PHILADELPHIA — A crowd of thousands went absolutely wild as Vice President Kamala Harris’s new running mate, the previously little-known Minnesota governor Tim Walz, energized the audience at a Temple University arena with decibels of excitement near deafening on Tuesday.
“He bankrupted the economy and, make no mistake, violent crime was on the rise donald trump – and that’s not even counting the crimes he committed,” Walz said, the crowd erupting in cheers, applause and stamping of feet for several seconds.
It was remarkable, considering this was the first time many here had heard directly from the governor — who was chosen, in part, because he is a well-rounded, straight-talking man. “white guy” of the Midwest.
But Walz, 60, made it immediately clear that Democrats shouldn’t expect his tone on the campaign trail to be entirely nice in the Midwest, and that Harris probably also chose him because he’s good at being nasty to Trump.
“Don’t believe him when he makes a fool of himself. He knows exactly what Project 2025 would be,” Walz said, citing the authoritarian plan for a second Trump term led by Trump allies at the conservative Heritage Foundation. Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025, as well as calls from some in the Republican Party for a deeply unpopular national ban on abortion. But Walz said Trump cannot be trusted.
“Even if you didn’t make the same choice yourself, there is a golden rule: mind your own business!” he said, again to thunderous applause.
Walz is known for originating the “strange” excavation Democrats started using it against Republicans. On Tuesday, he again suggested that Republicans are the party of borderless weirdos with a reference to J.D. Vance and a couch, a nod to a false story about Vance describing having sex with a couch in her memoir which, however, took on a life of its own online.
Walz made a sarcastic nod to the fact that he and Vance are from the Midwest. Walz is from Minnesota and was born in Nebraska. Vance grew up in Ohio and wrote about it in his best-selling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which gave him credibility as someone who understood the motivations of poor white Americans who voted for Trump in 2016.
“Like every ordinary person I grew up with at heart, JD went to Yale, had his career funded by Silicon Valley billionaires, and then wrote a best-seller destroying that community,” he said. “Come on, that’s not what Central America is. And I tell you, I can’t wait to debate the guy. That is, if he’s willing to get off the couch.” Walz seemed delighted with his own joke while Harris grimaced and tried to stifle a laugh in the background.
During remarks by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who would have been the runner-up for Harris’ No. 2 job, the crowd erupted in a chant of, “He’s a weirdo!” on Vance for nearly 20 seconds.
“If I heard you right — and I think I did — you’re screaming, ‘He’s a weirdo.’ If you’re yelling, ‘He’s a weirdo,’ then you’ve heard of my good friend and incoming vice president, Tim Walz. Tim Walz, in his blunt, Midwestern way, summed up JD Vance best – he’s a weirdo! said Shapiro, who reportedly only learned this morning that he wouldn’t get the job.
The Trump campaign released a memo following the news about Walz titled “Tim Walz is an Incompetent Liberal,” claiming that Walz and Harris are both “far-left radicals who don’t know how to govern.”
…In his frank, straightforward Midwestern way, he summed up JD Vance best – he’s a weirdo!Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro on Harris Running Mate Tim Walz
For the first time in what seemed like a long time, Democrats, newly energized by Harris at the top of the ticket and with the jovial, gray-haired Walz in tow, were having fun and focusing less on doom and gloom — even as they effectively campaigned under the weight of a swing state that they cannot truly lose. Biden won Pennsylvania by fewer than 81,000 votes in 2020.
Recent research confirms that vibrations are based in reality: FiveThirtyEight’s The poll average shows Harris leading Trump in her national head-to-head average — better than Biden was in late June, before the bad debate that forced him to drop his re-election bid.
The crowd sang and danced throughout the event, pumped up by a DJ who played a steady stream of Megan Thee Stallion, as well as Ludacris’ “Move B***h” (the bleeped version) and DMX’s “Party Up (Up) (Up). Here).”
“You can feel the energy in this room. It is tangible; it’s palpable,” said Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, before a marching band sent the room into the clouds.
The young voters present at the rally were having a great time. A young-looking man with a sign saying “Kamala is the future” and a drawing of what appeared to be two coconuts shared his joy with the crowd by blowing a whistle repeatedly. Some said they wouldn’t be as enthusiastic about voting for Biden.
“I wouldn’t have done it, but I’m glad he had time to step down, realize where he was and make sure he listened to his advisors,” said Archana Chungapally, 27, who is looking forward to voting for Harris because they share the same cultural identity.
“People our age are surprisingly involved in politics right now,” said Bailey Pincus, a 21-year-old Temple student. “I think everyone is excited to have a woman.”
Harris preceded Walz on stage, introducing him as a veteran, social studies teacher, congressman and two-term governor known for progressive reforms like signing up for legal protections for reproductive health care, trans health care, and gun safety — even as a gun owner and hunter.
“It truly illuminates a better future that we can build together. In his state, he has been a model chief executive, and with his experience, Tim Walz will be ready on day one,” Harris said.
Walz extolled Harris as a former prosecutor and attorney general of California, an aspect of her biography that was out of step with the Democratic Party when she ran for president in 2020. Now, Democrats are inclined to frame Harris as “tough in the courtroom.” , which is how Shapiro, a fellow former state AG, described her, and how Walz also portrayed her.
“She stood up to predators, she stood up to fraudsters, she took down transnational gangs, she stood up to powerful corporate interests, and she never hesitated to reach across the aisle to improve people’s lives,” Walz said, “and she does. all this with a feeling of joy.”
Walz also urged Democrats to resolve their political differences not with “violence, but with votes,” but acknowledged the short road to the election, which Harris and Walz are embracing by attacking swing states in the coming days. “We will sleep when we die,” Walz said.
