Kamala Harris introduced her running mate, Tim Walz, as “the type of vice president America wants” at a raucous rally in Philadelphia that showed Democratic unity and enthusiasm for the party’s presidential candidate ahead of the November election.
Harris and Walz cast their campaign as a “fight for the future” and addressed thousands of battleground state voters wearing red, white and blue flashing bracelets at Temple University’s Liacoras Center, interrupted by applause and cheers in what the Harris campaign said was its largest crowd yet.
“Thank you for bringing the joy back,” a beaming Walz said to Harris after she introduced him to the crowd and recited her resume as a teacher, high school football coach, military veteran, legislator and governor. Harris, who served as Joe Biden’s vice president for 3 1/2 years, said Walz, the Minnesota governor, would be “ready to go from day one” and called the race between them and Republican presidential nominees Donald Trump and J.D. Vance “a varsity vs. JV team.”
Harris announced Waltz as her running mate on Tuesday morning, hours after she formally won the Democratic nomination, becoming the first woman of color to lead a major party’s slate. Her selection capped one of the most tumultuous periods in American political history, which led Democrats to endorsing Biden for reelection last month in favor of his vice president.
Taking to the stage to Beyonce’s “Freedom,” the New Democratic candidate was building on weeks of momentum within the party that has been more upbeat and optimistic than usual.
“He’s the kind of person who inspires people to belong and to dream big,” Harris said. “That’s the kind of vice president he’ll be, and that’s the kind of president America wants.”
Walz continued to talk about his career and positioned himself as a politician who has learned to “compromise without compromising my values” before moving on to his opponent. Resuming the “bizarre” attacks on the Republican Party that made him a Democratic star in recent weeks, Walz said the GOP is “creepy and very weird.”
“I can’t wait to debate this guy, honestly,” he said of Vance, joking about the unfortunate meme, “but only if he’s willing to get up off the couch and show up.” It’s unclear at this time whether a vice presidential debate will take place.
Positive reactions to Waltz have spanned progressive and centrist camps, with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Witty The notoriously partisan party is in “bewildering disarray.” As Walz spoke, the Democratic campaign said it had raised more than $20 million from grassroots donors, another huge haul since taking office.
Diane Harris, 59, of Philadelphia, said at the rally that she was among those who had made small donations to the campaign in recent days.
“This is hope, this is change, this is newness,” she said, exulting at the prospect of electing the first Black and South Asian woman president.
As Walz spoke, Democratic newcomers were also fighting off attacks from the right about the governor’s record of supporting liberal economic policies. The Trump campaign was quick to attack Harris’ running mate as a “dangerous liberal extremist,” pointing to her support for policies like reducing carbon emissions and expanding voting rights for convicted felons, and accusing her of trying to remake Minnesota in California’s progressive image.
“Waltz is obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said. “If Waltz won’t tell voters the truth, we will. Like Kamala Harris, Tim Walz is a dangerously liberal extremist, and Harris and Waltz’s California Dream is every American’s nightmare.”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who served with Walz during her six terms in Congress, praised him as a “Democrat from America’s heartland,” while West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a former Democrat and independent, expressed confidence that Walz can “restore normalcy to the most chaotic political environment most of us have ever experienced.”
Before Harris and Walz, Pennsylvania’s popular governor, Josh Shapiro, who was one of Harris’ final running mates for vice president, took the stage to thunderous applause from voters. “I love Philadelphia!” he said. “And you know what else I love? I love being your governor.”
Shapiro’s speech was a blistering attack on the Republican candidate, warning that the Supreme Court’s decision to grant the president broad immunity from prosecution would only further bolster Trump’s second term. Pointing out Philadelphia’s history as the birthplace of American democracy and the place where the Continental Congress declared independence from the British Crown, Shapiro asserted, “We’re not going back to the age of kings.”
But Philadelphia Mayor Sherrelle Parker, who has publicly supported Shapiro’s elevation to the Democratic nomination, delivered a stern message Tuesday to listless Democrats who want Harris to promote the Pennsylvania governor instead of Walz.
“The Democratic candidate has spoken,” she told the rally. “This is it. This is it. End of story.”
Some Democrats reverted to “weird,” a term Walz has often used in recent weeks to characterize Trump and Vance. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who worked with Vance in the Senate, said he was “coming out here to see that he is a really weird guy.” Throughout Shapiro’s speech, the audience chanted “he’s a weirdo.”
Shapiro laughed and agreed: “Tim Waltz, in his beautiful Midwestern straight-talking way, describes J.D. Vance best: He’s a weirdo.”
Appearing in Philadelphia early Tuesday, Vance slammed the administration’s handling of the US-Mexico border and sought to shift the blame onto Harris, suggesting she could replace Walz as the vice presidential nominee because the party has already signaled it’s “willing to trick us a little bit” — a reference to Biden’s decision not to seek reelection.
Asked if he had anything in common with the Democratic governor, Vance listed one: “We’re both white guys from the Midwest.”
The Republican vice presidential nominees will accompany Harris and Walz across the country, holding dueling events at each stop on a multi-day tour of battleground states.
At the rally, Kathleen Little, 77, a former board chairwoman for the housing group, said she was thrilled that Harris had chosen Walz.
“I was very impressed. He’s exactly who I hoped he would be,” said Little, who lives outside Scranton. “When I saw what he’d accomplished in Minnesota, the heartland of the United States, and all that we hope to achieve for our country, I thought he was just the guy for me.”
She is his Investing in Head Startand his Gun Safety MeasuresThat includes background checks for everyone. “That’s exactly what Kamala was going for.”
To Joseph Alston, 69, a Democratic committeeman from West Norriton, King of Prussia, Walz was an excellent choice as Harris’ running mate. Though he had never previously known the Minnesota governor, Alston believes Harris was wise in choosing a running mate from a Midwestern state.
“I originally wanted Josh Shapiro, but we have Pennsylvania so it would be better for her to go outside of Pennsylvania,” Alston said, expressing confidence that the key battleground state, won by Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020, would deliver a victory for Democrats in 2024.
Melissa Helman contributed reporting.
