EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — Vice President Kamala Harris and new running mate Tim Walz made their first campaign stop in the Midwest here on Wednesday, addressing thousands of supporters and seeking to solidify their position in the pivotal battleground state.
Mr. Waltz, 60, and Ms. Harris, 59, both governors of neighboring Minnesota, have cast themselves as champions of the middle class, while Republican candidates Donald Trump and J.D. Vance have made similar appeals, citing high inflation and record illegal immigration under a Biden-Harris administration.
Walz, who spoke about his past as a school teacher and National Guard soldier, told a crowd of several thousand gathered outdoors in western Wisconsin that his message on abortion was “mind yourself.”
Former President and current Republican candidate Trump said: [sic] “Such was he,” Waltz said.
The mostly elderly battleground state audience saw several cases of heatstroke, including some who appeared to pass out, but remained calm as Walz blasted the 78-year-old Trump and Vance, calling them “not normal,” “creepy” and “very strange.”
Walz delivered similar personal attacks at his first joint rally with Harris on Tuesday night, including a vulgar reference to Soffer that was well-received by the age-diverse Philadelphia audience.
The large audiences for Ms. Harris and Ms. Waltz were a notable reflection of that enthusiasm and a stark contrast to the small turnout at a speaking event for Mr. Biden, whose decision to retire last month amid concerns about his mental health was widely hailed.
At one point, Harris appeared to respond to the crowd’s chants of “Send him to jail!” against Trump, who faces four criminal charges he claims are politically motivated, by saying “the courts will handle that part.”
Bon Iver, a popular local indie band, opened for Harris and Waltz, whose state employs many of the area’s residents.
At a rally in Wisconsin, Ms Harris claimed Mr Trump would “undermine the middle class” – a charge the Republican candidate has also made about her own policies.
The vice president described herself as “a girl from Oakland, California, raised by a working mother who worked part-time at McDonald’s in the summers,” and Walz as “a son of the Nebraska plains who grew up working on farms.”
She also referred to her running mate, Waltz, as “Coach Waltz,” a reference to his time as her high school football coach.
The branding seemed to work for some rally-goers: “The whole country is going to fall in love with Tim Waltz,” Dave Jacoby, 65, of Trego, Wisconsin, told The Washington Post.
“He’s a hunter like me,” the Midwesterner said.
