Harris Heads to Michigan With Walz in Bid to Court Union Vote
(Bloomberg) -- Vice President Kamala Harris is stepping up her efforts to bring rank-and-file union members in swing states back to the Democratic fold — this time with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in tow.
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The new Democratic ticket will hold rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan on Wednesday, with United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain expected to join them at a stop in Detroit, according to the campaign. Fain’s appearance comes a week after the union, which had backed President Joe Biden before he ended his reelection bid, threw their support behind Harris.
The stops are the latest on a planned five-state blitz of battleground states that launched Tuesday with a kickoff rally in Philadelphia, where Harris and Walz took the stage together for the first time as running mates.
The swing aims to supercharge Harris’ campaign and capitalize on its momentum. Harris has erased Republican Donald Trump’s polling lead and gained an edge in the money race, putting the former president on the backfoot.
The visits to Eau Claire, Wisconsin and Detroit will be followed by stops this week in Phoenix and Las Vegas.
The states Harris and Walz are visiting Wednesday, along with Pennsylvania, comprise the so-called Democratic Blue Wall, critical to the party’s hopes of retaining the White House. While Harris has the backing of many organized labor leaders, Democratic support among the rank-and-file has been softer.
The party is eying Walz to change that dynamic, betting that a Midwest governor who is a favorite of progressives and unions can help tip industrial states into their column by winning over blue-collar votes.
Fight For Middle Class
The governor is unknown to many Americans outside of his home state. At Tuesday’s rally, Harris introduced her vice presidential pick, playing up his biography as a military veteran, school teacher and football coach, and casting him as a “fighter for the middle class.”
Walz, who gained attention for deriding Trump, his running mate Senator JD Vance of Ohio, and the policies they espouse as “weird,” demonstrated that he would be willing to press the attack. At the rally, he assailed the Republican ticket, saying Trump would be disastrous for middle-class families if returned to power.
“Donald Trump’s not fighting for you or your family. He never sat at that kitchen table, like the one I grew up at, wondering how we were going to pay the bills. He sat at his country club in Mar-a-Lago wondering how he can cut taxes for his rich friends,” Walz said.
And he previewed a sharper — and even cruder — line of attack on Republicans, signaling a break from the Biden campaign’s approach that focused on broad appeals to democratic norms.
“I can’t wait to debate the guy,” Walz said of Vance, his counterpart on the GOP ticket. “That is if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up.”
Walz will be scrutinized in relation to Vance, whose own entry to the race has been rocky. Vance has been criticized for past comments about people without children and Trump has downplayed the significance of his pick, saying vice presidential candidates don’t matter.
Harris’ campaigning comes with Trump largely off the trail this week — with his next rally Friday in Montana, a state with a competitive Senate race but solidly in the Republican presidential column.
Energized Democrats
Harris reinvigorated Democrats and Walz’s selection also saw signs of the party quickly coalescing behind the ticket. Walz earned praise from progressive icons such as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York as well as the centrist Democrat-turned-independent senator from West Virginia, Joe Manchin.
The Harris campaign said they had raised more than $20 million since the Walz announcement, which they hailed as one of their best fundraising days. Their operation also has nearly 400 staff across almost 100 field offices in Michigan and Wisconsin, according to the campaign.
The campaign sought to convey an image of party unity at Tuesday’s event — where Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a finalist for the running-mate slot, spoke ahead of Walz and Harris.
On Wednesday, the two will be joined by Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers and US Senator Tammy Baldwin in Eau Claire, and a number of US House members, as well as Senator Debbie Stabenow and Governor Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan, according to the campaign.
Harris’ rallies since Biden’s exit from the race have been overflowing with signs of Democratic fervor, as a party worried about their sitting president’s prospects for reelection have embraced her ascent to the top of the ticket. The vice president has sought to bring star power to her events, with local DJ Diamond Kuts performing in Philadelphia.
A rally last week in Atlanta featured rappers Megan Thee Stallion and Quavo. Bon Iver is expected at Wednesday’s Wisconsin event.
--With assistance from María Paula Mijares Torres and Akayla Gardner.
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