The Harris campaign is continuing a strong fundraising wave after the vice president picked Walz as her running mate. The campaign said Wednesday that it has raised $36 million in the first 24 hours after the formal vice president candidate announcement.
Quick Read
- Harris campaign has raised $36 million since Walz announcement:
- The Harris campaign announced it has raised $36 million in the first 24 hours after Vice President Kamala Harris picked Tim Walz as her running mate.
- Harris-Walz vs. Trump-Vance: Expanded battle for Sun Belt and Rust Belt:
- The Harris-Walz ticket is focusing on “Blue Wall” states (Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania) and Sun Belt states (Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina), with both regions crucial for winning the White House.
- An underappreciated jump-start for Walz:
- Tim Walz gained attention from a Planned Parenthood visit with Harris and a viral comment on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” calling Trump and Vance “weird.”
- Gov. Walz emphasizes community at Wisconsin event:
- At an outdoor event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Walz stressed the importance of community and helping neighbors, especially during a moment when an attendee needed medical assistance.
- Harris focuses on ‘freedom’ theme in campaign:
- Harris highlighted the theme of “freedom,” emphasizing issues like LGBTQ+ rights and women’s reproductive rights during her speech in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
- Harris shuts down chants of ‘lock him up’:
- During recent events, Harris has tried to stop chants of “Lock him up” about Trump, encouraging supporters to let the courts handle it and focus on winning the election.
- Harris takes the stage in Eau Claire with high energy:
- Harris joined Walz on stage in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, thanking the opening band Bon Iver and leading the crowd in chants of “Thank you, Joe!” for President Biden.
- Walz campaigns in Wisconsin with a focus on Midwestern ties:
- Walz, campaigning in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, emphasized his Midwestern roots and connection to the region, important for winning key counties.
- Walz visits Harris campaign HQ, brings pep rally energy:
- Walz visited the Harris campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, with a high-energy atmosphere likened to a high school pep rally.
- Rally attendees appreciate Harris’ message on women’s rights:
- Attendees at the Eau Claire rally, like Chloe Longmire and Andrea Lorenz, expressed support for Harris’ focus on women’s rights and education, seeing her as a strong messenger for the campaign.
The Associated Press has the story:
Harris campaign has raised $36 million since Walz announcement
Newslooks- (AP)
The Harris campaign is continuing a strong fundraising wave after the vice president picked Walz as her running mate. The campaign said Wednesday that it has raised $36 million in the first 24 hours after the formal vice president candidate announcement.
Harris-Walz vs. Trump-Vance: It’s now an expanded battle for both the Sun Belt and Rust Belt
The most turbulent presidential campaign in generations is now set to play out as a 90-day sprint across two fronts: the Rust Belt and the Sun Belt. With her choice of a Midwestern governor as a running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris pushed to shore up “Blue Wall” states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — that Democrats need to win to keep the White House.
Harris, the first Black woman and woman of South Asian descent to head a major party ticket, and former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, will also be locked in Sun Belt competition to win Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina, an electoral map that has expanded since Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race.
An underappreciated jump-start for Walz
Tim Walz had two jump starts, the first largely unnoticed, the second underappreciated. The first came earlier this year when the governor and the vice president visited a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Paul. That visit underscored shared values between the two, according to people familiar with Harris’ thinking. Key issues that resonated with Harris included Walz’s advocacy for in vitro fertilization and child tax credits — an idea Walz has used in Minnesota. The next key moment came July 23, two days after Biden’s withdrawal, when Walz went on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and uttered a dig at Trump and Vance that quickly went viral. “These guys are just weird,” Walz said, in his signature conversational, informal manner.
For years, Democrats, including Biden and Harris, have leveled high-minded attacks on Trump as a threat to democracy. They spotlighted his legal troubles, racist and sexist rhetoric, the hard-right policies found in the “Project 2025” agenda that Trump disavows. The jovial governor of Minnesota encapsulated it all in one word: “weird.” And he smiled while doing it. Social media did its thing, and the Harris campaign took notice. Within days, the vice president — and other vice-presidential contenders — were using “weird” like an epithet.
‘Take care of one another’ Gov. Walz is known for speaking regularly about the importance of “community.” Only today, he did it before a crowd of thousands at the outdoor event he and Vice President Harris headlined in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
In the direct summer sun, a member of the crowd seemed to succumb to the heat. “We have someone down. They are treating him. They’re getting him some water, and it’s good,” Walz told the audience. “Take care of your neighbors.”
