The atmosphere was as festive as that of a wedding. The Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, and the Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, had just said “I do” on Tuesday, which made them a political couple for the next three months… or the next four or eight years. And, after the ceremony – the announcement that the Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate had selected the former professor as the number two on her ticket – the celebratory ball: a shower of crowds, a rally in front of more than 14,000 people according to the organizers, given to the duo in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania). To the tune, the campaign slogan: “When we fight, we win!”, the “long live the bride and groom!” of this electoral couple.
The crowd, as varied as it was diverse, had waited for hours to get into the Liacouras Sports Hall at Temple University in Philadelphia. Mothers with teenage children, young African-American women, Latino retirees. All of them carrying signs in blue, red and white with the names of their candidates, and lights on their wrists in the colours of the American flag that lit up more brightly the louder the shouts and applause. A dynamic audience, very different in its energy from that of the much more modestly attended and almost resigned electoral events of President Joe Biden before his resignation.
Adding to the excitement were polls that showed Harris’s campaign had regained popularity over Trump’s, and was now tied or even slightly ahead of its rivals. “We’re not the favorites,” the vice president declared to cheers, “but we have the momentum. And we know exactly who we’re up against.”
“Thank you, Vice President, for bringing joy back to us!” the new vice presidential hopeful began his speech. Walz was enthusiastic: “I couldn’t be more proud to be on this team, and to help make Kamala Harris the new president of the United States!” The governor of Minnesota also showed off his roots in a small town in Nebraska, in the heart of the Midwest, the geographic and sentimental heart of the United States: “I grew up in Butte, a small town of 400 inhabitants where community was a way of life. I grew up working on the family farm. My parents taught us to be generous with neighbors and to work for the common good.”
This public appearance was more about making connections and leaving a good taste in the mouth than about getting into the nitty-gritty of government programs; there are still weeks to go before that happens. And to achieve that, Walz resorted to a trademark combination: very serious content – especially when it came to highlighting the differences between the Democratic candidacy and that of its Republican rivals – peppered with jokes and sarcasm.
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“Make no mistake, under Trump crime has increased… and that’s not counting the crimes he committed,” he said at one point. The former president, the new candidate added, “sees the world a little differently… he doesn’t know anything about public service, he has enough to do serving himself. He’s never had to sit at the kitchen table doing the math, he sits at country clubs watching him cut taxes for his millionaire friends.” And he repeated the phrase that has made him famous: “These people are creepy. They’re weird.”
In her speech, Harris also stressed the image of Walz as an ordinary person, but full of common sense, “a great patriot” and military veteran. When she began her search for number two two weeks ago, she said she wanted someone who would help her unite a polarized country, fight for the middle class and defend rights. “I have found that leader,” she said, when introducing him.
“Coach Walz and I come from different corners of this great country of ours, but our values are the same,” he said. “We both believe in lifting people up, not tearing them down.”
If it was important to convey a positive and optimistic image of themselves and their political marriage at this rally, it was also important to send a message of unity, on two levels. On the one hand, towards a polarized country. “Our campaign will go to everyone. To the Democratic states and to the Republican ones. To the coasts and to the interior. Our campaign represents all Americans,” Harris pointed out. On the other hand, in an internal key to the party, after an express process of selecting a running mate — in two weeks since Harris assumed the Democratic nomination, instead of the usual period of several months in normal electoral processes — and in which each faction of the party had wanted to place its favorite.
The big loser in that process has been Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, 51, considered one of the party’s great rising stars. The former attorney general of his state, who had been the front-runner in the polls, was dropped at the last minute in favour of Walz, who was absent from any list until two weeks ago.
“Pennsylvania, how lucky you are to have this governor,” the former professor said in his speech about the other finalist. Shapiro had preceded them at the rally with an evocative presentation of Barack Obama’s rhetoric in which he praised “my friend Kamala Harris, whom I have known for more than two decades” (both were attorneys general of their respective states) and “a great man and a good friend,” Tim Walz, “whom we thank for choosing our city of Philadelphia to see the birth” of their joint campaign.
Harris had selected the Minnesota governor and former congressman because of her chemistry with him, at least in part. But also because they have a complementary relationship. She, the daughter of academics, half black and half Indian, raised in progressive California and with limited experience in the halls of the Capitol. He, from the rural world in deep America, with a very varied life story and the appearance of a joker grandfather.
He was drawn to his sterling reputation in Congress, where he served for 12 years, his record of accomplishments and his ability to build bridges. But also to his image as an ordinary person — he is a former high school teacher and coach of the school’s American football team — and to his ability to communicate, with a simple speech that uses humor to shoot the bullet. The “they are weirdos” that he improvised in a television interview two weeks ago to describe the Republican candidates and that has become a Democratic meme was a recurring phrase among the entire Democratic political hierarchy of Pennsylvania that was the opening act at the rally.

Walz’s selection has been received, at least publicly, with satisfaction in the Democratic ranks, who have unanimously praised the appointment. Social media was also overflowing with praise from rank-and-file party supporters for their new representative, at a sweet moment for the campaign: after months of trailing behind Donald Trump.
After celebrating their electoral wedding in Philadelphia, the political couple of the moment will complete a tour of the swing states in the next four days, which will decide the result of the elections on November 5: in addition to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. A stop in North Carolina on Thursday has been postponed due to the proximity of the aftershocks of Hurricane Debby.
With this, the duo seeks to consolidate the energy generated by Harris’ candidacy and win votes among the undecided, an increasingly smaller group, before the Chicago Convention that the Democratic Party will open on August 19. From there, it will be up to the voters to decide whether the honeymoon between the Democratic couple and their electorate continues.
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