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    • Harris returns to the haunts of her childhood to make her final pitch
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    Harris returns to the haunts of her childhood to make her final pitch

    Bronwen Cerys Posted on

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    MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris returned to a familiar place in the final stretch of her presidential campaign.

    While she works to preserve personal freedoms and protect democracy, she made her pitch Wednesday evening a few miles from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where her progressive parents were involved in various civil rights initiatives in the late ’60s. She spoke to a predominantly female audience here at the nearly 10,000-seat Alliant Energy Center.

    Harris has often spoken of spending part of her childhood (from ages 3 to 5) in a two-bedroom house overlooking Lake Mendota. The house also happens to be in a crucial swing state.

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

    “I grew up with a baby carriage perspective of the civil rights movement, surrounded by adults committed to service and civic engagement,” she said in a 2016 Facebook post. “These moments inspired me at a young age to become a lawyer and fight for justice for the voiceless.”

    Although Harris’ parents’ marriage was united for social and political reasons, it did not last long. They divorced in the early 1970s. Her mother, who had raised Harris, left to work as a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, and her father joined nearby Stanford University as a professor.

    Signs supporting Harris are everywhere on the tree-lined street in the Spring Harbor neighborhood where she grew up.

    John Wiencek, who took a walk through 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 candidate for the first time 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 to me it’s never not been great,” he said, alluding to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” pitch.

    As for the neighborhood, he would describe it as an area where “50% of residents have doctorates and tend to be liberal.”

    Early supporter of African American studies

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

    High, who was a graduate student in 1969, was part of the steering committee that looked into establishing a department of “African American” studies.

    “There were faculty who didn’t want Black Studies. They said there was no need for African American studies,” she said. “It was revolutionary at the time to support it.”

    Family ties: Her Mother’s Daughter: What Shyamala Gopalan’s Legacy Means for Kamala Harris

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

    The fact that Harris was influenced by her parents’ progressive views was clear in her campaign, she said.

    “She’s really about humanity. And that’s what African American studies is all 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 eagerly awaited the Harris rally on Wednesday afternoon. USA TODAY spoke with four Harris supporters as they prepare to vote in their first presidential election.

    Having a female candidate on the ballot who cares about reproductive rights and unifying the country is energizing, they said.

    University graduate Violet Bluestein, 21, was preparing to attend her second Harris rally since September.

    She recalled a moment at that earlier rally that moved her:

    “There was a young black girl being held up on her father’s shoulders,” the Vermont native said. “And that just made me so emotional. It’s so amazing that you can see yourself in politics.”

    Bluestein said she is confident a Harris presidency will return the country to a place of “humanity, kindness and unity.”

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

    Elizabeth Cahill, 20, a sociology and genetics student, grew up just outside Chicago.

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

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

    Margaret Murphy-Weise, 21, who grew up in San Francisco, said she was happy to vote in an important state.

    She said Harris has a “maternal instinct” and does a good job of embracing her feminine side – in contrast to her approach with Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential bid in 2016.

    “I think what makes a strong woman is when you have both, the feminine side, and at the same time are able to hold strong, influential positions,” she said. “That’s what makes her likeable.”

    Murphy-Weise, a political science major and Chinese dual major, said that as an Asian American, she was also happy to see a woman of color running for the highest office in the land.

    “Seeing someone represent me is so important and cool,” she said.

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

    “Having a woman of color serve as 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 inequalities,” the senior said.

    (This story has been updated to add images.)

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    Bronwen Cerys
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