As Harris launches campaign in Milwaukee, Black voters show varying levels of excitement

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- The stretch of North Avenue between 59th and 60th streets features a pair of different hair salons, and within those Uptown businesses Tuesday, there were different reactions to Vice President Kamala Harris staging her first presidential campaign rally in Milwaukee.

Harris spoke to a raucous crowd at West Allis Central High School, which the campaign estimated as more than 3,000. At Glamour Hair, stylist Anthony Versace was fired up as though he were in the gymnasium.

"I was definitely voting for Joe Biden, but it actually made me want to go vote sooner for Kamala," he said. "Because it's gonna be our first woman president."

President Joe Biden's announcement Sunday that he was ending his campaign and endorsing Harris did not change the vice president's previously scheduled trip to Wisconsin. Her visit highlighted the importance of this key swing state, which Harris acknowledged at the beginning of her 20-minute speech.

"The path to the White House goes through Wisconsin, yes it does," Harris told supporters. "And to win in Wisconsin, we are counting on you, right here in Milwaukee."

Versace said Harris has been a frequent subject of conversations in the salon. He added there had been a blend of opinions about whether Harris could win the general election.

"A lot of people have their opinions," he said. "A lot of people feel like she shouldn't [run for president], and a lot of people feel like she should."

At the other North Avenue salon, Locs of Love, owner Adisa Simone was not enthusiastic about the campaign, even after the election has taken on a different complexion.

"Neither party I really care for," she said. "Neither candidates I really care for."

The ability to rally Milwaukee voters has paid dividends in recent presidential elections. Since 2000, each election was decided by less than one percentage point in Wisconsin with the exceptions of 2008 and 2012. Former President Barack Obama was the Democratic candidate in both of those contests, and they were the only two times a candidate received more than 200,000 votes from within the city.

Simone said the first time she ever voted was for Mr. Obama in 2008. She then voted for him again in 2012 before voting for former President Donald Trump in 2016.

"The reason I voted for him, it wasn't because I liked him," she said. "It was really just what I felt like he can do for my business."

The time around, Simone said she did not plan to vote when Mr. Biden was the presumed Democratic nominee, and she said Harris' pending nomination at next month's Democratic National Convention would not change those plans.

"I'm just gonna watch and see what happens," she said.

Democrats hope the Harris campaign will excite more voters like Versace. Between President Biden and Harris, the two have made a combined 10 visits to Wisconsin this year, and that number is sure to grow with other surrogates, such as Mr. Obama and Harris' running mate likely to make trips here between now and November.

"Barack was our first Black president," Versace said. "So, I definitely think, definitely in this city, that people seeing Kamala going to be our first Black woman president, I definitely think that makes people want to go out and vote."