Harris and Walz make Trump focus at Democratic ticket’s first rally

Vice
President

Kamala
Harris
and
Minnesota
Gov.

Tim
Walz,
her
newly
minted
running
mate,
made
their
first
public
appearance
together
at
a
a

rally
in
Philadelphia
on
Tuesday
evening.

“I
couldn’t
be
prouder
to
be
on
this
ticket,”
Walz
said
to
an
excited
crowd
that
numbered
more
than
12,000,
according
to
the
Harris
campaign.
“Thank
you
for
bringing
back
the
joy.”

“Since
the
day
that
I
announced
my
candidacy,
I
set
out
to
find
a
partner
who
can
help
build
this
brighter
future,” Harris said
in
her
own
rally
speech
Tuesday.
“I
found
such
a
leader:
Governor
Tim
Walz
of
the
great
state
of
Minnesota.”

Two
weeks
ago,
Walz
was
a
relatively
unknown
Democrat
on
the
national
stage.
But
his
sharp,
plain-spoken
media
interviews,
paired
with
his
compelling
Midwest,
middle-class
profile
soon
catapulted
him
onto
Harris’
VP
short
list.

The
Harris
campaign
officially
announced
Walz
as
her
running
mate
Tuesday
morning,
solidifying
the
Democratic
ticket
with
just
91
days
until
the
election.

Walz
directed
sharp
critiques
at
the
Republican
ticket
of
former
President

Donald
Trump
and
Ohio
Sen.

JD
Vance,
some
of
which
drew
laughs
from
the
audience.

“Make
no
mistake,
violent
crime
was
up
under
Donald
Trump,”
Walz
said,
“and
that’s
not
even
counting
the
crimes
he
committed.”

The
Minnesota
governor
also
worked
to
draw
a
sharp
contrast
between
himself
and
Vance,
who
has
built
much
of
his
political
biography
on
representing
Midwestern
values.

“Like
all
the
regular
people
I
grew
up
with
in
the
heartland,
JD
studied
at
Yale,
had
his
career
funded
by
Silicon
Valley
billionaires,
and
then
wrote
a
bestseller
trashing
that
community,”
Walz
quipped.

Harris
used
her
speech
to
draw
attention
to
several
elements
of
Walz’s
biography:
his
time
serving
in
the
Army
National
Guard;
his
decades-long
career
as
a
high
school
teacher
and
football
coach,
and
his
time
advising
the
school’s
gay-straight
alliance.

Harris
also
debuted
some
new
lines
in
her
evolving
stump
speech,
which
sounded
tailor
made
to
appeal
to
moderates
and
political
independents.

“My
promise
to
you
is
this:
Our
campaign
will
reach
out
to
everyone,
from
red
states
to
blue
states,
from
the
heartland
to
the
coast,
in
rural,
urban,
suburban
and
tribal
communities,”
Harris
said,
underscoring
the
campaign’s
strategy
to
use
Walz
to
expand
the
Democratic
coalition.

“We
are
running
a
campaign
on
behalf
of
all
Americans,”
she
said.

In
the
hours
since
Walz
was
announced
as
her
running
mate,
the
campaign
has
released
new
Harris-Walz
merchandise,
as
well
as
several
advertisements
introducing
Walz
and
social
media
statements.

The
campaign
said
it
raised
$20
million
in
donations
after
Walz
was
announced,
a
drop
in
the
bucket
relative
to
the

$310
million
the
campaign
hauled
in
July
alone.

Over
the
past
two
weeks,
Walz
went
through
an
accelerated
VP
vetting
process,
along
side
fellow
contenders
like
Pennsylvania
Gov.
Josh
Shapiro,
Arizona
Sen.
Mark
Kelly
and
Kentucky
Gov.
Andy
Beshear.

Shapiro,
reportedly
the
second-strongest
contender,
joined
the
Harris-Walz
rally
in
his
home
state
Tuesday
evening
and
gave
a
roaring
speech
supporting
the
ticket,
despite
ultimately
being
passed
up
for
the
VP
job.

“I’m
gonna
be
working
my
tail
off
to
make
sure
we
make
Kamala
Harris
and
Tim
Walz
the
next
leaders
of
the
United
States
of
America,”
Shapiro
told
the
crowd.
“Tim
Walz
is
a
great
patriot.
I’ll
tell
you
what
else:
Tim
Walz
is
a
dear
friend.”

Harris’
running
mate
decision
punctuated
a
weeks-long
frenzy
to
pivot
the
Democratic
ticket
after
President
Joe
Biden
dropped
out
of
the
race
following
his
dismal
June
debate
performance
against
Trump.

“I
launched
my
campaign
for
the
President
of
the
United
States
a
mere
two
weeks
ago,
and
it’s
been
a
bit
of
a
whirlwind,”
Harris
said
at
the
Philadelphia
rally,
acknowledging
the
turbocharged
timeline
on
which
her
campaign
has
been
operating.
“Now
we
got
some
work
to
do.
We
need
to
move
to
the
general
election,
and
win
that.”