The top U.S. presidential campaigns are focusing their efforts this week on events in several key states that will play a big role in determining who wins the November election.
Fresh off naming Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris is traveling Wednesday to Wisconsin and Michigan, with other stops this week planned for Arizona and Nevada.
Senator JD Vance, the running mate of former President Donald Trump, is holding his own events Wednesday in Wisconsin and Michigan. Events in North Carolina set for later this week were postponed due to a tropical weather system moving through that area.
After announcing her choice Tuesday morning, Harris praised Walz at a rally later in Pennsylvania to kick off their campaign together.
“I set out to find a partner who can help build this brighter future, a leader that will help unite our nation and move us forward,” Harris said.
Progressives had been rallying around the 60-year-old Walz, who championed policies to their liking as governor of Minnesota. The former U.S. Army National Guard member and teacher is also seen as appealing to rural, white voters.
“Walz is a phenomenal pick, who will energize voters across the Midwest in must-win states like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania,” Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky told VOA.
In Walz, Democrats found a liberal who won rural conservative districts of Minnesota, who owns a gun, has military experience and was born in Nebraska, said Jennifer Lawless, professor of politics at the University of Virginia.
Walz is a “a pretty safe pick, but certainly not boring,” Lawless told VOA.
“He’s somebody who understands Middle America and holds these progressive policies not because he's out of touch, but because he believes that this is the best way to move the country forward,” she added.
An additional bonus: Walz is respected by unions, a strong point as Trump tries to make inroads with labor.
‘Incompetent liberal’
Even before the Harris campaign formally announced Walz as her VP pick, the Trump campaign released a statement calling him an “incompetent liberal.”
“It’s no surprise that San Francisco Liberal Kamala Harris wants West Coast wannabe Tim Walz as her running-mate,” Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “Walz is obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and wide.”
A close contender for Harris’ VP pick was Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democratic rising star with strong approval ratings in a state key to electoral victory.
“Over the next 90 days, I look forward to traveling all across the Commonwealth to unite Pennsylvanians behind my friends Kamala Harris and Tim Walz and defeat Donald Trump,” Shapiro posted on social media following the announcement.
Other figures considered by Harris included Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Trump named Vance as his running mate during the Republican Party’s nominating convention last month. Walz recently raised his profile as an effective attack dog against the Republican ticket, calling them “weird.”
“It just highlights how radical Kamala Harris is,” Vance said Tuesday about Walz. “This is a person who listened to the Hamas wing of her own party in selecting a nominee.”
Harris quickly emerged as the Democratic candidate late last month after President Joe Biden announced he would no longer seek another term in office.
Biden’s poll numbers sank following a poor performance in a debate against Trump in late June, which prompted calls for him to exit the race.
Chris Hannas contributed to this report. Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press and Reuters
