Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Kamala Harris introduced her newly chosen running mate, Tim Walz of Minnesota, to a roaring crowd of thousands in Philadelphia and declared with “Coach Walz” by her side, “the underdogs” will win in November.
Walz, Harris said, is a man with many titles: governor, congressman, husband, dad, Army sergeant major, teacher and coach.
“And in 91 days, the nation will know Coach Walz by another name: vice president of the United States,” Harris said to nearly deafening applause and cheers inside an overflowing 10,000-seat basketball arena on Temple University campus.
Walz, 61, said he’ll campaign every single day to defeat Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. “We’ll sleep when we’re dead,” he thundered, his own voice drowned out by the crowd’s exuberance.
“I can’t wait to debate the guy,” Walz said, adding—seemingly unable to contain himself—”that is, if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up.”
“He’s weird as hell,” the new vice presidential aspirant said, repeating the viral label he created to describe the Trump-Vance ticket.
Harris said comparing her running mate’s resume with Trump’s running mate’s resume is “like a match-up between the varsity team and the JV squad.”
But at other points, she didn’t appear so confident.
“We are the underdogs in this race,” Harris said, “but we have the momentum and I know exactly what we are up against,” opening her now pat salvo against Trump, who she said reminds her of the perpetrators, predators and scammers she prosecuted back in the day.
“So hear me when I say,” she said, pausing long enough for the cheering to quiet. “I know Donad Trump’s type.
“Lock him up, lock him up, lock him up,” the crowd chanted, taking a page out of Trump’s 2016 playbook against Hlilary Clinton and turning it against Trump, a convicted felon who faces more trials to come on other federal cha
Harris described herself and Walz as “middle class kids” who grew up on opposite coasts, but both “believe in lifting people up, not knocking ‘em down.”
Walz followed a slew of local and state politicians, including Josh Shapiro, the governor and a veepstakes finalist, who unleashed non-stop attacks on Trump and Vance.
Shapiro ripped Vance as a man with a personal identity crisis.”Y’all see that guy?” he asked a crowd that roared as the governor boomed in his distinctive Obama-like cadence.
“He doesn’t know who he is,” Shapiro said. “He’s not being honest with himself, so he can’t be honest with the American people.”
The crowd at one point chanted: “He’s a weirdo, he’s a weirdo.”
Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who had urged Vice President Harris not to choose Shapiro as her running mate, said, “I gotta tell you, I work with J.D. Vance. And I’m here to confirm that he’s a seriously weird dude.”
Down on the stadium floor, a reporter asked DNC chair Jaime Harrison if he was worried about Vance trail trolling Harris on her battleground states tour. He smirked and rolled his eyes. “Weird!” he declared.
The Tuesday rally kicked off a five-day, seven-city tour for the new Democratic duo as they set out to connect with voters in battleground states that will decide the 2024 presidential election.
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