Harris for President
TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Harris for President Battleground States Director Dan Kanninen
DATE: August 3, 2024
SUBJECT: Turning Enthusiasm into Action for Kamala Harris
When Vice President Kamala Harris launched her campaign for President just shy of two weeks ago, she ignited a historic groundswell of grassroots enthusiasm and support from across the country. Now, it is the task of the Harris campaign to turn the unprecedented energy behind the Vice President into action, and we’re off to a running start. Last weekend, we mobilized the campaign’s biggest organizing push yet across the battleground states to talk directly to the voters who will decide this election. And, we didn’t stop there. The momentum continued this week. We saw over 1,000 Georgia volunteers sign up to get involved with the campaign at the Vice President’s rally in Atlanta.
All together, in the last 12 days alone, volunteers have placed 2.3 million phone calls, knocked 172,000 doors, and sent nearly 2.9 million text messages to voters in battleground states. On Friday, we announced the best grassroots fundraising month in presidential history. Whether it’s through small dollar donations or volunteering on the ground, we are transforming the historic enthusiasm for the Vice President into historic levels of voter contact.
We have an army of volunteers spreading our message - and voters are showing up to campaign events in record numbers to learn more.
Voters are eager to show up to campaign events and volunteers are even more eager to tell them all about the Vice President. Critically, enthusiasm for the Vice President’s candidacy is also driving new supporters to volunteer and attend events. Since the Vice President launched her campaign:
Our grassroots engagement is proving that Kamala Harris is strong in both the Sunbelt and the Blue Wall - with multiple pathways to 270.
Immediately following Vice President Harris’ entrance into the race, we said that the Vice President would bring together a coalition of voters to keep a wide set of states in play. Well, the grassroots data confirms it – we’re seeing strong enthusiasm across the battlegrounds, both in the Blue Wall states and in the Sunbelt. We are turning that enthusiasm into action - signing up tens of thousands of volunteers, knocking on over 100,000 doors and training scores of new supporters. A few facts and figures here:
Kamala Harris has strong support and enthusiasm from the diverse coalition of voters that sent her and President Biden to the White House in 2020.
When you break down the data behind Team Harris’ grassroots machine it’s clear — our winning coalition from 2020 is energized. Since the Vice President launched her campaign, we’ve seen historic enthusiasm from key parts of the Democratic base: Black voters, Latino voters, AANHPI voters, women, and young voters. This enthusiasm is translating into action through largely organic coalition organizing calls that have mobilized hundreds of thousands of voters and volunteers - and resulted in powerful small-dollar donations.
Small dollar donors are powering this campaign.
Vice President Harris has a history of driving grassroots enthusiasm – in 2020 the Biden-Harris campaign had its best 24 hours of grassroots fundraising of the entire race following then Vice President Biden’s selection of Harris as his running mate. That formidable power has exponentially intensified in the time since.
The launch of Vice President Harris’ campaign spurred the best grassroots fundraising month in presidential history – some key nuggets about the record-shattering haul:
While Team Harris is barnstorming, the Trump campaign is struggling to keep up.
Team Harris was able to capitalize on this unprecedented enthusiasm because we already had a strong infrastructure in the states. We currently have more than 260 coordinated campaign offices and more than 1,400 coordinated staff across the battleground states that are making investments in training and reaching supporters across the country with new organizing tactics. This strong existing infrastructure has been put to the test over the last 12 days, and delivered — mobilizing the surge of enthusiasm into action. In the next two weeks, we will also add 150 more staff to the Blue Wall and more than double our staff in Arizona and North Carolina to ensure we continue to capitalize and drive the enormous enthusiasm for the Vice President.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump is running a flailing campaign with no vision for the future, his brand new running mate is depressing Republican enthusiasm, and with only three months until Election Day, his campaign still lags far behind in the infrastructure needed to win in key battleground states. For example, in Nevada, Team Harris has 13 offices, while Trump has just one. In Pennsylvania, we have 36 coordinated offices while Trump has just 3. In Georgia, we have 24 offices while the Trump team didn’t open their first until June.
Over the next several weeks, Vice President Harris will continue to build on the momentum, and draw the contrast with Trump’s divisive and unpopular agenda - taking her case directly to the American people, starting with a tour across the battleground states with her new VP pick before heading to Chicago later this month to officially accept the party’s nomination from Democrats from around the country.
