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Kamala Harris introduced her running mate in the race for the White House at a raucous Democratic party rally on Tuesday, presenting Minnesota governor Tim Walz as a champion of dearly held freedoms that Donald Trump was plotting to take away.
Harris’s comments in front of thousands of cheering supporters in Philadelphia came after polls showed the vice-president moving slightly ahead of her Republican rival in some national and crucial battleground state polling averages.
“We are the underdogs in this race, but we have the momentum and I know exactly what we are up against,” Harris said. “My promise to you is this: our campaign will reach out to everyone. From red states to blue states. From the heartland to the coasts. We are running a campaign on behalf of all Americans,” she added.
The event on Tuesday in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania captured the sharp shift in the Democrats’ messaging since Harris became the party’s candidate, after President Joe Biden dropped his flagging re-election effort on July 21.
Turning from Biden’s framing of the election as a battle for democracy, Harris and Walz pitched themselves as defenders of personal freedoms, including abortion rights and safety from gun violence.
“Some of us are old enough to remember when it was Republicans who were talking about freedom,” said Walz, who Harris announced as her vice-presidential nominee on Tuesday. “It turns out now what they meant was the government should be free to invade your doctor’s office.”
“In Minnesota . . . there’s a golden rule: mind your own damn business.”
Harris has united the party around her candidacy ahead of the Democratic convention in Chicago later this month, pulling in $200mn in fundraising in the first week of her campaign.
Harris selected Walz, a former football coach and National Guardsman, over Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, and Mark Kelly, the Arizona senator, after interviews at the weekend. Her campaign said she had raised an additional $20mn in the hours since the decision was announced.
Walz is a mainstream Democrat from the Midwest who appeals to both the progressive and moderate wings of the party. But Shapiro and Kelly were considered more centrist candidates, and Walz was immediately attacked by Trump and Republicans as a radical leftist.
Harris defended her pick as a sharp contrast to both Trump and JD Vance, the Ohio senator and the Republican vice-presidential nominee.
“We both believe in lifting people up, not knocking them down. We both know that the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us. And we see in our fellow Americans neighbours, never enemies,” she said.
Harris and Walz did not wade into the thorny economic and foreign policy questions that could dominate the race against Trump, including the slowing US labour market, recent market turmoil and high tensions in the Middle East.
Thousands of fans packed the venue in Philadelphia wearing glowing red, white and blue bracelets and cheered speakers including Shapiro and Pennsylvania senators John Fetterman and Bob Casey. When Harris and Walz took the stage, there was a loud roar.
“Minnesota’s strength comes from our values — our commitment to working together, to seeing past our differences, to lending a helping hand,” Walz said, after thanking Harris for bringing back “joy” to politics.
“Donald Trump — he sees the world differently. He doesn’t know the first thing about service — because he’s too busy serving himself,” he added.
Walz got some of his strongest applause when he spoke about Trump as a convicted criminal, eliciting chants of “lock him up” from the crowd, and when he said he “can’t wait to debate” Vance.
“These guys are creepy and just weird as hell,” Walz said.
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