Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff arrived at Pittsburgh International Airport on Sunday afternoon by Air Force 2. They and their running mate for the 2024 presidential election, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and his wife Gwen planned to depart from here by bus to make at least one campaign stop in Western Pennsylvania on their way to the Democratic National Convention, which begins in Chicago on Monday.
On Thursday, Harris will officially accept her party’s presidential nomination.
According to a press pool report, Emhoff and Harris spoke with Walz and his wife out of earshot of the press after they arrived, then Walz came to do a photo op. He did not respond to a loud question about JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate running with Donald Trump, because of the music.
Senator Bob Casey also stopped by. Harris and her entourage were also greeted by U.S. Representatives Chris Deluzio and Summer Lee, Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato and other elected officials.
The crowd, consisting of invited supporters, shouted to Harris: “We are not going back.”
At 1:46 p.m. the motorcade left in vans accompanied by the press.
According to USA Today White House correspondent Francesca Chambers’ pool report, Harris’ motorcade arrived at the Democrats’ Beaver Field Office in Rochester, Pennsylvania, at 2:25 p.m., accompanied by her supporters holding signs chanting “We are not going back” and “We will not go back.”
Harris spoke to a volunteer at the switchboard and spoke to a person on another volunteer’s cell phone and asked, “How are you? … I love Erie. We’re going to come to Erie someday.”
Harris walked around the table, sat down and continued the conversation. “Tell me about yourself,” she said. “What issues do you want to work on?” Sometimes she would say “mhmm” and “right,” and then she would say, “Well, you know, I started my career at the local level… you’re on the ground, you develop those relationships,” and you have to “respond” to the needs of local people.
At another point, Harris said, “We’re all in the same boat… 79 days, Hannah.”
Walz was on another phone call with Harris across the table and told that person, “She’s sitting right across from me, I’m passing this on.”
After hanging up, Walz said, “What a nice person. She’s excited.”
Emhoff also took a call and spoke to a voter. Gwen Walz was also in the room.
Before Harris’ speech outside the tent, organizers played Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours,” a favorite song from Obama’s campaign.
This story will be updated.
The PUP is the publication of the striking workers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
