the first time it had declined to endorse the Democratic nominee since 1996.
Trump’s campaign has played up the national union’s decision as a sign Harris doesn’t appeal to the nation’s working class.
“The bottom line: Trump is a scab,” Carroll said. “That’s why this November the Teamsters here in Wisconsin will work hard, hand in hand with millions of union workers across the country, to defeat Donald Trump.”
At a press conference earlier in the day, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, state GOP Chair Brian Schimming, and state Treasurer John Leiber slammed Harris and Democrats on immigration and inflation while accusing them of fearmongering about IVF access.
Johnson said the vice president, who was tasked with addressing the root causes of immigration, let “some of the most evil, brutal people on the planet” through the border and had raised costs for Wisconsinites.
Schimming criticized Harris for choosing to visit Madison as an attempt to hide from scrutiny.
“She’d rather come somewhere where it’s completely safe for her politically, and so I think that’s why she’s in Madison today, is to really avoid having to answer questions about the Harris Biden record of the last three and a half years,” Schimming said.
Ahead of the rally, Harris’ campaign announced it had opened its 50th campaign office in Wisconsin a week ago and had over 250 full-time staff.
“Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign is far behind in Wisconsin,” the release said.
During the GOP press conference, Schimming replied that he was “very confident in [the Trump campaign’s] ground game” and that the campaign had more than 40 offices in Wisconsin.
During the rally, one onlooker yelled towards the stage, “Lock him up!” in reference to Trump, who has 34 felony convictions.
Harris replied, “You know what, the courts will take care of that, let’s take care of November.”
A number of protesters also interrupted the rally while Harris was speaking, holding up banners saying “Free Palestine”, “No funding for war crimes” and “If you’re the lesser evil, why bomb Gaza with our tax dollars?”
Harris continued speaking over the protesters’ chants. They were ushered out of the venue after less than a minute.
The anti-war group CODEPINK-Madison said it along with SJP University of Wisconsin-Madison and unaffiliated Madisonians were behind the protests and 10 state residents were kicked out of the event.
