Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks to a crowd in Detroit at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign for president on Aug. 7, 2024. (Photo by Anna Liz Nichols/Michigan Advance)
Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz will make an appearance in Rhode Island Thursday, Rhode Island Democratic Party Chair Liz Beretta-Perik confirmed Monday.
Walz, who was selected as Kamala Harris’ running mate Aug. 6 is expected to appear in Newport late Thursday afternoon, as first reported by WPRI-TV . A location is still being determined, Beretta-Perik said.
“The governor is coming as of now,” she said. “That’s all the information I know; it’s run by his campaign.”
Lexi Byler, spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign, declined to comment on additional details surrounding the Newport fundraiser. The invitation for the event, shared on X by WPRI’s Ted Nesi , lists a who’s who of Rhode Island Democrats attending, including the state’s congressional delegation, former gubernatorial candidate Helena Buonanno Foulkes, Gov. Dan McKee and House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi.
“I’m looking forward to meeting Governor Walz for the first time,” Shekarchi said in a statement Monday. “I’ve been reading a lot about him and it certainly appears that Vice President Harris has made a great choice.”
Walz, a former Army National Guardsman and teacher, has served as Minnesota’s governor since 2019.
“The Harris-Walz team has generated a great deal of energy and excitement across the nation, and I’m thrilled that Governor Walz will be coming to Rhode Island this week,” Shekarchi said
Walz’s Newport appearance comes as the vice presidential candidate embarks on his first solo fundraising tour ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next week. He will start his swing through five states Tuesday beginning with a speech Tuesday at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees convention in Los Angeles — along with a fundraiser in Newport Beach, California, Byler said.
He will then travel to Denver and Boston on Wednesday before his stop in Rhode Island and will end the fundraising tour in Southampton, New York, later on Thursday.
Ticket prices were not listed for the invitation for the Rhode Island fundraiser. But the event in Newport Beach, California, listed tickets ranging from $1,000 to $100,000 .
“I think all that’s accurate here too,” Rhode Island Democratic National Committeeman Joe Paolino Jr. said Monday.
Paolino previously stated that organizers hope to raise $500,000 toward the Harris-Walz campaign’s efforts in swing states. Since Walz’s selection as Harris’ running mate, Democrats have raised over $114 million in donations through their ActBlue platform, according to a third-party tracker .
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