Harris, Walz kick off campaign with focus on middle class and freedom
“Coach Walz” sharpens Democratic attack on Trump-Vance; Trump said Harris-Walz will make America communist
Washington: Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for president and vice-president, officially launched their campaign in Philadelphia on Tuesday with a message centered on “strengthening the middle class”, defending freedoms, and attacking Donald Trump for his record in office, crimes and conviction, and vision for the future.
Hours after announcing that Walz will be her running mate, Harris introduced the Minnesota governor to a rapturous crowd of Democrats in the swing state of Pennsylvania, a must-win for the party if it hopes to defeat Trump this November.
“I set out to find a partner who can help build..brighter future, a leader who will unite our nation and move us forward, a fighter for the middle class, a patriot who believes who believes in the extraordinary promise of America…Pennsylvania, I have found such a leader: Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota,” Harris said, as Walz stood behind her on the stage greeting supporters.
After offering Walz’s biographical details — his origins in a small town in Nebraska, service in the army’s National Guard, popularity as a social studies teacher and football coach, adviser to the school’s first Gay-Straight Alliance of students, Congressman from a purple district — Harris outlined his record as Minnesota’s governor.
Walz’s achievements, Harris claimed, included expanding paid family leave, offering free meals to school students, guaranteeing reproductive freedom as a fundamental right after the Supreme Court rolled back Roe v Wade, expanding voting rights, and pushing for background checks for gun purchases and increased penalties for illegal arms sales while being a gun owner. “He has been a model chief executive. With his experience, he will be ready on day one,” declared Harris. She also said that strengthening the middle class would be the central aim of her presidency, a task in which she saw Walz’s record as an asset.
When it was Walz’s turn to speak and introduce himself to the national electorate, it was an unusual moment for more reasons than one. Known for his spontaneous conversational Midwestern style of speaking, which has added to his appeal among the base, he wasn’t used to reading from the teleprompter. But the crowd’s response indicated that they lapped up his words, whether it was read from a prepared script or when he went off script and engaged with the audience directly.
Walz first turned to Harris and said, “Thank you for bringing back the joy,” in a nod to how the tone of the new Democratic campaign against Trump has changed. He praised Harris and traced back his life before turning his attention to Trump. “Trump doesn’t know first thing about service. He doesn’t have the time for it because he is too busy serving himself. He weakens our economy to strengthen his own hand. He sows chaos and division.”
At a time when Trump has sought to project his own time in office as a period of great accomplishment, Walz claimed that Trump froze during Covid-19, drove the economy to the ground, and said, “And violent crime was up under Trump. This is not even counting the crimes he committed.”
Walz also picked on the theme of freedom and said there was a time when Republicans spoke about freedom but were now advocating for the government to invade one’s medical freedom. He insisted that his values were about respecting neighbours and personal choice, even if one would not exercise the same choice, “The golden rule is mind your own damn business.” Sticking to the theme of reproductive freedom, Walz also narrated his family’s experience of going through fertility treatment to have children.
“Donald Trump will take us back. Don’t believe him when he plays dumb. He knows exactly what project 2025 will do to restrict freedoms…He will pick up where he left off. Only this time it will be much worse…He will raise the cost of living…He will gut social security and Medicare…He will ban abortion across the country,” Walz said.
He then tuned to JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, and said Vance shared Trump’s “dangerous and backward agenda” for the country. Referring to the Republican leadership as “weird and creepy”, two terms that had catapulted Walz to prominence in the past few weeks, the Democratic VP candidate said about Republican VP candidate with sarcasm, “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 best-seller trashing that community.” This line of attack was probably among the reasons that Harris had picked Walz, a White midwesterner just like Vance, but one who offered an unapologetic defence of liberalism and own narrative of what the White working class wanted in America.
The Republicans have narrowed down on their own line of attack against the Harris-Walz ticket, of framing them as far-Left figures. Trump said on Fox on Wednesday morning, “No one knew how radical Left she was. But he is a smarter version of her…There has never been a ticket like this. This is a ticket that would want the country to go communist.”