Vice President Kamala Harris (center), the Democratic nominee foe president, speaks during a discussion with former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney (r) and Bulwark editor Sarah Longwell (l) in Chester County Oct. 21, 2024 (Capital-Star photo by John Cole)
EAST WHITELAND TWP— Vice President Kamala Harris continued her push to win over dissatisfied Republicans in the Philadelphia suburbs on Monday during a moderated discussion with former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney.
“For me, every single thing in my experience and in my background has played a part in my decision to endorse Vice President Harris,” Cheney, who once served as the third highest ranking member in her caucus, said. “That begins with the fact that I’m a conservative and I know that the most conservative of all conservative principles is being faithful to the Constitution.”
“And you have to choose in this race between someone who has been faithful to the Constitution, who will be faithful, and [former President] Donald Trump, who, it’s not just us predicting how he will act, we watched what he did after the last election. We watched what he did on January 6th,” she added.
Harris thanked Cheney for backing her candidacy and campaigning for her during the event at People’s Light and Theatre Company.
The event in Chester County drew a few hundred people, was invite-only and lasted just over 40 minutes. It was the first of three events on Monday in suburban communities in “Blue Wall” battleground states and was the first time Cheney and Harris have campaigned together in the Keystone State.
Monday was the second time in the past week Harris has held events in the Philadelphia suburbs with former Republicans. On Oct. 16, Harris delivered a speech in Bucks County, the lone purple county of the Philadelphia region, and was joined by former GOP Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, and others.
During the event on Monday, Harris noted her foreign policy experience as vice president, saying she’s met with over 150 world leaders, and knows them on a “first name basis.”
“They’re very concerned, our allies,” Harris said, alluding to concerns other world leaders have about Trump winning back the presidency. “Because as you know, when we walk in those rooms around the world representing the United States of America, we have traditionally been able to walk in those rooms chin up, shoulders back.”
Harris courts disaffected Republicans in Bucks County
Cheney pointed out the number of former GOP officials who served under Trump that are also supporting Harris as evidence that she’s the right person for the job, particularly on foreign policy.
Harris recently appeared on The View and said that “nothing comes to mind” when asked if she’d change anything from the previous four years serving in President Joe Biden’s administration. During a rally in Pennsylvania on Oct. 9, Trump played a clip of that as an attack against her.
But on Monday, Harris made clear her campaign slogan “New Way Forward” would guide her if she wins the election.
“First of all, I will say that it is a metaphor that is meant to also describe my intention to embark on a new generation of leadership,” Harris said. “And, needless to say, mine will not be a continuation of the Biden administration.”
“I bring to it my own ideas, my own experiences,” she added, emphasizing the need to move beyond the past decade of discourse that’s been so heavily influenced by Trump.
Harris briefly highlighted her “opportunity economy,” on Monday, and the investments she believes are needed from the federal government are needed to address the housing shortage in the United States, while also appearing to make overtures to Republicans or Independents skeptical of government influence.
“As a devout public servant, I also know the limitations of government,” Harris said. “I want to work with the private sector,” adding that she already has in her career and used the example of her plan to partner with developers to increase the supply of housing and said her approach includes cutting through “red tape.”
Sarah Longwell, publisher of Bulwark and head of Republican Voters Against Trump, moderated the discussion.
Harris responded to an audience question by detailing her plan to restructure Medicare to cover costs of in-home health care for parents, so they can remain at home.
Harris also emphasized her belief that the government does not have a role limiting women’s reproductive rights, saying if Congress passed a law reinstating those protections at the federal level, she would sign it. The audience applauded.
In 2022, Cheney applauded the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. However, she shared a different point of view during Monday’s event in Pennsylvania.
“I think it’s such an important point,” Cheney said. “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 that they need.”
Cheney used Texas as an example, describing the current situation as “not sustainable” and adding “something has to change.”
The Trump campaign shrugged off the effort from the Harris campaign events with Cheney.
“Showing off irrelevant former ‘Republicans’ of the past at campaign events doesn’t change the fact that Kamala Harris is running to extend her record of unlimited illegal immigration, rising prices, and endless wars abroad by another four years,” Trump campaign spokesperson Kush Desai said in statement. “Another incompetent Harris administration is the last thing Pennsylvanians want or need, regardless of Liz Cheney’s opinions.”
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U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Chester), represents the district that hosted Monday’s event. She told reporters following the discussion that she believes Cheney is an effective surrogate for the Harris campaign.
“She’s an enormously serious person,” Houlahan said. “Say what you will, as I mentioned, disagree with her on a lot of policy issues, but she takes her role as a patriot and as a representative of our country really, really seriously and so I think it’s pretty brave when somebody as serious as she and her father are coming out with this really important message to the American people to Republicans and Independents, specifically, that this is a very different election.”
Ashley Scott, who grew up in Bucks County and lives in Chester County, was able to ask a question to Harris on Monday. She told the Capital-Star following the moderated discussion that it’s really important that Harris shows a bipartisan front, mentioning the campaign’s line about putting “country over party.”
Scott said that she thinks the economy is the main issue for people her parents’ age, those in Gen X, but said “reproductive health” was a big issue for her generation.
The Philadelphia suburbs have shifted towards the Democratic Party in recent years, although Chester County, which hosted Monday’s event, has the distinction of being the only county in the whole state that flipped from red in 2012 to blue in 2016 for the presidential election.
Republican Mitt Romney narrowly defeated President Barack Obama in Chester County by less than 1 point, while Obama won the state by 5 points in 2012. The following election, Democrat Hillary Clinton defeated Trump by 9 points in Chester County. In 2020, Biden continued to expand upon those gains, defeating Trump by 17 points in Chester County.
Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley dropped out of the presidential race one month prior to Pennsylvania’s primary election, although she still registered double digits in all of Philadelphia’s collar counties.
In Chester County, Haley received 24.97% of the vote, which is the highest share of the vote she received in any of the state’s 67 counties.
Surrogates for both campaigns continue to crisscross the commonwealth as the general election date approaches.
Harris’ husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, is also scheduled to campaign for the ticket in Pennsylvania on Monday with scheduled events planned in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties.
Trump made appearances in Bucks County, Lancaster, and Allegheny County on Sunday.
Monday is the final day to register to vote in Pennsylvania for the general election.