While delegates and party leaders gathered in Chicago for the second night of the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris rallied supporters over 80 miles away, in the same city that Republicans nominated her rival just a few weeks prior.

Harris’ campaign said that over 15,000 supporters gathered at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee Tuesday night, where the Democratic nominee spoke alongside her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. The vice president took the stage in Wisconsin immediately after the DNC finished a ceremonial roll-call, where delegates confirmed Harris and Walz as their choice for the 2024 presidential ticket.

“We are so honored to be your nominees,” Harris said from Milwaukee while addressing the DNC via a live stream. “Together we will chart a new way forward.”

Harris’ rally was held at the same event center where former President Donald Trump accepted the Republican National Convention’s presidential nomination last month, invoking comparisons online of the two event’s crowd size. Photos and videos appear to show that Harris’ rally garnered a similar crowd to the first day of the RNC on July 15, where Trump made his first public appearance after surviving an assassination attempt two days prior.

NBC News correspondent Yamiche Alcindor shared a “360 view” of the crowd in Milwaukee Tuesday night to X, formerly Twitter, writing that rally-goers for Harris and Walz were “cheering” and “enthusiastic.”

In a separate video posted to X by Turning Point USA reporter Savannah Hernandez Tuesday night, the Fiserv Forum appeared filled with energized supporters before the vice president took the stage. Hernandez said her video was taken after the doors to the rally officially closed. The Fiserv Forum has a seating capacity of 18,000.

“This is not a concert,” Victor Shi, a member of Harris’ youth engagement team, wrote in a post X along with a video of Tuesday’s rally. “This is the political rally for Kamala Harris & Tim Walz in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Totally full arena. This will make Trump go crazy.”

Trump, who has been accused of inflating the size of his rally crowds, has recently raised complaints against news outlets for reporting on the size of Harris’ rallies while not focusing on his crowd size. Walz poked fun at the former president while addressing supporters Tuesday, saying from the stage, “Not only do we have massive energy in our convention, we have a hell of a lot more energy where they had their convention…That other guy is going to be so sad tonight, so sad.”

It’s unclear how many people were in attendance each night of the RNC, although a party official reportedly predicted before the convention that peak daily attendance was expected to reach 20,000. The DNC is being hosted in the United Center in Chicago, which has a seating capacity of 23,500. Organizers estimate that over 20,000 people attended the first night of the DNC on Monday, according to the Associated Press.

Newsweek reached out to Harris and Trump’s campaigns via email Tuesday night for comment.

The group attempting to recall four Milwaukee Public Schools board members fell thousands of signatures short.

The group turned in petitions that appeared to have unverified names signed by the same person. In some instances, addresses were linked to abandoned homes, according to documents submitted to the Milwaukee Election Commission. 

“The people of Milwaukee have emphatically rejected this dishonest effort to remove good public servants from our democratically elected school board,” said Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association President Ingrid Walker-Henry. 

Members of the MPS School Board Recall Collaborative did not respond to requests for comment. 

At a July 24 press conference, weeks before they turned in the petitions, the recall group announced they had 37,000 of the 60,000 signatures needed to unseat MPS board president Marva Herndon, vice president Jilly Gokalgandhi, board member Erika Siemsen and at-large board member Missy Zombor. 

On Aug. 12, the group submitted a total of 29,787 signatures to the Milwaukee Election Commission. 

Their efforts were launched following several tumultuous weeks for the school district. In May, it was revealed that MPS had failed to file audits with the state Department of Public Instruction, leading to the loss of millions of dollars and the resignation of Superintendent Keith Posley. 

Gov. Tony Evers has since called for operational and instructional audits of MPS. 

MPS School Board Recall Collaborative called for more transparency within MPS and on the school board. 

But it soon became apparent the recall itself was shrouded in secrecy. 

When asked who was funding the efforts and who was paying canvassers, the only response by organizer Tamika Johnson  was “anonymous donors.” 

Walker-Henry said the public faces of the recall effort were a “private voucher school teacher and the founder of a now-shuttered private charter school.” 

“From the beginning when libelous assertions were made about MPS and MTEA, we have been alarmed at the clear anti-public education motivation of these recall efforts,” Walker-Henry said. “The people of Milwaukee should remember that this campaign was fueled by individuals and groups whose sole vision of education in Milwaukee is its complete privatization.” 

MTEA and Zombor filed complaints with the Wisconsin Ethics Commission last month. Zombor received an email July 22 from commission staff counsel David Buerger, saying her complaint would be investigated. 

On Tuesday, Zombor said the Ethics Commission has a yearslong backlog and she’s not confident the recall group will be looked into before the next MPS school board election. 

Gokalgandi’s term expires in April 2025. The other four board members will serve through April 2027. 

“I believe that the city of Milwaukee voters want school board members that believe in public schools,” Zombor said. “I think they want school board members who are going to build the district up and not tear it down. Even parents, regardless of where they send their kids to school, want a school board that has the best interest of public schools in mind.”

MILWAUKEE – A plea deal has been reached for the two then-teens accused in the fatal shooting of a man at JJ Fish and Chicken in Milwaukee in January 2023.

Javontae Jones pleaded guilty on Wednesday, Aug. 14 to a charge of first-degree reckless homicide. By doing so, Jones avoids a trial. Jones is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 2. 

Jones was accused along with his cousin, Jeffrey Coleman in the Jan. 1, 2023 shooting at the restaurant, court filings say. Coleman pleaded guilty on Monday, Aug. 19 to first-degree reckless homicide. He is set to be sentenced on Oct. 31.

Case details

According to a criminal complaint, Milwaukee police responded to the JJ Fish and Chicken restaurant near 33rd and Villard on Jan. 1, 2023, to investigate a homicide. Investigators found the victim on the floor at the restaurant – he was pronounced deceased.

32nd and Villard shooting; Milwaukee’s first homicide of 2023

Detectives spotted numerous cartridge casings, bullets and bullet strikes in the restaurant. Outside in the parking lot, they located a deformed bullet and three cartridge casings.

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The criminal complaint indicates exterior surveillance video was recovered from the restaurant. It shows a person get out of a vehicle and walk into the restaurant. Two other persons from a second car did the same. After about a minute, all three persons are seeing running out of the restaurant, getting into cars, and fleeing the scene. One of the persons is seen firing a gun – “based upon an observed muzzle flash,” the complaint says.

Surveillance video from inside the restaurant shows a man enter the restaurant and approach the counter with a gun tucked into his waistband, the complaint says. About a minute later, the victim and another person walked into the restaurant – and seconds after that, two other persons walk into the restaurant. A gun was pulled by the first person who entered the restaurant, and he “fires” at the victim and the person he was with, the complaint says. That person then pulled a gun – and he fired toward the front door. The complaint says two people “then fire numerous gunshots toward each other.”

32nd and Villard shooting; Milwaukee’s first homicide of 2023

After this incident, detectives were made aware that multiple juvenile shooting victims were en route to the emergency department at Children’s Wisconsin. Among them was the defendant, Jones, the complaint says.

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Investigators later identified Jones via fingerprints, the complaint says. Two other persons also identified Jones from a photo array.  An officer later identified Coleman from a surveillance image of the shooting.