As delegates and party leaders gathered in Chicago for the second night of the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris rallied supporters more than 80 miles away in the same city where Republicans nominated her rival just weeks earlier.
Harris’ campaign said more than 15,000 supporters gathered at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee on Tuesday night, where the Democratic nominee spoke alongside her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. The vice president took the stage in Wisconsin immediately after the DNC completed a ceremonial roll call, where delegates confirmed Harris and Walz as their choices for the 2024 presidential ticket.
“We are so honored to be your nominees,” Harris said from Milwaukee during a speech to the DNC via livestream. “Together, we will chart a new path forward.”
Harris’ rally was held at the same event center where former President Donald Trump accepted the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention last month, prompting online comparisons about the crowd sizes at the two events. Photos and videos appear to show that Harris’ rally drew a similar crowd to the first day of the Republican National Convention on July 15, where Trump made his first public appearance after surviving an assassination attempt two days earlier.
NBC News correspondent Yamiche Alcindor shared a “360-degree view” of the crowd in Milwaukee Tuesday night with X, formerly Twitter, writing that attendees of the rally for Harris and Walz were “excited” and “enthusiastic.”
In another video posted to X by Turning Point USA reporter Savannah Hernandez on Tuesday night, Fiserv Forum appeared packed with energetic supporters before the vice president took the stage. Hernandez said her video was taken after the rally doors officially closed. Fiserv Forum has a seating capacity of 18,000.
“This is not a concert” Victor Shi, A member of Harris’ youth mobilization team wrote in an X-rated post accompanied by a video of Tuesday’s rally. “This is the Kamala Harris and Tim Walz political rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Totally packed arena. This is going to drive Trump crazy.”
Trump, who has been accused of inflating the size of his rallies, recently sued the media for reporting the size of Harris’ rallies without focusing on the size of her crowd. Walz mocked the former president as he addressed supporters Tuesday, saying from the stage, “Not only do we have tremendous energy in our convention, we have much more energy where they had their convention … That other guy is going to be so sad tonight, so sad.”
It’s unclear exactly how many people attended the Republican National Convention each night, but a party official reportedly predicted before the convention that peak daily attendance would reach 20,000. The Republican National Convention is being held at the United Center in Chicago, which has a capacity of 23,500. Organizers estimate that more than 20,000 people attended the first night of the Republican National Convention on Monday, according to the Associated Press.
Newsweek reached out to the Harris and Trump campaigns by email Tuesday night for comment.