Harris returns to his childhood haunts to make his final pitch

On October 31, 2024By Littum

MADISON, Wis. – Vice President Kamala Harris returned to familiar ground in the final stretch of her presidential campaign.

Running on preserving personal liberties and protecting democracy, she made her pitch Wednesday night a few miles from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where her progressive parents participated in various civil rights causes in the late ’60s. She spoke at the nearly 10,000-seat Alliant Energy Center here, to a mostly female crowd.

Harris has often spoken of spending part of his childhood (from ages 3 to 5) in a 2-bedroom home overlooking Lake Mendota. The home also happens to be in pivotal swing mode.

Her father, Donald Harris, a Jamaican-American economics professor, publicly supported black students in 1969 when they sought the creation of a Black Studies department. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, an Indian-American, worked as a cancer researcher at the university.

“I grew up with a stroller-eye view of the civil rights movement, surrounded by adults committed to service and community involvement,” she said in a 2016 Facebook post. “These moments inspired me from a young age to want to be a lawyer and fight for justice for the voiceless.”

While aligned with social and political causes, Harris’ parents’ marriage did not last. They divorced in the early 70s. Her mother, who raised Harris, left to work as a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, and her father joined Stanford University, nearby, as a professor.

On the tree-lined street in the Spring Harbor neighborhood where she grew up, signs supporting Harris are everywhere.

John Wiencek, walking the neighborhood Wednesday morning, said he had already voted for Harris.

The 68-year-old dentist, who considers himself an independent, had only voted Republican until former President Donald Trump became the Republican nominee in 2016.

He voted for the Democratic presidential candidates in 2016, 2020 and 2024 as a sign of his displeasure with Trump. “I think America is great, and it’s never been great as far as I’m concerned,” he said, alluding to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” pitch.

As for the neighborhood, he would describe it as one where “50% of the residents have Ph.D.s and tend to be liberal.”

Early supporter of African American studies

Over at the university’s African American Studies department, Professor Emerita Freida High Wasikhongo Tesfagiogris, who was visiting the department on Wednesday, said she was grateful for Anders Harris’s support of black students at a pivotal time in history.

A graduate student in 1969, High was part of the steering committee that investigated the formation of an “African American” studies department.

“There were faculty who didn’t want black studies. They said there was no need for African-American studies,” she said. “So to support that was revolutionary at the time.”

High said it was “great to have a faculty member who was on the right side whose daughter is now vice president.”

That Harris has been influenced by her parents’ progressive views is evident in her campaign, she said.

“She’s really about humanity. And so that’s what African-American studies is about,” High said. “It’s about humanity, understanding humanity and making sure everyone’s story is told.”

Waiting for their first presidential election

On campus, young people anxiously awaited the Harris rally Wednesday afternoon. USA TODAY spoke with four Harris supporters who were getting ready to vote in their first presidential election.

Having a female candidate to vote for who cares about reproductive rights and uniting the country is energizing, they said.

Violet Bluestein, 21, a senior at the university, was preparing to attend her second Harris rally since September.

She recalled a moment at the previous convention that moved her:

“There was a young black girl who was being held up on her father’s shoulders,” the Vermont native said. “And it just made me so emotional. To be able to see yourself in politics is so amazing.”

Bluestein said she hopes a Harris presidency will return the country to a place of “humanity and goodness and unity.”

“I just want a country that I can feel proud of again,” she said.

Elizabeth Cahill, 20, a junior studying sociology and genetics, grew up just outside of Chicago.

“I think a lot of people see her as just an empowering person and someone who stands up for herself and someone who stands up for people who don’t look like her,” she said. “Representing all demographics is really beautiful in my opinion.”

She said Harris’ candidacy “feels like a long time coming” and hopes it will set a precedent for other female politicians to run — and win.

Margaret Murphy-Weise, 21, who grew up in San Francisco, said she is happy to vote in a central state.

Harris, she said, has a “motherly instinct” and does a good job of leaning into her feminine side — contrasting her approach with Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 presidential bid.

“I think what makes a strong woman is when you can have both, the feminine side and at the same time be able to be in strong, powerful positions,” she said. “It makes her relatable.”

Murphy-Weise, a political science and Chinese double major, said that as an Asian American, she is also happy to have a woman of color running for the nation’s highest office.

“To see someone representing me is so important and cool,” she said.

Marley Miller, 21, a political science and international relations double major from Wayland, Mass., agreed, saying she finds Harris’ recognition of women and women’s rights appealing.

“Having a woman of color become president of the United States would be a monumental achievement for American democracy, despite all of our nation’s shortcomings and all of the persistent systemic inequities,” the senior said.

(This story was updated to add photos.)