MILWAUKEE — With former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, headlining night two of the Democratic National Convention, Kamala Harris left Chicago and traveled north to Wisconsin to address an almost-capacity arena audience and hold a DNC watch party with rally attendees — an obvious snub of the pair, who took their time in reluctantly endorsing her.
“I’m really gonna need your energy when they broadcast us live,” Milwaukee Democratic organizer Jaliah Jefferson told the Fiserv Forum crowd when she broke the news they would be livestreamed at one point in the night as part of the DNC.
Jefferson said Harris “will be broadcast into TVs all over the country. And voters need to know that Wisconsinites, they stand with her.”
It was a sort of “Clap now” sign to make sure Chicago and the country felt the intensity — but the jazzed crowd didn’t need the instruction.
Attendees, who were entertained by “DJ Kate” for more than half an hour before Harris arrived, boasted a large Illinois component, who roared deafeningly when the DJ called it out.
Why was Harris in Milwaukee on DNC Day 2 instead of Chicago? The unprecedented move may point to a deeper rift in the party over Harris’ candidacy.
“It’s all manufactured,” a source close to the Biden family told The Post of the “hype” about Harris. “Obama and Biden know she is going to lose.”
The Post broke the story behind President Biden’s quick endorsement of Harris in defiance of his old boss, who reportedly was very upset about Harris’ ascension to the top of the ticket because he believes she can’t win.
Obama had told Biden, who said last month he was dropping out “in defense of democracy,” to allow delegates at this week’s DNC to decide a new candidate, a source close to the Biden family said.
“It was Joe’s big f–k you,” the source told The Post. “Joe said, ‘If I’m out, then I am endorsing her.’”
On the DNC’s second night, both Michelle and Barack Obama spoke to attendees after delegates cast their figurative votes for the Harris-Walz ticket. The veep may have chosen to leave Chicago for a single night of the convention to thumb her nose at the Obamas.
In something of a surprise Tuesday, Trump said of Barack Obama, “I happen to like him. I respect him and I respect his wife.”
The enthusiastic crowd that almost filled the Fiserv Forum — whose concert capacity is 18,000 — watched delegates cast their votes for Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz live on the stadium’s jumbotron.
The rally livestream cut off suddenly as Walz walked onto the Milwaukee stage to the audience’s roaring approval.
“This is where it’s at,” Walz told the crowd, joking Democrats didn’t know the “real party” is in Milwaukee tonight.
Harris’ Milwaukee address was, for the most part, her standard campaign-rally speech, with an emphasis on her new policy agenda and reproductive rights — and rallying the crowd to help get out the vote in November.
She said that when Congress hands her a bill making abortion legal nationally, “I will proudly sign it into law,”
In one final snub to the Obamas, attendees were sent outside after Harris and Walz left the stage following the veep’s campaign speech The crowd was told it could watch the remainder of that night’s DNC — including the Obamas’ speeches — on a Jumbotron set up outside the Fiserv arena.
The vast majority of attendees left immediately.
