Harris introduces ‘Coach Walz’ to the national stage

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PHILADELPHIA — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz made his debut as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate in front of a crowd of thousands of energetic supporters, leaning heavily on his personal story — as well as attacks on former President Donald Trump and his No. 2, Sen. JD Vance.

The rally was a sign of how the campaign will work to portray Walz on the trail: as a Midwestern dad and political fighter who is as comfortable hunting and winning sharpshooting competitions as he is in the halls of power working across the aisle to pass legislation.

“Through his work, Tim really does shine a light on a brighter future that we can build together,” Harris said. “In his state, he has been a model chief executive and with his experience, I’m telling you, Tim Walz will be ready on day one.”

The atmosphere was much like that of a concert, with a DJ playing upbeat music as attendees packed the stands at the Liacouras Center at Temple University, which was filled to its seating capacity of over 10,000. Attendees were given bracelets that lit up in red, white and blue.

Still, Harris told the crowd, she and Walz were “the underdogs” — a role Walz seemed happy to step into.

Walz, 60, taught high school social studies, served in the U.S. Army National Guard and represented a Southern Minnesota district in the U.S. House of Representatives for 12 years before getting elected as Minnesota’s governor in 2018. Calling him “Coach Walz” and “Tim,” Harris presented Walz as both a nurturer and a fighter, saying the contrast between Walz and Vance would be like “the matchup between the varsity team and the JV squad.”

Harris highlighted how as a teacher and coach, Walz led his high school football team to a state championship while serving as faculty adviser to the school’s first-ever Gay-Straight Alliance in the 1990s.

“At a time when acceptance was difficult to find for LGBTQ students, Tim knew the signal it would send to have a football coach get involved,” Harris said.

“I think everyone here can see, Tim was the kind of teacher and mentor that every child in America dreams of having because he’s the kind of person who makes people feel like they belong and then inspires them to dream big,” she said. “And that’s the kind of vice president we deserve.”

Walz began his speech by talking about growing up on a farm, serving in the military and then running for office, inspired by his students in whom he hoped to “instill a commitment in the common good.”

While both Harris and Walz criticized Trump, Walz’s attacks were more pointed.

“He drove the economy under the ground. And make no mistake: violent crime went up under Donald Trump — and that’s not even counting the crimes he committed,” Walz said to chants of “lock him up.”

“Some of us are old enough to remember — I see you down there, I see those old White guys — some of us remember when it was Republicans talking about freedom,” Walz joked. “It turns out now, what they meant was that the government should be free to invade your doctor’s office.”

Walz discussed the experiences he and his wife, Gwen, had with fertility treatment and slammed Republicans for the loss of federal abortion rights and threats to fertility treatment , saying, “There’s a golden rule: mind your own damn business…that includes IVF.”

“It’s not by chance that when we welcomed our daughter in the world, we named her Hope,” he said.

Walz was not initially a top contender for Harris’ running mate after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race in July and endorsed Harris. But Walz’ stock rose when, in television interviews and campaign appearances, he plainly branded Trump and Vance as “weird.”

Harris’ campaign and other Democrats have adopted the line of attack: At Tuesday’s rally, Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania called Vance “a seriously weird dude.” When Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro spoke about Vance, the crowd broke out into chants of, “He’s a weirdo.”

And some of Walz’s biggest applause lines came when he went after Vance.

“Like all 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 said. “Come on — that’s not what Middle America is.”

Walz added, in an innuendo-laden quip : “I can’t wait to debate that guy…if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up.”

“These guys are creepy, and yes, just weird as hell,” Walz said.

Harris and Walz made their debut as a ticket in Pennsylvania, the first stop on a tour of battleground states this week. Harris was formally certified as the Democratic presidential nominee this week after a majority of delegates voted to support her in a virtual roll call.

“I launched my campaign a mere two weeks ago, and it’s been a bit of a whirlwind,” she said. “I stand before you to officially announce I am the Democratic nominee.”

Shapiro, the reported runner-up for Harris’ running mate, gave a rousing speech in which he said he would be “working my tail off” to elect Harris and Walz.

The crowd went wild for Pennsylvania’s statewide elected Democrats, as well as Harris and Walz, a reception fit for a pop star, reinforced by the light-up bracelets. It wasn’t just those bracelets: Gayle Share-Raab, a Harris supporter who lives in Bucks County, was giving out beaded friendship bracelets, a staple of Taylor Swift’s concerts, bearing Harris’ name.

Share-Raab said she supported Clinton in 2016 and was “heartbroken” over her loss. She described Harris as a “badass” and a strong leader, citing her work on gun safety and her touring a classroom still bloodied from the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Valerie Keon-Staab, who traveled almost across the entire state from near Erie, Pennsylvania, to the rally, said she was somewhat disappointed that Shapiro wasn’t picked as the nominee. But she believes that Harris and Walz will carry the state if Shapiro, who has sky-high approval ratings in the state , campaigns for them.

Share-Raab said she supported Walz and was happy to keep Shapiro, elected in 2022, in the state for a little longer. She and other voters at the rally were largely supportive of Harris’ pick of Walz.

“I think it’s a great ticket,” said Andre Coles, who lives in Philadelphia. “I think it’s the best possible choice she could have made. She’s got a big hill to climb being a person of color and a woman. So picking a White guy who’s a veteran Midwestern, I think it’s just like all the things that she needs. It’s nice to have him on the ticket.”

Margie Swoboda and Abbey Carr, the chair and executive director of the Democratic County Committee in Centre County, nearly 200 miles west of Philadelphia, were also enthusiastic about Walz.

Carr wore a homemade green pin that said “Demobrat,” a reference to another pop culture phenomenon that Harris’ campaign has readily embraced. She said she thought Walz, who she said comes off as “normal” and not like a career politician, could appeal to moderate men while also energizing young voters.

“Especially our generation, I know a lot of young girls are excited because this is their first presidential election,” she said. “I wasn’t eligible to vote for Hillary and so I’m really excited to work on this campaign.”

The Trump campaign attacked Walz as a “West Coast wannabe” who is “obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and wide” on Tuesday.

“If Walz won’t tell voters the truth, we will: just like Kamala Harris, Tim Walz is a dangerously liberal extremist, and the Harris-Walz California dream is every American’s nightmare,” said campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.

Walz and Democrats are eager to take on Vance, another military veteran from the Midwest. Vance also held a rally in heavily Democratic Philadelphia on Tuesday, where he spoke in front of a banner that said “Kamala Chaos.”

Both campaigns will be fighting over a slice of traditionally Republican voters disillusioned with Trump, many of whom are located in the Philadelphia suburbs commonly referred to as the collar counties.

Jeanne Zelli came to the rally with her husband wearing red “Republicans for Harris” shirts. Zelli, who lives in King of Prussia in nearby Montgomery County, said she wore the shirt to make a statement that she was “deeply disappointed” in how the party had “left” her and people like her.

Zelli said at the outset of the election, she was disappointed with both her choices in presidential candidates. But that changed for her when Harris took over at the top of the ticket. Of Walz, she said, “What’s not to like about him?”

“He’s very irrational,” she said of Trump. “She seems to be rational. I’m on the side of sanity, and I’m out here today because I want people to know that they lost me and they lost people like me.”