LANSING, Michigan – Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will spend their first full day as running mates on Wednesday, rallying Democrats across the Midwest, a politically divided region that is crucial to his effort to win the White House in less than three months.
The trip, which starts in Wisconsin before heading to Michigan, is aimed at drumming up support among the younger, more diverse and labor-friendly voters who were instrumental in helping President Joe Biden win the 2020 election. coalition showed signs of fraying over the summer, especially in Michigan, which emerged as a focal point of Democratic divisions about Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
With Biden now out of the race and Harris officially the Democratic nominee, leaders in the Arab-American community and major unions say they are encouraged by the choice. The addition of Walz to the ticket calmed some tensionssignaling to some community leaders that Harris had heard concerns about another leading candidate for vice president, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, who they felt had gone too far in his support of Israel.
“The party is recognizing that there is a coalition that needs to be rebuilt,” said Abdullah Hammoud, mayor of Dearborn, Michigan. “Choosing Walz is another sign of good faith.”
Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat seeking a third term, appeared with Harris at a campaign stop last month in suburban Milwaukee and said in a Tuesday morning fundraising email that was “thrilled to see a fellow Midwesterner at the top of the ticket.”
Donald Trump has placed a similar emphasis on appealing to voters in Midwestern states with his choice of Ohio Senator JD Vance as his choice for vice president. Vance will again run for the Harris-Walz ticket with appearances in the same states on Wednesday. He’s starting the day in Michigan before heading to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the same city where the Democratic candidates will appear hours later before heading to Michigan.
In Michigan, leaders say Democratic enthusiasm has increased since Harris announced her candidacy.
This could be crucial in Detroit, which is nearly 80% black, where leaders for months I had warned government officials that voter apathy could cost them dearly in a city that is normally a stronghold for their party. The Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit branch of the NAACP, said the excitement in the city right now is “mind-blowing.” He compared it to Barack Obama’s first run for president in 2008, when voters waited in long lines to help elect the country’s first black president.
But some Democratic leaders in Michigan were concerned that choosing the wrong running mate could slow that momentum and fracture a coalition that only recently began to unify.
Arab American leaders, who hold a outsized influence in Michigan due to a large presence in metro Detroit, were vocal in their opposition to Shapiro due to his past comments on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Arab-American leaders specifically pointed to a comment he made earlier this year about protests on college campuses, which they felt unfairly compared the actions of student protesters to those of white supremacists. Shapiro, who is Jewish, criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, although he remained a staunch supporter of Israel.
“It is certainly not anti-Semitic to criticize someone’s stance on Israeli politics,” Hammoud said. “It’s just called stewardship and accountability.”
In addition to publicly expressing these concerns, the leaders also expressed their feelings privately to the White House and Harris’ team.
Osama Siblani, editor of the Dearborn-based Arab American News and a prominent leader in Michigan’s large Muslim community, was among those who met with White House adviser Tom Perez in Michigan last week. Although Perez was in the state on official business, he had kept in touch with some Dearborn leaders since he and others senior officials traveled there with Biden in an effort to mend ties with the community.
Siblani said he met with Perez for more than an hour on July 29 and told him that if Harris chose Shapiro, it would “end” future conversations. He also conveyed this message to Democratic lawmakers in Congress, including Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell.
Resistance from Arab Americans and union leaders “wasn’t the only reason she didn’t choose Shapiro, but it’s one of the main reasons,” Siblani said.
“Not choosing Shapiro is a very good step. This opens the door a little more for us,” said Siblani, who, together with Hammoud, emphasized that any meaningful conversation must include political discussions.
Michigan State Senator Jeremy Moss, who is Jewish, was excited about the prospect of having Shapiro run for vice president, but was “disturbed” by the criticism he received, believing that many of the candidates being considered had similar views on Israel. He said he doesn’t believe the criticism influenced Harris’ decision and that “she’s choosing someone based on this long game of who she can work with for four to eight years.”
Still, Moss said he is pleased that the Harris-Walz ticket is not divisive and that the sense of unity among Democrats is “palpable on the ground.”
The country’s largest auto workers’ union, the United Auto Workers, also closely followed the vice president’s selection.
They moved to endorse Harris soon after she replaced Biden, and UAW President Shawn Fain said publicly that she had the right to choose her own running mate. But he also said the union, which has 370,000 members and a huge presence in Michigan and other Midwestern states, did not favor Shapiro, who had previously joined Pennsylvania Republicans in calling for an expansion of the voucher programs that allow the flow of public tax money. for private schools.
Fain singled out Walz — in addition to other candidates — for praise in an interview with the Associated Press on Aug. 2, saying the Minnesota governor was a “bright, smart guy.” In a statement released Tuesday, Fain said Walz will be a “great vice president” and that he “has stood with the working class every step of the way.”
Dingell, a Democrat with deep connections in Dearborn who has brokered some of the conversations between Biden administration officials and leaders of key congressional districts in Michigan, echoed those sentiments on Tuesday. She said Walz’s selection would only increase enthusiasm at Wednesday’s rally in Detroit.
“We have someone from the Midwest, from the country, who really understands our issues,” Dingell said. “And he will be her partner. She won’t have to look over her shoulder every two minutes. He will be a total and true partner.”
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Associated Press writers Tom Krisher in Detroit and Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan, contributed to this report.
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