Kamala Harris introduces VP pick Tim Walz, teases platform to roaring approval from Philly crowd
CBC
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her newly chosen running mate, Tim Walz, took the stage to a roaring crowd at their first ever rally together in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening.
Harris, the U.S. vice-president to President Joe Biden, who became the Democratic candidate after Biden dropped out of the race, announced earlier on Tuesday that she had picked Walz and said in a post on social media that he has "delivered for working families" as a governor of Minnesota, coach, teacher and veteran.
Walz called it "the honour of a lifetime" to be Harris's vice-presidential pick.
In choosing the 60-year-old Walz, Harris is elevating a Midwestern governor, military veteran and union supporter who helped enact an ambitious Democratic agenda for his state, including sweeping protections for abortion rights and generous aid to families.
It was her biggest decision yet as the Democratic nominee, and she went with a broadly palatable choice — someone who deflects dark and foreboding rhetoric from Republicans with a lighter touch, a strategy that the campaign has been increasingly turning to since Harris took over the top spot.
Harris stood in front of an electric crowd and declared her party has finished voting and she is now officially the democratic nominee for the President of the United States.
"So now we have some work to do," said Harris. "We have to move to the general election and win that."
She told the crowd she and Walz are the underdogs but they have the momentum and drive to win.
"This campaign, our campaign, is not just a fight against Donald Trump. Our campaign, this campaign, is a fight for the future," declared Harris.
Harris said the Democrats will focus on affordable child care, paid maternity leave and building a broad-based economy where every American can afford a home.
She said she and Walz will restore reproductive freedom, lower the cost of living for families and bring in universal background checks for gun owners and a ban on assault weapons.
She called Walz "a fighter for the middle class. A patriot who believes, as I do, in the extraordinary promise of America. A promise of freedom, opportunity and justice, not just for some, but for all."
Walz was a congressman in Minnesota for 12 years. Before that he served in the Army National Guard for 24 years. Harris praised his career as a teacher and football coach and his commitment to family as a loving husband and father to two children.
Harris said she and Walz both grew up in working class families, she in Oakland, Calif., Walz in small-town Nebraska.
