Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (left) moderates a conversation with former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., at the People’s Light Performing Arts Theater in Malvern, Pennsylvania, on October 21, 2024.
Brendan Smirovsky | AFP | Getty Images
Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former Rep. Liz Cheney participated in a series of moderated conversations Monday in “blue wall” battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin.
“This is not about party, it’s about right and wrong,” Cheney said in Birmingham, Miss. “I just want to remind people that if you’re really concerned, you can vote according to your conscience and you don’t have to vote against anyone. Say a word. Millions of Republicans are going to do it on November 5th.”
“Everything in my experience and background played a role in my decision to support Vice President Harris, and that’s first and foremost because I’m a conservative,” Cheney said Monday morning in Malvern, Pennsylvania.
“I know that the most conservative of all conservative principles is loyalty to the Constitution. In this race, you have to choose between someone who has been loyal to the Constitution, who will be loyal to the Constitution, and Donald Trump.”
Cheney, who describes himself as “pro-life,” said that despite this, the current severe restrictions on women’s access to reproductive health care in several states “are unsustainable for us as a country and must change.”
Since the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturned Roe v. Wade’s abortion protections, conservative lawmakers have passed highly restrictive laws in more than two dozen states that limit women’s legal rights to terminate pregnancies.
The Harris campaign is courting disaffected Republicans who may be on the fence about voting for Trump. The campaign launched the “Republicans for Harris” group in August and has since amplified the voices of a small but growing number of prominent Republicans who have publicly endorsed the Democratic vice president.
Harris reiterated her views on Monday promise If she becomes president, she will have a Republican in her cabinet and said she knows it is in the country’s “best interest” to invite “good ideas from anywhere.”
“We need a healthy two-party system, and we need to be able to have good, vigorous debate on fact-based issues,” Harris said in Malvern, Pennsylvania, as the room erupted in applause.
In the 11-hour sprint to Election Day, Cheney is emerging as a key asset to Harris, helping build what political strategists call a “permission structure” among Republicans who may be reluctant to cross party lines to vote for Harris.
Cheney said patriotic Republicans have a “responsibility and obligation to do what we believe is right for our country.”
On October 21, 2024, Democratic presidential candidate and US Vice President Kamala Harris held a town hall meeting with former US Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) at the People’s Light in Malvern, Pennsylvania, USA.
Leah Millis | Reuters
Cheney endorsed Harris in September and first took the stage with the vice president earlier this month in Ripon, Wisconsin, a town known as the birthplace of the Republican Party.
Cheney also took aim at Trump’s isolationist foreign policy, calling it “un-Republican” and “dangerous.”
“Without allies, the United States will find our freedoms and security challenged and threatened, and last but not least, don’t think Congress will be able to stop him,” Cheney said in Birmingham. “All he has to do is say ‘I’m not going to fulfill our NATO treaty obligations’, NATO will begin to disintegrate.”
Trump has long expressed distrust and contempt for the 75-year-old cornerstone military alliance between the United States and Europe. This fall, NATO members are reportedly “validating” their military and aid commitments in preparation for Trump’s possible election as president in November.
Cheney has long been an outspoken critic of Trump’s foreign policy, particularly the former president’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria and reduce troop levels in Afghanistan, which she called “catastrophic.” CBS interview 2018.
In an interview with NBC “Meet the Press” Earlier this month, Cheney cited Harris’ foreign policy, including her strong support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, as areas of alignment with the Democratic presidential nominee.
Trump, in truth society posts Starting Monday morning, he criticized Cheney as a “war hawk,” accusing Cheney of wanting “a war with every Muslim country known to man” and claiming without evidence that Arab-American voters, a may be critical Michigan’s Harris is “uneasy” about Harris running with Cheney.
Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris moderates a conversation with former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., at the People’s Light Performing Arts Theater in Malvern, Pennsylvania, on October 21, 2024.
Brendan Smirovsky | AFP | Getty Images