Elections
Vice President Harris returns to La Crosse as presidential nominee to headline rally at UWL campus
It may have been the last chance for a La Crosse audience to see a major presidential candidate in person before the November election.
Over 3,000 people formed long lines throughout the UW-La Crosse campus Thursday, in order to hear a speech by Vice President Kamala Harris at the Recreational Eagle Center.
Harris was not pursuing the job of president the last time she visited La Crosse in April, speaking about health care.
This time, the Democrat placed much of her focus on Republican Donald Trump and policy plans, such as Project 2025.
“I can’t believe they put that thing in writing, I really can’t,” Harris told the campus audience. “They bound it and handed it out.”
“We read it, right?” Harris asked. “It’s a detailed and dangerous blueprint for what he will do if he’s elected president.”
Harris also focused on a more positive message, promising “I will always fight for all the American people.
“Together, we can and we will build a future, a brighter future for our nation.”
Harris was joined on campus by businessman Mark Cuban, known as the former owner of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and hosting the reality series “Shark Tank.”
Cuban warned that Trump’s economic policies could ruin the holiday season plans of many Americans.
“Donald Trump wants you to have a lousy Christmas,” Cuban, who is now a minority owner of the Mavs. He warned that Trump policies could lead to severe price increases and difficulties for small businesses. He referred to Trump as “the Grinch that wants to steal your Christmas.”
Mayor Mitch Reynolds also took the stage, welcoming Harris and Cuban to La Crosse, saying that Republican Trump has been “attacking our fundamental freedoms as Americans, attacking women and reproductive health care rights, and threatening the very core of our democracy.”
Trump last visited the city in August for a town hall at the La Crosse Center.
So far, the running mates, J.D. Vance and Tim Walz, have not campaigned in La Crosse yet, though Walz did join WIZM’s La Crosse Talk PM earlier in the week. Listen here:
