Democrats managed to be in two places at once on Tuesday night, holding a ceremonial roll-call vote at their Chicago convention to celebrate Vice-President Kamala Harris as their party’s nominee, while she herself rallied supporters roughly 129km north in Milwaukee.

Harris’ choice to appear in Milwaukee, the largest city in a crucial battleground state, was intentional and pointed: She stood onstage in the same arena where former President Donald Trump accepted the Republican nomination last month.

For much of the evening in Milwaukee, the Harris campaign used the arena’s Jumbotron to pipe in the events taking place in Chicago at the Democratic National Convention. But after California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his state’s votes for Harris, ending the roll call of 57 states and territories, Harris and her running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, marched onto the stage in Milwaukee.

For a moment, she was speaking to two packed arenas at the same time, celebrating the roll-call vote in front of tens of thousands of people, with millions more watching on screens. The two-city rally represented a significant flexing of Democratic muscle with the presidential election just 76 days away.

“We are so honoured to be your nominees,” Harris said. “Together, we will chart a new way forward.”

The Milwaukee rally was just the latest event at which the Harris campaign filled a major arena with Democrats. For more than a year, they had largely stayed away from events featuring President Joe Biden, who drew crowds only in the low thousands.

Choosing Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee as the venue for Harris’ rally also served as an intentional rejoinder to Trump, who has fumed over the size of her crowds since she replaced Biden on the Democratic ticket. The campaign said about 15,000 people attended the rally in Milwaukee, and the 23,500-person convention hall in Chicago was packed.

The Harris campaign and Democrats have been trolling Trump for weeks, calling him “weird”, boasting about the size of their rallies and angering him by rolling out a policy similar to his own on eliminating federal taxes on tips. The former President — who struggles even in the best of circumstances to stay on message — has responded in sometimes bizarre fashion in public and venomously ranted about Harris behind closed doors.

Before Harris spoke, Walz took the stage.

“Not only do we have massive energy at our convention, we’ve got a hell of a lot more energy at where they had their convention!” Walz said.

New York Times News Service