In event with VP Kamala Harris, Liz Cheney tells Republicans to vote their conscience

Vice President Kamala Harris said Monday she didn't imagine campaigning for president alongside Republican former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, of Wyoming, who, in turn, said she's voting for a Democrat for the first time.

Cheney delivered a message to conservatives on the fence about Harris. "I would say, I don't know if anybody's more conservative than I am. And I understand the most conservative value there is is to defend the Constitution," she said, prompting loud applause from the audience gathered at the art deco Royal Oak Music Theatre on Monday evening. Over the course of about an hour, Cheney and Harris argued that former President Donald Trump poses a fundamental threat to the rule of law and America's standing on the world stage.

Harris pushed back on Trump's "America first" pledge, characterizing her GOP rival's approach to foreign policy as a threat to national security. "Isolationism is not insulation," Harris said.

Watch replay: Kamala Harris, Liz Cheney hold campaign event in Oakland County

Harris and Cheney answered questions from journalist Maria Shriver, who moderated the event, and from preselected audience members. While most touched on policy, Shriver gave Harris an opportunity to share a more personal side of herself, asking the vice president to tell the audience three things about herself that voters can't learn in an ad or campaign phone call.

"How much time do we have? I have lived a full life. I am a wife, I am a mother, I am a sister, I am a godmother. I love to cook," Harris said before launching into an overview of her resume from starting her career as a prosecutor to her current work in the White House.

It wasn't until the end of the event that Harris opened up a bit more, sharing that she took care of her sick mother to highlight her policy proposal to reconfigure Medicare to cover home health care. Harris also said these days, she's waking up in the middle of the night, but to stay grounded, she said she works out every morning and makes sure she talks to her husband and stepchildren every day.

But one thing she's not doing to stay calm? Gummies. The subject came up when Shriver mentioned those overwhelmed by the political cycle coping by turning to meditation, yoga and gummies — presumably cannabis-infused. "What are you doing?" Shriver asked Harris. "Not eating gummies," she said, joining the audience laughing.

Those attending the event were greeted by the theater's marquee that read "COUNTRY OVER PARTY." In the lobby, screens also displayed that phrase and proclaimed "A NEW WAY FORWARD." Melissa LeDuc, 44, of Birmingham, who attended the event described it as an intimate and small gathering in which Harris stood out to her as "a very real person" who connected with the audience.

LeDuc hopes Harris' attempts to court Republican voters will work. "I certainly hope that it's a good strategy," she said. But it's hard to tell, because she said eight years of political drama has caused some reluctance for voters to share their positions.

Cheney addressed that potential hesitance on the GOP side head-on. "I would just remind people if you are at all concerned, you can vote your conscience and not ever have to say a word to anybody," she said.

Cheney served as vice chair of the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol which sought to shed light on Trump's effort to overturn his 2020 election loss. The committee's final report includes extensive references to battleground Michigan, including Trump's fixation on a human error in Antrim County that briefly showed him losing the conservative stronghold, the then-president's effort to pressure GOP state lawmakers to intervene in the election and Trump allies' quest to seat Republican presidential electors.

Cheney said Monday evening that Trump's behavior on Jan. 6, 2021, makes him unfit to serve as president.

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The Trump campaign dismissed Harris' event with Cheney. "Unfortunately for Kamala Harris, Michigan voters don’t give an ounce into what Liz Cheney thinks," said Team Trump Michigan communications director Victoria LaCivita in an emailed statement. She described Trump as building his own diverse political coalition.

Cheney is among the Republicans whose endorsements the Harris campaign has touted.

Oakland County — where the Harris event with Cheney took place — is Michigan's second-largest county and its wealthiest. It has trended toward Democrats in the 21st century. The last time a Republican presidential candidate carried the county was 1992.

Before the event started, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham, approached a section of the audience to fire them up. "Are we winning Oakland County?" she yelled. "Yes," members of the audience shouted back.

Harris was last in Michigan on Saturday for a get out the vote rally where she made brief remarks at a Detroit high school on the first day of early voting in the city. Trump was in the Motor City last Friday after visiting Hamtramck and Auburn Hills earlier that day.

Absentee voting in Michigan is underway and early voting will be available in every community on Oct. 26. Election Day is Nov. 5 and polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Contact Clara Hendrickson: [email protected] or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, previously called Twitter, @clarajanehen.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Liz Cheney helps Kamala Harris court Michigan Republicans