Less than 24 hours after appearing on a Philadelphia stage together for the first time as the official 2024 Democratic ticket, Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz were back on the campaign trail on Wednesday in battleground Wisconsin.
Addressing more than 12,000 boisterous rally goers in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on Wednesday, Harris and Walz sought to cast themselves as “joyful warriors” fighting for the middle class.
“As Tim Walz likes to point out, we are joyful warriors – joyful warriors – because we know that while fighting for a brighter future may be hard work, hard work is good work, hard work is good work,” Harris said. “And so we will continue to fight for affordable housing, for affordable health care, affordable child care and paid leave.
The vice president went on to wade into the economy – an issue that polls consistently showed was a sore spot with voters for President Joe Biden before he dropped out of the race, something the GOP hopes will be transferred to Harris – just days after a U.S. employment report and stock market plunge sparked concerns around the globe.
“Because while our economy is doing well by many measures, prices for everyday things like groceries are still too high – you know it and I know it,” Harris said before pledging to “take on big corporations that engage in illegal price gouging,” “corporate landlords that unfairly raise rents” and “big Pharma.”
Walz -- who is widely credited with starting a messaging trend that took off among Democrats of referring to former President Donald Trump and his running mate Ohio Sen. JD Vance as “weird" -- has wasted no time since being chosen as the Democratic vice presidential nominee on Tuesday going on the offense against the 2024 GOP ticket.
He continued the attacks on Wednesday, referring to Trump and Vance as “creepy” and “weird as hell” adding they have “backwards beliefs.”
“This is not normal, this is not normal behavior,” Walz said on Wednesday. “Nobody's asking for this crazy stuff.”
Walz and Harris both framed the election as a fight for freedom, specifically honing in on the issue of abortion, which Democrats have sought to put front and center following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
“These guys today, it turns out that freedom to them means government should be free to invade your exam room with your doctor,” Walz said.
“We know there's a golden rule: mind your own damn business, mind your own damn business,” Walz said. “ I don't need you telling me about our health care, I don't need you telling us who we love, and I sure the hell don't need you telling us what books we're going to read.”
At one point Walz paused his speech at Wednesday’s rally to check on someone in the crowd he said was overheating, asking for officials to assist the person and requesting water for others attending the rally.
Following Wednesday’s stop in Wisconsin the pair are set to appear in Detroit, Michigan – fresh off the United Auto Workers’ endorsement of Harris last week – as they look to shore up support in the three key so-called blue wall states critical to their path to the White House.
In a memo on Wednesday, the Harris campaign touted its efforts in the region, noting it has more than 600 coordinated staff on the ground and is adding another 150 team members in the first two weeks of August.
Democrats are hoping that Walz, a Nebraska native who also represented a red-leaning district in Congress for more than a decade, can appeal to midwestern blue-collar voters across the three states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, despite his own state not being considered a major battleground.
The Minnesota governor appeared to lean into that approach on Wednesday, speaking out the connections between the North Star and Badger States and touting how he could “outshoot” his colleagues when he was in Congress.
“And just like Wisconsin, over in Minnesota, we believe in the Second Amendment but we also believe in common sense gun violence laws,” he said.
Harris and Walz will also travel to the battlegrounds of Arizona and Nevada this week as part of their scaled-back swing state kick-off tour. Previously scheduled stops in North Carolina and Georgia had to be cut due to a storm in the region.
Popular indie folk band Bon Iver performed at the event on Wednesday, continuing the Harris campaign trend of having popular artists perform at the vice president’s rallies.
Harris on Wednesday also used her remarks to the leadership of her current boss, Biden.
“He loves Wisconsin, and I know we are all deeply grateful for his lifetime of service to our nation,” Harris said, prompting the crowd to chant “Thank you, Joe.”
“I'm gonna tell him what you said,” the vice president responded to the crowd.