PHILADELPHIA — Kamala Harris’ and Tim Walz’s first campaign stop as running mates offered an early glimpse of how they’ll pitch the Democratic ticket to voters in their 91-day sprint to Election Day — as the candidates of the “future.”
The vice president and Minnesota governor took the stage to a raucous crowd at Temple University here just hours after Harris announced him as her pick. Democrats hope the balance of the former California prosecutor and an ex-high school football coach from the Midwest can buoy the party’s chances with voters throughout the Rust Belt.
“We need you, each and every one of you,” Walz said. “My God, you came here tonight to sit at the very top [in the stands] because you love this country, and you’re not going back.”
It echoed parts of Harris’ speech, which argued their campaign isn’t just about defeating former President Donald Trump in November, but also about the future of the country. Walz, standing behind Harris as she spoke, clapped and engaged with the audience enthusiastically, at one point joining a chant of “not going back” with the crowd.
But it also demonstrated how Walz may complement the vice president, as they hit the trail after a fast-tracked veepstakes. Walz, a veteran and former teacher, presented himself as a small-town man who was raised in Butte, Nebraska, where “community was the way of life.” He talked about his military service, his family farm growing up, the values he tried to instill in his students, and his family. He touched on how he and his wife underwent IVF to have their daughter Hope.
He leaned into his role as an evangelist of Harris’ credentials and policy accomplishments, while digging into Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance in his plainspoken, Midwestern manner that Democrats have praised.
“Trump weakens our economy to strengthen his own hand. He mocks our laws. He sows chaos and division, and that’s to say nothing of his record as president. He froze in the face of the Covid crisis,” Walz said. “He drove our economy into the ground. And make no mistake, violent crime was up under Donald Trump — that’s not even counting the crimes that he committed.”
The new line prompted chants of “Lock him up.”
Walz also recycled his “weird” description of his opponents that he used in a cable news interview that went viral — and that Democrats widely adopted.
“JD studied at Yale, had his career funded by silicon valley billionaires, and wrote a bestseller trashing that community. That’s not what middle America is. And I’ve got to tell you, I can’t wait to debate the guy — that is if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up,” Walz said, referencing social media memes that suggested — falsely — that Vance once had intimate relations with a couch in his youth.
The rally was the campaign’s largest event to date, with more than 14,000 attendees in the room and overflow area, per the Harris campaign. Tuesday also marked one of the its best fundraising days this cycle — with Harris and Walz raising more than $20 million from grassroots supporters since the Minnesota governor was added to the ticket.
They were joined by DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, and local and state leaders, including Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, Sens. John Fetterman and Bob Casey, as well as Gov. Josh Shapiro, who Harris was also considering as a running mate. The crowd chanted “he’s a weirdo” during Shapiro’s speech as the Pennsylvania governor tore into Vance — a nod to the attack Walz pioneered.
Harris dedicated part of her remarks to thanking Shapiro for his leadership and friendship — promising that he’d still help the ticket win Pennsylvania, albeit as a surrogate, and inviting sustained applause throughout the arena.
The vice president, who spoke before Walz, described them as two people who grew up as “middle-class kids.” She touted the governor’s legislative record in Minnesota — from reproductive rights to paid leave and voting rights and gun control. She said she was looking for a partner to build a “brighter future,” and emphasized his former role as a football coach — calling him “Coach Walz” throughout her speech and evoking the popular TV show “Friday Night Lights.”
“Coach Walz and I may hail from different corners of this great country. But our values are the same,” Harris said.
In the meandering line of people waiting to get into the rally, there was evidence that the vice president energized a particularly online and young group of voters, many of whom had been disaffected by President Joe Biden’s presence on the Democratic ticket. And, in a sign of how Walz has also resonated, many young voters readily named some of his accomplishments as governor, ranging from free school meals for school children to the legalization of recreational marijuana.
“Just the way he talks, the way he’s been in public: very direct, a little funny,” said Nora Spurrier, 24, who’s from Shapiro’s hometown of Abington, Pennsylvania. “He’s just respectable and sensible.”
Debbie Medina, 31, traveled to the Harris rally from New York, where she works in state government. In March, she registered as an independent out of disappointment with the Democratic Party — but she felt that Harris had an energy missing from the 2020 and 2016 campaigns.
“It was just insane to see that energy in a positive light, and also, it’s fun — it’s not scary,” Medina said. “I think something wrong with the Democratic Party is that they use fear tactics to get you to the vote. And for the first time, we’re seeing someone have fun with it.”
Democrats believe the fresh energy Walz injects into the campaign could be a boon in Blue Wall states, as well as among white, blue-collar workers and men — constituencies Democrats have struggled with.
Harris and Walz followed Tuesday’s rally with a national grassroots fundraising call and will spend the next five days flying around the country to rally in critical battleground states. A couple stops on the East Coast were canceled due to a hurricane on the Atlantic coast, but they’ll visit Eau Claire, Wisconsin and Detroit on Wednesday and Phoenix and Las Vegas later in the week.
Holly Otterbein contributed to this report.
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