CBS News
Liz Cheney campaigns with Kamala Harris for first time, as campaign continues GOP outreach
Ripon, Wisconsin — Former Rep. Liz Cheney, the highest-profile Republican to announce her support for Vice President Kamala Harris, is joining her on the campaign trail at an event at Ripon, Wisconsin, the birthplace of the Republican Party.
Cheney, along with her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, announced in September that Harris would have their vote. The Cheneys and Harris have practically nothing in common in their views on policy, but they a shared antipathy for former President Donald Trump and see him as a threat to democracy after the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
“As a conservative, as someone who believes in and cares about the Constitution, I have thought deeply about this. And because of the danger that Donald Trump poses, not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris,” Cheney announced last month during an event at Duke University.
Cheney was the third highest-ranking Republican in the House before she was ousted for voting to impeach Trump. A Trump-backed challenger then defeated Cheney in her primary. Cheney was one of two Republicans who served on the House Jan. 6 select committee that investigated the riot and what led up to it. That committee recommended that Trump be prosecuted for his conduct surrounding the assault on the Capitol.
The Little White SchoolHouse in Ripon hosted meetings in 1854 that led to the creation of the Republican Party. It was designated a national historic site in 1974, and Harris is expected to address the significance of the location during her speech, according to a senior Harris campaign official.
Paras Griffin / Getty Images
Cheney’s appearance with Harris is part of a concerted effort by the campaign to appeal to Republicans disaffected by Trump.
On Wednesday, the campaign launched a new ad featuring a direct-to-camera appeal from a two-time Trump voter in Pennsylvania who argued the former president’s economic plan will not benefit working voters.
The campaign is also hosting “Republicans for Harris” events across the battleground states this week, including an event with former Reps. Denver Riggleman in North Carolina and Adam Kinzinger in Las Vegas. Kinzinger also served on the House Jan. 6 committee, while Riggleman served as an adviser.
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, noted the Cheney endorsement during the vice presidential debate on Tuesday to argue their coalition of support is wide.
“I’m as surprised as anybody of this coalition that Kamala Harris has built, from Bernie Sanders to Dick Cheney to Taylor Swift and a whole bunch of folks in between there,” Walz said. “They don’t all agree on everything, but they are truly optimistic people. They believe in a positive future of this country, and one where our politics can be better than it is.”
While only a small number of voters who identify as conservative are backing Harris, according to a September CBS News poll, voters who identify as “moderate” favor Harris over Trump by double digits.
Several Republican officials spoke at the Democratic National Convention in August, including Kinzinger, Georgia Lt. Gov.Geoff Duncan and Olivia Troye, a former adviser to then-Vice President Mike Pence.
Their activity for the campaign has continued – Troye has appeared in a Harris campaign ad, and Duncan has also been dispatched as a surrogate for the campaign in recent weeks.
After a September event in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a GOP-leaning portion of the state, Duncan said Trump “makes it harder for himself” to not lose Republican support because of some of his criticism of Republican officials, such as Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
“There’s really no mystery to this. Support for Donald Trump amongst the majority of Republicans is a mile wide and an inch deep. Almost every Republican outside of a small wing of MAGA supporters would love to have somebody other than Donald Trump as their nominee, but that just didn’t happen,” Duncan told CBS News.
Kate Horning, an undecided Pennsylvania voter who attended the event and backed Trump in past elections, said she likes the outreach to Republicans but wants it to be “genuine.”
“There’s a lot of issues here. I’m not here to talk about abortion — I’m concerned about the amount of people coming across the border and how it impacts schools,” she said.
Since she became the nominee, Harris has tried to appeal to centrists by supporting restrictions on immigration backed on a bipartisan level in Congress, touting herself as a pro-business capitalist, and reiterating she would not ban fracking – a position she held as a 2020 presidential primary candidate but abandoned after becoming President Biden’s running mate later that cycle.
A child in Canada has died from rabies after being exposed to a bat in their room, health officials said this week.
Dr. Malcolm Lock, the chief medical officer from Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit in Ontario, said Wednesday the child was exposed to the virus in their room from a bat.
“They woke up with a bat in their room,” Lock said, as quoted by Canadian media. “The parents looked, didn’t see any signs of a bite or scratches or saliva, and didn’t seek getting a rabies vaccine, so unfortunately, that child is now deceased.”
The child was hospitalized in early September, according to a statement by Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer, confirming the first domestically acquired case of human rabies in the province since 1967.
“Brant County Health Unit has received laboratory confirmation of a human case of rabies in a resident of Brantford-Brant. The illness is suspected to have been acquired from direct contact with a bat in Ontario.” Dr. Moore said.
No other details, including the child’s age and gender, have been released.
“Due to reasons of personal health information and patient confidentiality, I cannot comment further on the case mentioned,” a spokesperson from Health Ontario told CBS News in an email.
How is rabies spread and what are the symptoms?
Rabies is a deadly viral infection that attacks the nervous system in humans and animals, causing brain and spinal cord inflammation. It is typically spread to humans through direct contact with the saliva of an infected animal through scratching or biting.
Rabies is commonly found in bats, raccoons, foxes, skunks and some household pets. Without proper and prompt treatment after symptoms appear, rabies is nearly 100 percent fatal in both animals and humans, according to Haldimand and Norfolk Health Services, where the child was admitted. Bats pose a unique risk because their scratches can be hard to notice due to their small teeth, and bats cannot be vaccinated through provincial programs, health officials said.
If bitten by an animal suspected of carrying the virus, health officials advise washing the wound thoroughly with soap and water for 15 minutes and immediately seeking medical attention.
According to the CDC, the incubation period of rabies may last from weeks to months, depending on the location of exposure, severity of exposure and age.
“The first symptoms of rabies, called prodrome, maybe like the flu, including weakness, discomfort, fever, or headache. There also may be discomfort, prickling, or an itching sensation at the site of the bite. These symptoms may last for several days,” the CDC says.
In Canada, there have been 28 known cases of rabies in humans since reporting began in 1924, according to the federal government’s data. All the cases were fatal.
Just last week, a U.S. citizen died due to rabies exposure after being exposed to a bat in western Minnesota in July.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