Advising others to take a drink, Walz told those attending to the audience member, “Thank you all for helping.” “Take care of one another,” he went on to say more broadly. “This idea of caring for a neighbor, a kindness, a hand up when somebody needs it,” he said. “That’s who we are.”
Harris hones in on ‘freedom’
Harris leaned into the theme of her campaign, “freedom,” elevating her voice in a new way as she becomes more comfortable delivering it. Especially emphatic in the outdoor event in Eau Claire, Harris called for “Freedom of who you love openly with pride.”
But in particular, and with cheers rising up to meet her voice, Harris intoned robustly, “Freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body!” “Do we believe in freedom? Do we believe in opportunity? Do we believe in America?” Harris shouted in closing. “And are we ready to fight for it?” Harris left the stage to the sounds of her new campaign anthem, “Freedom,” by Beyoncé.
Harris shuts down chants of ‘lock him up’
Harris has during recent events tried to tamp down the chants of “Lock him up. Lock him up,” a mantra crowds have appropriated from similar chants that Trump campaign audiences in 2016 used in reference to Democrat Hillary Clinton. Harris motioned with her hands in Philadelphia on Tuesday to avoid the chants. Today, she had a new comeback for the group, as she referred to herself and Walz as “joyful warriors.” When crowds chanted to put Trump in jail, she said, “Hold on. Let the courts take care of that. We’re going to beat him in November,” igniting cheers.
Harris takes the stage in Eau Claire
Greeting in a high-five hand clasp with Tim Walz, Kamala Harris joined her new running mate at the outdoor rally in Eau Claire. “Give it up for Wisconsin’s own Bon Iver,” she said, thanking the opening band, which was founded in the northwest Wisconsin city. And asking for a round of applause for Biden, the crowd of thousands at the Eau Claire Event District began chanting, “Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe!”
Walz takes the stage in Eau Claire
Walz is taking the stage to Bruce Sringsteen’s “Born to Run,” at a campaign rally in his neighboring state of Wisconsin, and he’s offering a bit of Midwestern kinship.
“Hello, Eau Claire. Isn’t it nice to have a candidate who can pronounce the name correctly?” Walz said. Walz is a former south central Minnesota U.S. House member and is appearing with Harris in the city of Eau Claire, which is a key target for the Democratic ticket and just a little more than 80 miles from his home in St. Paul.
President Joe Biden won the county by 11 percentage points — more than 6,000 votes — in 2020, carrying the entire state by fewer than 21,000 votes. Walz’s place on the ticket would seem to help boost support in other western Wisconsin counties, such as LaCrosse, another reliably Democratic county bordering Minnesota.
‘It’s Friday night lights’
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz stopped by the Harris campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware, and the mood was akin to a high school pep rally with chants of “Let’s go coach.” In a video posted by the campaign, Walz said, “We’re doing it. It’s on,” and, “It’s Friday night lights.”
Walz was a high school teacher and was on the coaching staff for the football team before entering politics, with Mankato West High School winning a state championship in 1999. Many high schools play their varsity football games on Friday evenings, with the term “Friday Night Lights” referencing to a book about Texas football by the journalist Buzz Bissinger that became a movie and TV show.
Rally attendees say Harris’ message of rights is important for women and daughters
Chloe Longmire, who attended Wednesday’s rally in Eau Claire said that she is encouraged and excited that Harris has the potential to be the first Black female president. “She’s trying to create a world where people all have their rights to their own decisions, their bodies, their choices. Women’s rights,” are definitely crucial, she told AP. “Definitely something that I look for as a woman, as a woman who has a daughter, I want her to be able to have a right to her own body. We talk about it every day, all the time. And that’s something that’s central for me.”
Andrea Lorenz noted that her teenage kids are now more interested than ever in the election. “I have two teenage kids, one, a daughter who all of a sudden wasn’t excited about the election. And now. And now she is,” she said, adding “I love what, what she’s talking about with education and abortion rights.” Wisconsin voter Dan Miller said he liked the tone and message of the Harris and Walz ticket.
“I love Tim Walz saying, you know, yeah, we’re the monsters. You know, look at us. You know, we want. We want to feed children. We want to educate everybody. We want women to have a choice versus, you know, having the government make their choices for them,” he said. “It’s the tone that they use. It’s the messaging itself. It’s just so much better. We love Joe. Joe has been an incredible president, but he just isn’t the same messenger. And sometimes you need a better messenger. And that’s Kamala.”
