LAS-VEGAS– Large crowds, obligatory applause, tears of joy – and some unsolicited counter-programs from the Republicans.
These themes were common during the first major campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, as the new Democratic slate toured five swing states last week on a “familiarization tour.”
The campaign kicked off on Tuesday with a loud rally in Philadelphia, just hours after Harris announced Walz as her running mate. From there, the campaign continued through Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada. Planned stops in Georgia and North Carolina were flooded by Tropical Storm Debby.
The tour was designed to help both candidates introduce themselves to voters, especially independent and undecided voters in states where Democrats are running neck and neck against Republican candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance.
For Harris and Walz, it was also an opportunity to get to know each other better.
A look back at the election campaign momentum:
Thousands of people flocked to Harris’ campaign rallies, a sign that her breakthrough candidacy has generated new momentum among Democrats who were unenthusiastic about President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign. Harris is the first Black woman and first person of Asian descent to be nominated as a presidential candidate by a major political party.
The campaign said 12,000 people attended rallies in Philadelphia and Eau Claire, Wisconsin. In the Detroit area and in Glendale, Arizona, 15,000 people attended. In Las Vegas, more than 12,000 people were inside a college arena on Saturday when authorities stopped admissions because people were getting sick waiting outside for security in 100-degree heat. About 4,000 people were still in line when the entrances were closed, the campaign said.
For Lance Jones, a Tucson native who attended the Arizona rally, it felt like “the tide had turned with Harris and Walz.” He predicted his state “is basically going to go from red to purple to blue.”
This large crowd angered Trump, who regularly draws thousands to his own rallies.
“Oh, leave me alone,” he said at a press conference when asked about Harris. “Nobody had as many viewers as I did.”
Not only were Republicans active from afar, Vance also sought to shadow his Democratic rivals during the first days of their campaign tours, appearing in Philadelphia and Detroit hours before the Democrats arrived in those cities.
But after Harris and Vance landed in Eau Claire at about the same time on Wednesday, the Republican got off his plane and headed toward Air Force Two.
Vance later joked about the outrageous action, saying he was having “a little fun” trying out “my future airplane.” Air Force Two would become his primary mode of travel if he and Trump are elected in November.
Harris and Walz gave essentially the same speeches at each rally—with plenty of personal biographies—but each time they tailored their remarks to the audience and state.
Harris added lines about fighting for working people and the benefits of organized unions to her remarks in Michigan. In Arizona and Nevada, where immigration is a major problem, she drew on her experience as a prosecutor to tell the crowd that as California’s attorney general, she had gone after transnational gangs, drug cartels and smugglers.
“I prosecuted them one case after another and won,” Harris said.
In Las Vegas, where the economy depends heavily on the restaurant industry, she pledged to work to eliminate the federal tax on tips for restaurant and other service workers. Trump, who floated the same idea a few months ago, posted on social media that she was a “copycat.”
Harris concluded her rallies by asking people what kind of country they want to live in. She then called them to action, declaring, “When we fight, we win.”
Walz, who is largely unknown outside the Midwest, detailed his personal story from his service in the Army National Guard and his years as a high school teacher and football coach, as a congressman and governor. In a campaign focused in part on restoring reproductive rights, he recounts how he and his wife, Gwen, endured years of in vitro fertilization treatments before their daughter, Hope, was born.
Every candidate has sayings that heat up the crowd
– “Listen to me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type,” says Harris, describing the type of people she took on as a prosecutor.
– “Even if we wouldn’t make the same decision for ourselves, there is one golden rule: Mind your own business,” Walz says, explaining what he believes is the Midwestern approach to private, personal decisions like the question of abortion.
– “We sleep when we are dead,” says Walz, urging the audience to give their all in the remaining days of the election campaign.
Walz introduced both words into the campaign. Even before he joined the Democrats, his description of Trump and Vance and their policies as “weird” had caused a stir. Harris herself used this description a few times.
As Walz says, “Nobody is asking for this weird crap.”
Walz also credited Harris for “bringing joy back into politics,” and Harris herself described the Democratic slate of candidates as “joyful warriors.”
At several stops, the crowd began chanting anti-Trump slogans such as “Lock him up” – a reference to the chants Trump’s campaign crowd directed against Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Harris is ready with a comeback to move things forward. “Wait a minute. That’s for the courts to decide. We’re going to beat him in November,” she says.
She also had a response to the disruptions caused by demonstrators angry that the government was not doing more to protect Palestinians in Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
She told them in Arizona, “I respect your opinion, but we are here now to talk about this race in 2024.”
At each stop, Walz reminded people of the countdown to Election Day on November 5.
On Friday in Phoenix, everything must have been a blur: He had made a mistake by one day when he set the countdown at 87 days instead of 88.
He is not the only one who counts.
A group of Girl Scouts greeted the vice president at the Wisconsin airport on Wednesday, 90 days before the election. Snippets of conversation overheard by reporters suggested they may have been discussing their summer plans.
Harris was heard replying: “I plan to go somewhere in 90 days.”
Harris made one final stop on Sunday – San Francisco – before returning to Washington to raise campaign funds for the upcoming election campaign.
House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi (D-California) joined Harris at the event, which the campaign said was expected to draw 700 people and has already raised more than $12 million.
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Associated Press writer Gabriel Sandoval in Glendale, Arizona, contributed to this report.
