By Chinasaokwu Helen okoro
PHILADELPHIA – Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz made their first joint appearance on-stage at Temple University on Tuesday evening, painting themselves as the “underdog” candidates who are aiming for the “future.
”Harris explained her choice in picking Walz by focusing on his biography, tying the two together through biographical similarities. The message on stage was about the humble beginnings of a California girl born to a “working class” mother and a Nebraska farm boy who has worked his way up the ladder from teacher to congressman to governor and now VP nominee.
Walz, in his debut speech to about 10,000 holding fresh Harris-Walz signs, introduced himself as a small-town man with a “commitment to the people” and stood behind Harris as the Democratic nominee, saying he “couldn’t be prouder to be on this ticket.”I was born in West Point, Nebraska and lived in Butte, a small town of 400 where community was a way of life.
Growing up, I spent the summers working on the family farm. My mom and dad taught us to show generosity toward your neighbors and to work for the common good.”Of Harris, Walz stood in line with what the Harris campaign has painted her as: tough.
She took on predators and fraudsters, took down transnational gangs, stood up against powerful corporate interests, she never hesitated to reach across the aisle if it meant improving people’s lives. And – she brings joy to everything she does,” Walz said in his first campaign stop of the Harris-Walz multi-state swing.
‘See what I did there?’Walz also spoke out about his support for IVF treatments, saying he wants “the freedom to make your own health care decisions.” His first daughter was named “Hope” after his family’s struggle to get pregnant and then using in-vitro fertilization.“I can’t wait to debate the guy,” Walz said of Vance after saying the senator “trashed” his hometown in his book “Hillbilly Elegy.”“If he’s willing to get off the couch and show up,” Walz said, calling Vance “creepy” in reference to the fake meme about the Republican and his love for couches.
Harris touted Walz’s beginnings in the Midwest as a teacher and football coach, before praising his legislative work on abortion, “voting rights” and his recent views on gun safety laws.
She said comparing Walz to Vance is like choosing between the “varsity team and the JV squad.”Harris labeled herself and “coach” Walz as “two middle class kids” with the same valuesan effort to describe the ticket as an outsider, “underdog” story that is fighting for the “future.
”“One, a daughter of Oakland, California, who was raised by a working mother,” Harris said. “The other, a son of the Nebraska plains who grew up working on a farm — only in America is it possible for them together to make it all the way to the White House.”“Coach Walz and I may hail from different corners of this great country. But our values are the same,” she added.
“We both believe in lifting people up, not knocking them down.”Walz was a high school teacher and football coach before serving in the House of Representatives and becoming governor in 2018.
Harris thanked Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro for his help in trying to win Pennsylvania, despite not choosing him.Harris had announced her VP pick hours earlier Tuesday morning, choosing the relatively little-known Walz instead of expected battleground favorites like Shapiro.
Recent polls show that the majority of Americans don’t have an opinion of the Minnesota governor, but Democrat leaders vouched for the governor on stage, including Shapiro – who said he “loves” being Pennsylvania’s governor and getting “sh-t” done.Vance slammed Harris for going with Walz over Shapiro at an earlier event in Philadelphia, saying she “bent the knee” to the far-left portion of the Democratic party that cares about his Jewish roots.
Vice President Kamala Harris arrives at Philadelphia International Airport for a campaign event at Girard College on August 6, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Temple University rally was taken with thousands of Harris supporters braving the streets in the rain hoping to get in, with some brandishing signs featuring coconuts – a nod to Harris’ viral “coconut tree” meme – and others wearing slime-green colored T-shirts saying “brat.”Supporters cheered and applauded, danced and roared, with red white and blue wristbands.
The joint appearance came less than three weeks after President Biden took the unprecedented step of ending his re-election bid as difficult questions became raised about his fitness to remain in office following his abysmal debate against former President Donald Trump in June.
Biden’s departure has breathed new life into the race for the Democrats, whose confidence had steadily eroded about the 81-year-old’s chances at defeating Trump in the Nov. 5 presidential election.
With the 2024 Democratic ticket now complete, Harris and Walz, 60, must face down a gauntlet of criticism, which has already begun bubbling to the surface.This is the most Radical Left duo in American history. There has never been anything like it, and there will never be again,” the former president wrote on Truth Social Tuesday afternoon.Conservative allies are seizing on that message, with Trump rival-turned-supporter Florida Gov.
Ron DeSantis calling team Harris-Walz “the most left-wing ticket in American history.”But the rally attendees The Post spoke to expressed enthusiasm for Harris’ and Walz’s left-wing record compared to that of Biden.
Terese Jacobson, a Baby Boomer who came from New Jersey, said she hopes Walz “brings the young people to the ticket” as well as veterans and “football people.”“Young people… were disappointed and became disillusioned [by Biden]… I’m hoping that, because he’s a progressive, these young people will start caring again,” Jacobson said.
She also said choosing Shapiro would not have been wise due to the “scandal” going on about his views towards Israel.There’s so many Palestinians and Muslim people in the country that have been affected because of what’s going on with the bombing of hospitals and killing of children in Israel. Even Jewish people have been upset about that. We all support Israel, but Netanyahu’s choices… It just shouldn’t be done the way it’s been done,” Jacobson said. “He’s (Shapiro) had a little bit of a scandal come out now. We don’t have time to be dealing with this.”Lauren Skaar, a Bucks County, Penn. voter, said she wasn’t “surprised” that the chice was not Shapiro.Not surprising. I think he had a lot of baggage – school vouchers and some other stuff. We’re Bucks County voters very much in support of Walz, and [we’re] liking him,” she told The Post.
Another rally goer, Sean Bonner from southern New Jersey, said he thought Walz was chosen because of his experience as a legislator.“I think she [Harris] made a choice based off who she thought would best help her campaign.
I think she made a choice based off experience. Governor Walz is a lot more experienced, he served many years in the House. Governor Shapiro — while he is very talented and I think he’s been a great governor — he has only been governor for about 2 years now.
I think experience played a factor in that decision. I think that’s [antisemitism] is blown out of proportion. It exists, I don’t want to deny it. I don’t think it was a determinant factor in President Harris’ decision.
”Other attendees spoke highly of Walz’s history with supporting access to abortion, his lack of “baggage,” his experience and some who could “unify” the Democratic Party.
