Early Harris-Walz rallies feature large crowds, talk of ‘joy’ and unsolicited GOP counterprogramming

LAS VEGAS – Big crowds, lines of applause, talk of joy — and some unsolicited Republican counterprogramming.

These were common themes during the first major campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris and his running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as the new Democratic ticket rolled through five swing states last week on a get-to-know-us tour.

They kicked off with a raucous rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday, hours after Harris announced Walz as her running mate. From there it was a march through Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada. Planned stops in Georgia and North Carolina were thwarted by Tropical Storm Debby.

The visit was a way to help both candidates introduce themselves to voters, especially independent and swing voters in states where Democrats are in tight races against Republican candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance.

It was also a way for Harris and Walz to get to know each other better.

A retrospective of the campaign balance:

Thousands of people have attended Harris’ campaign rallies, a sign that her groundbreaking candidacy has generated new momentum among Democrats who were unenthusiastic about President Joe Biden’s re-election bid. Harris is the first black woman and the first person of Asian descent to become a major political party’s presidential candidate.

By the campaign’s count, 12,000 people attended rallies in Philadelphia and Eau Claire, Wisconsin. There were 15,000 in the Detroit area and in Glendale, Arizona. In Las Vegas on Saturday, more than 12,000 people were inside a university arena when authorities suspended admissions because people were getting sick waiting outside in 100-degree heat to get through security. About 4,000 people were still in line when the entrances were closed, the campaign said.

For Lance Jones, a Tucson native who attended the rally in Arizona, it seemed like “the tables have turned with Harris and Walz.” He predicted his state “will basically go from red to purple to blue.”

That crowd size has angered Trump, who regularly draws thousands of people to his own rallies.

“Oh, give me a break,” he said at a news conference when asked about Harris. “Nobody had crowds like me.”

Not only did the Republican ticket weigh in from afar, Vance tried to keep up with his Democratic rivals during the early days of his tour. He made appearances in Philadelphia and Detroit hours before Democrats arrived in those cities.

But after Harris and Vance landed at the same time in Eau Claire on Wednesday, the Republican got off the plane and walked toward Air Force Two.

Vance later joked about the face-to-face move, saying he had some fun while trying to “check out my future plane.” Air Force Two would become his primary mode of transportation if he and Trump are elected in November.

Harris and Walz delivered largely the same speeches — replete with personal biographies — from rally to rally, with some adjustments to tailor their comments to the specific audience and state.

Harris added lines about fighting for workers and the advantages of organized labor to her Michigan comments. In Arizona and Nevada, where migration is a major concern, she drew on her experience as a prosecutor to tell the crowd that she went after transnational gangs, drug cartels and smugglers when she was California’s attorney general.

“I sued them case after case and won,” Harris said.

In Las Vegas, where the economy relies heavily on the hospitality industry, she promised to work to eliminate federal taxes on tips for employees in restaurants and other service sectors. Trump, who floated the same idea several months ago, posted on social media that it was a “copycat.”

Harris ended her rallies by asking people what kind of country they wanted to live in, before calling them to action and declaring: “When we fight, we win.”

Walz, largely unknown outside the Midwest, delved into his personal story of service in the Army National Guard and his years as a high school teacher and football coach, as a member of Congress and governor. In a campaign partly focused on restoring reproductive rights, he says he and his wife, Gwen, endured years of in vitro fertilization treatments before his daughter, Hope, was born.

Each candidate has lines that get the crowd going

– “Hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type,” says Harris, describing the types of people she went after as a prosecutor.

– “Even if we didn’t make the same choice for ourselves, there is one golden rule: Mind your own business,” says Walz, explaining what he said is the Midwestern approach to private and personal decisions, like getting an abortion . .

– “We will sleep when we die,” says Walz, urging the public to give their all during the remaining days of the campaign.

Walz introduced both words into the campaign. Even before he joined the Democratic ticket, his description of Trump and Vance and their policies as “weird” stuck. Harris herself used the description a few times.

As Walz says, “No one is asking for this weird crap.”

Walz also credits Harris with “bringing back the joy” to politics, and Harris herself has described the Democratic ticket as “joyful warriors”.

At several stops, the crowd began chanting “lock him up” directed at Trump, an echo of the chants that Trump’s campaign audience directed at Democrat Hillary Clinton during the 2016 election race.

Harris has a return ready to move things forward. “Hold on. Let the courts handle it. We’ll beat it in November,” she says.

Likewise, she had a ready response to disruptions by protesters upset that the administration was not doing more to protect Palestinians during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.

As she told them in Arizona: “I respect your voices, but we are here to talk about this race in 2024.”

At each stop, Walz reminded people of the countdown to Election Day, November 5th.

On Friday in Phoenix, everything must have seemed confusing: He was a day late when he set the countdown to 87 instead of 88 days.

He’s not the only one counting.

A troop of Girl Scouts greeted the vice president at the Wisconsin airport on Wednesday, 90 days before the election. Excerpts of their conversation heard by reporters suggested they could be talking about plans for the summer.

Harris was heard responding, “I’m planning on going somewhere in 90 days.”

Harris made one last stop on Sunday – San Francisco – before returning to Washington. The objective was to raise campaign money for the fight to come.

House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., joined Harris at the event, which the campaign said raised more than $12 million.

Pelosi spoke of wanting “democracy to win Olympic gold” on Election Day. And Harris, to applause after saying “we are going to win this election,” told supporters, “We don’t have a day to lose.”

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Associated Press writer Gabriel Sandoval in Glendale, Arizona, contributed to this report.