With key leaders now behind her, Harris kicks off 1st campaign rally since entering presidential race

Kamala Harris charged ahead with her bid for the White House Tuesday with her first campaign rally since entering the presidential race Sunday, addressing supporters in Wisconsin, one of the most critical battleground states in the upcoming election as she continued to lock up key party support.

Harris, 59, kicked off her remarks in West Allis, just outside Milwaukee,by saying she was "so very honoured" to have won enough delegate support in the past two days to become the Democratic nominee.

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"Good afternoon Wisconsin. It is good to be back," she said.

In her first speech from the campaign trail, Harris laid out thebattle lines voters are likely to hear over the next 105 days one of which was comparing her history as a prosecutor with Republican candidate Donald Trump's trouble with the law. She touchedon issues most likely to galvanize the Democratic base, includingreproductiverights, gun violence and the middle class.

Harris rodeatsunamiof party support into the rally as topcongressional leaders on Tuesday joined the chorus of members formally endorsing her presidential bid.

Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, both from New York, said they were backing Harris as the candidate best positioned to lead the party ticket.

"We all know that Vice-President Harris has a tremendousrecord to run on and now begins the next chapter in our quest to make sure Donald Trump does not become president," Schumer said, addressing reporters in Washington on Tuesday.

WATCH | Harris highlights background as prosecutor:

Harris slams Trump at 1st campaign rally as donations pass $100M

25 days ago

Duration 2:40

U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris told cheering supporters in Wisconsin she now has enough delegates to secure the Democratic Party nomination and take on Donald Trump. Meanwhile, campaign donations have shot past $100M in the two days since she entered the presidential race.

Schumer, the Senate majority leader, and Jeffries, minority leader in the House of Representatives, were among the party brass who stoppedshort of immediately endorsing Harris's run after dozens of Democratic governors, donors, lawmakers and potential opponents made a mad dash to do so after she launched her campaign with President Joe Biden's approval on Sunday.

Nancy Pelosi did not endorse Harrisuntil later Monday, while former president Barack Obama has not yet done so.

Political scientists and historians suggested heavy-hittersmight have held off on backing Harristo avoid creating the impression that the party was simply appointing Harris as their candidate, instead respecting her wish to "earn and win" her nomination under party rules.

Speaking Tuesday, Schumer confirmedthat was the case.

"When I spoke with herSunday, she said she wanted the opportunity to win the nomination on her own and to do so from the grassroots up, not top down," Schumer told reporters. "We deeply respected that, Hakeem and I. She said she would work to earn the support of our party and, boy, has she done so in quick order."

Jeffriesadded that Harris is "ready, willing and able to lead" the party.

'Path to the White House goes through Wisconsin'

Harris's visit to Wisconsin wasscheduled before Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday, but it takes on new significance after Harris looks to mount a campaign and restore a sense of unity and control to the party after Biden's disastrous debate performance on June 27 derailed hiscampaign.

Wisconsin isone of the most crucialbattleground states of the election.

LISTEN | Pelosi's former chief of staff on Harris's campaign:

As It Happens6:07Democrats will rally behind Kamala Harris, says Nancy Pelosi's former chief-of-staff

As It Happens host Nil Kksal speaks with John Lawrence, former chief-of-staff to Nancy Pelosi, a Democratic heavyweight and former House Speaker who publicly endorsed Kamala Harris's presidential bid on Monday.

For more than 30 years, the Midwestern state was a brick in the "Blue Wall" a term for states that reliably went to theDemocrats from the '90s into the early 2010s.

The winning streak came to an end when Donald Trump won the state back in 2016, helping him secure his marginal victory over Hillary Clinton. Biden took back Wisconsin in 2020, but only won by less than one percentage point.

"The path to the White House goes through Wisconsin," Harris said during her rally Tuesday.

"We have a lot of work to do. We have doors to knock on, we have phone calls to make, we have voters to register and we have an election to win."

Biden is returning to the White House on Tuesdayfrom his beach house in Delawareafter recovering from COVID-19. He will address the nation for the first time since ending his campaignat 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses U.S. Congress.

Schumer and Jeffries praised Biden's decision to abandon his own bid, with Schumer saying the"selfless decision" gave the party "the opportunity to unite behind a new nominee."