The bottom line: There is no question that this is going to be a close race and Vice President Harris starts as the underdog, but Team Harris is harnessing the surging grassroots energy to register, persuade, mobilize, and turn out voters to win in November - and we have a clear plan to build on this momentum over the coming weeks.
Harris for President
TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Harris for President Battleground States Director Dan Kanninen
DATE: August 3, 2024
SUBJECT: Turning Enthusiasm into Action for Kamala Harris
When Vice President Kamala Harris launched her campaign for President just shy of two weeks ago, she ignited a historic groundswell of grassroots enthusiasm and support from across the country. Now, it is the task of the Harris campaign to turn the unprecedented energy behind the Vice President into action, and we’re off to a running start. Last weekend, we mobilized the campaign’s biggest organizing push yet across the battleground states to talk directly to the voters who will decide this election. And, we didn’t stop there. The momentum continued this week. We saw over 1,000 Georgia volunteers sign up to get involved with the campaign at the Vice President’s rally in Atlanta.
All together, in the last 12 days alone, volunteers have placed 2.3 million phone calls, knocked 172,000 doors, and sent nearly 2.9 million text messages to voters in battleground states. On Friday, we announced the best grassroots fundraising month in presidential history. Whether it’s through small dollar donations or volunteering on the ground, we are transforming the historic enthusiasm for the Vice President into historic levels of voter contact.
We have an army of volunteers spreading our message - and voters are showing up to campaign events in record numbers to learn more.
Voters are eager to show up to campaign events and volunteers are even more eager to tell them all about the Vice President. Critically, enthusiasm for the Vice President’s candidacy is also driving new supporters to volunteer and attend events. Since the Vice President launched her campaign:
- 1.3 million voters signed up for campaign events across the country, including 750,000 new supporters who are signing up for events for the first time this cycle
- 420,000 voters already attended campaign events, including over 134,000 attendees to the National Organizing Call with the Vice President.
- 200,000 volunteers joined the campaign and signed up for 29,000 canvass shifts and 197,000 phone banking shifts.
- All in all, over 350,000 supporters attended their first phone bank, rally, or other campaign event—an over 350% increase in event attendees.
Our grassroots engagement is proving that Kamala Harris is strong in both the Sunbelt and the Blue Wall - with multiple pathways to 270.
Immediately following Vice President Harris’ entrance into the race, we said that the Vice President would bring together a coalition of voters to keep a wide set of states in play. Well, the grassroots data confirms it – we’re seeing strong enthusiasm across the battlegrounds, both in the Blue Wall states and in the Sunbelt. We are turning that enthusiasm into action - signing up tens of thousands of volunteers, knocking on over 100,000 doors and training scores of new supporters. A few facts and figures here:
- In battleground states, we have over 62,000 volunteer shift sign-ups — 23,500 in Blue Wall states and 23,000 in the Sunbelt – many of which came after the Vice President’s entrance into the race.
- Almost half of these volunteer shifts, both in the Blue Wall states and the Sunbelt, are coming from first-time volunteers.
- In the Blue Wall States alone, over 100,000 voters have signed up to attend events and volunteers have already knocked over 100,000 doors.
- And in Sunbelt states like Georgia and North Carolina, tens of thousands of supporters are signing up for events – in the last 12 days, Team Harris has seen over 63,000 sign-ups in Georgia and nearly 40,000 in North Carolina.
Kamala Harris has strong support and enthusiasm from the diverse coalition of voters that sent her and President Biden to the White House in 2020.
When you break down the data behind Team Harris’ grassroots machine it’s clear — our winning coalition from 2020 is energized. Since the Vice President launched her campaign, we’ve seen historic enthusiasm from key parts of the Democratic base: Black voters, Latino voters, AANHPI voters, women, and young voters. This enthusiasm is translating into action through largely organic coalition organizing calls that have mobilized hundreds of thousands of voters and volunteers - and resulted in powerful small-dollar donations.
- Team Harris’ Women for Harris National Organizing Call had over 151,000 attendees and 60% of all donors in July were women.
- Compared to our June fundraising haul, we saw more than 10x the number of Gen Z donors, and more than 8x the number of Millennial donors in July.
- Coalition groups that organized calls since launch – like Black Women for Harris and Latinas for Harris – raised more than $20 million.
- Team Harris raised over half a million dollars from AANHPI donors in the week after the vice president became the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Small dollar donors are powering this campaign.
