Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris spoke by telephone with Jacob Blake, a Black man who was left paralyzed after being shot by police, during a meeting with his family in Milwaukee on Monday.
Harris, who landed in Milwaukee for her first trip as Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's running mate, met with Blake's father, two sisters and two members of his legal team. Blake's mother and other lawyers joined the meeting by phone, according to a campaign official.
Blake was shot seven times by a White police officer in Kenosha, and his family says he is now paralyzed in the hospital. Blake's shooting sparked protests and violence in the city, including the killing of two protesters by Kyle Rittenhouse in late August.
Harris said later that the meeting was "really wonderful."
"They're an incredible family," and endure what they've been through "with such dignity and grace," she said while visiting an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers training facility. "They're carrying the weight of a lot of voices on their shoulders."
Blake's attorneys said the meeting and phone call were "inspirational and uplifting."
Blake told Harris "that he was proud of her, and the senator told Jacob that she was proud of him and how he is working though his pain," the lawyers, Ben Crump, Patrick Salvi II and B'Ivory LaMarr, said in a statement.
Harris's visit comes after Biden traveled to Wisconsin on Thursday to meet with Blake's family and participate in a community conversation at a church in Kenosha.
President Donald Trump also traveled to Kenosha last week to tour damaged properties and condemn the violence. He did not meet with the Blake family, and he'd declined to speak to Blake's mother, because the family wanted lawyers to take part in the call.
"I was going to speak to the mother yesterday, I hear she's a very fine woman, I was going to speak to her but then I heard there were a lot of lawyers on the phone," Trump said on Sept. 1. "I said, 'I have enough lawyers in my life, I don't need to get involved with that.'"