Vice President Harris has a history of driving grassroots enthusiasm – in 2020 the Biden-Harris campaign had its best 24 hours of grassroots fundraising of the entire race following then Vice President Biden’s selection of Harris as his running mate. That formidable power has exponentially intensified in the time since.
The launch of Vice President Harris’ campaign spurred the best grassroots fundraising month in presidential history – some key nuggets about the record-shattering haul:
- Team Harris raised more than $310 million in July with $200 million of that raise alone coming in during the first week of Vice President Harris’ candidacy.
- Team Harris raised more across grassroots channels in the four days following President Biden’s endorsement of Vice President Harris than Trump’s operation raised in the entire month.
- More than 3 million donors contributed to the campaign in July, two-thirds of them first time donors.
While Team Harris is barnstorming, the Trump campaign is struggling to keep up.
Team Harris was able to capitalize on this unprecedented enthusiasm because we already had a strong infrastructure in the states. We currently have more than 260 coordinated campaign offices and more than 1,400 coordinated staff across the battleground states that are making investments in training and reaching supporters across the country with new organizing tactics. This strong existing infrastructure has been put to the test over the last 12 days, and delivered — mobilizing the surge of enthusiasm into action. In the next two weeks, we will also add 150 more staff to the Blue Wall and more than double our staff in Arizona and North Carolina to ensure we continue to capitalize and drive the enormous enthusiasm for the Vice President.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump is running a flailing campaign with no vision for the future, his brand new running mate is depressing Republican enthusiasm, and with only three months until Election Day, his campaign still lags far behind in the infrastructure needed to win in key battleground states. For example, in Nevada, Team Harris has 13 offices, while Trump has just one. In Pennsylvania, we have 36 coordinated offices while Trump has just 3. In Georgia, we have 24 offices while the Trump team didn’t open their first until June.
Over the next several weeks, Vice President Harris will continue to build on the momentum, and draw the contrast with Trump’s divisive and unpopular agenda - taking her case directly to the American people, starting with a tour across the battleground states with her new VP pick before heading to Chicago later this month to officially accept the party’s nomination from Democrats from around the country.
The bottom line: There is no question that this is going to be a close race and Vice President Harris starts as the underdog, but Team Harris is harnessing the surging grassroots energy to register, persuade, mobilize, and turn out voters to win in November - and we have a clear plan to build on this momentum over the coming weeks.
Harris for President
To: Interested Parties
From: Dan Kanninen, Battleground States Director for Harris-Walz 2024
Date: August 7, 2024
Subject: Harris-Walz Momentum in the Blue Wall States
Today, Vice President Harris and Governor Tim Walz will continue their tour of the battlegrounds. After rallying voters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, they are heading to the other Blue Wall states for rallies in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and Detroit, Michigan before heading to the Southwest. This will be Vice President Harris’ sixth visit to Wisconsin this year and her fifth trip to Michigan.
Vice President Kamala Harris is no stranger to Western Wisconsin – earlier this year, she came to La Crosse to highlight the threat Donald Trump poses to reproductive rights. And she has been to Detroit repeatedly as Vice President.
Voters across the Blue Wall and the country will soon be familiar with Governor Tim Walz as well. As a governor, congressman, football coach, veteran, and high school teacher, Walz has championed working families his entire life – he worked to cut taxes for working families, lower the cost of insulin, and protect women’s right to choose. He represented a Republican district in southern Minnesota for 6 terms in Congress, one of only two Democrats who have won there in over 100 years. He is a historically popular leader who consistently outperformed national Democrats in his House district, including in counties that have supported Trump, offering a blueprint for how to cut margins in rural areas across the country. In Wisconsin specifically, many voters we need to reach already know him, since roughly 400,000 Wisconsinites see him every day on local television coming in from Minnesota.
The visit comes on the heels of key endorsements from elected officials and critical labor unions, including the UAW, and after recent polling has shown Vice President Harris’ strength across the Blue Wall and the core battlegrounds that will decide this election.
While the Harris-Walz campaign has built winning campaign infrastructure, Donald Trump and the least popular VP pick of all time are playing catchup, while campaigning on a toxic Project 2025 agenda to slash workers' rights, ban abortion nationwide, and raise costs on families – putting them far out-of-step with voters in the Midwest and across the country.
Tomorrow, the Harris-Walz campaign will head to the Southwest battlegrounds of Nevada and Arizona, and we’ll share additional analysis of the momentum these states are seeing on the ground and their critical role in our multiple paths to victory.
We’ve built a massive ground game advantage in the Blue Wall
Team Harris-Walz have more than 600 coordinated staff on the ground in the Blue Wall and we’ll be adding another 150 staffers to these three states in the first two weeks of August.
In Wisconsin, we have the most formidable door knocking operation the state has ever seen, with 48 coordinated offices across 43 counties, including 32 in counties that Trump won in 2020 – 13 of which he won by more than 20 points. We have more than 160 full-time coordinated staffers on the ground knocking doors, making phone calls, and engaging their friends and neighbors to support Kamala Harris and Democrats up and down the ticket – including making nearly 200,000 door knocks, calls, and texts in the first week of the Harris campaign alone.
We have invested in campaign infrastructure across Wisconsin and are competing everywhere because we know we need to narrow the margins in rural areas to win. And we are campaigning on the issues that matter to voters in these areas, including lowering health care costs, protecting abortion access, and strengthening local infrastructure. Democrats have a track record of performing well in critical rural counties like Iowa, Sauk, and Green in recent elections – winning all three in 2020 – and our massive coordinated campaign is poised to build on that energy in the lead-up to November.
There’s been an explosion of volunteer interest in Michigan since Vice President Harris announced her campaign, with more than 9,000 new volunteer sign ups. Team Harris-Walz and Michigan Democrats have almost 200 coordinated staff on the ground and 50 field offices in every corner of the state, including three in Detroit, and many more in communities like Grand Rapids, Flint, Marquette, Lansing, Saginaw, and Traverse City. We also have expanded our ground-game advantage over Trump’s virtually-nonexistent operation in the counties where Trump’s primary performance showed glaring weaknesses – including Washtenaw, Oakland, Kent, and Ingham counties.
We are seeing unprecedented enthusiasm in Pennsylvania, including tens of thousands of new volunteers on top of the more than 14,000 Philadelphians who attended our packed rally last night (a crowd more than double what Trump had just one month earlier). Team Harris-Walz and Pennsylvania Democrats have nearly 300 coordinated staffers across 36 offices, including in Philly neighborhoods like Roxborough, North Philadelphia, Nicetown, Overbrook, and Germantown, in every single one of the collar counties, and in critical swing counties like Erie, Luzerne, and Northampton. The campaign is also doing the work to make inroads in historically-safe Republican areas with operations in Union, Lancaster, Cumberland and York Counties. Our campaign will continue to go everywhere, and Governor Walz will be a key messenger in these rural areas where we’re focused on limiting Republicans’ margins.
We’re highlighting the choice between the Biden-Walz vision and Trump’s Project 2025 agenda
Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are fighting for a future that strengthens our democracy, protects reproductive freedom and ensures every person has the opportunity to not just get by, but to get ahead.
Meanwhile Donald Trump and JD Vance’s extreme Project 2025 agenda is deeply unpopular across the country and in the Blue Wall – that’s why we’re going directly to voters to tell them about it. Our organizers are hosting messaging training sessions with volunteers, ensuring they are prepared to highlight the most extreme aspects of Project 2025 while knocking doors, making calls, and sending texts to voters – including Trump’s plans to ban abortion nationwide, cut Social Security and Medicare and raise taxes for the middle class. And voters don’t like what they’re learning.
Workers are standing with Vice President Harris and Governor Walz
In the Blue Wall, you can’t win without the support of union workers – and organized labor is firmly behind Harris-Walz. Last week, the United Auto Workers officially endorsed Kamala Harris for President of the United States — joining a long list of labor unions backing the Vice President. The UAW, which represents over 130,000 Michigan workers, is already mobilizing members behind the Harris-Walz ticket and highlighting the Vice President’s record standing on the picket line with their workers in 2019. Meanwhile Wisconsin is seeing the fastest rate of union growth in over 30 years thanks to the Biden-Harris administration’s investment in the NLRB and the pro-worker policies championed by Vice President Harris. And in Pennsylvania, organized labor remains a central political force, from the national United Steelworkers in Pittsburgh to the Building Trades in Philadelphia, which are all-in to elect this historically pro-union ticket.
The bottom line: Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz’s momentum across the battlegrounds, including the Blue Wall, is real and will be on full display today. Voters are already mobilizing behind the Harris-Walz vision for the future, where our freedoms are protected and every American has a fair shot – and against Trump’s Project 2025 agenda. The Vice President and Governor Walz are not taking a single voter for granted, and today, this campaign will continue to show we are fighting to earn every vote and reach communities all across the Blue Wall – from rural voters in Western Wisconsin to UAW workers in Detroit – before heading to the Southwest.
Harris for President
To: Interested Parties
From: Dan Kanninen, Harris-Walz Battleground States Director
Date: August 9, 2024
Subject: Harris-Walz Heads to Southwest
Today, Vice President Harris and Governor Tim Walz will continue their tour across the battlegrounds with stops in Arizona and Nevada – two Sunbelt states where Vice President Harris has spent a lot of time while in office. As Vice President, Kamala Harris has made inroads with communities across the Southwest, and this will mark her seventh visit to Nevada and her fourth visit to Arizona just this year.
According to every recent major poll, Arizona and Nevada are extremely close and will be through election day. Thursday, Cook Political Report shifted these states in the Southwest from “lean Republican” to “toss up” states and Ipsos released a poll yesterday showing that Vice President Harris and Donald Trump are in a “statistical dead heat for the presidency.”
The visits come on the heels of key endorsements from leaders across these two states, from mayors representing Arizona’s border communities and dozens of prominent Arizona Republicans to organized labor representing hundreds of thousands of Nevada workers.
Voters in Nevada have a head start in getting to know Governor Tim Walz, who campaigned in northern Nevada at the end of June to fire up volunteers at a canvass launch. Even more voters across the Southwest and the country will soon be familiar with Governor Walz. As a governor, congressman, football coach, veteran, and high school teacher, Walz has championed working families his entire life – he worked to cut taxes for working families, lower the cost of insulin, and protect women’s right to choose. He is a historically popular leader who consistently outperformed national Democrats in his House district, including in rural areas and counties that have supported Trump, which will be important in the Southwest and across the country.
We’ve built a historic ground game advantage to win Nevada and Arizona:
Team Harris-Walz has more than 25 coordinated campaign offices throughout Arizona and Nevada, with more than 220 full-time staff.
In Nevada, we are running the largest in-state operation of any coordinated campaign ever, with 13 offices and nearly 100 staff on the ground. We have also seen unprecedented volunteer enthusiasm over the past few weeks: hours after Vice President Kamala Harris announced her presidential campaign, more than 600 volunteers signed up to support the campaign. Shortly after Vice President Harris announced her candidacy, the campaign held a weekend of action that saw more than 1,000 volunteers take action with the campaign, reaching nearly 50,000 voters across the state by knocking on doors and working the phones.
In Arizona, the campaign has 12 coordinated offices with six more to come—the most of any Arizona coordinated campaign in history. The campaign has hired more than 120 full-time staff, with offices in every corner of the state from border communities like Nogales to rural areas like Kingman. With a popular message and a strong record on the issues that matter most to voters, Vice President Harris has seen a groundswell of support in Arizona in the form of volunteer signups and endorsements. Since July 21, 20,899 Arizonans have signed up online to join the campaign. And during July’s weekend of action, the campaign and the Arizona Democratic coordinated campaign launched 26 canvasses and hosted a total of 67 events from rural Arizona to Midtown Phoenix.
Reaching and persuading diverse voters in two of the most diverse battlegrounds:
Our campaign infrastructure has allowed the campaign to meet communities across Nevada and Arizona and earn their vote. Unlike the Trump campaign, which has barely any ground presence and has shut down their efforts to reach voters of color in key communities in the Southwest, we have remained focused on reaching voters of color through programs like paid bilingual high school organizers, community events that have already brought in hundreds of voters, and field offices in rural counties that Trump won and in the heart of AANHPI, Latino, and Black communities.
Kamala Harris also has a well-documented ability to mobilize key constituencies, including young voters, Black voters, Latino voters, AANHPI voters, and women. Nowhere is this more of an asset than in Nevada – where the electorate is younger and more diverse than any other battleground state, and where the Vice President recently launched the campaign’s national AANHPI coalition.
The first large survey of Latino voters with Harris as the presumptive nominee showed her strong support with Latino voters presents a “key weakness” for Donald Trump. Harris leads Trump with Latinos by 55-37 in the battleground states – and is viewed favorably by Latinos in Nevada by 44 points (69-25) – the highest of any battleground state. In Arizona, Vice President Harris is viewed favorably by Latinos by a margin of 14 points.
Highlighting reproductive freedom, which is on the ballot in Nevada and Arizona:
Nevada is one of the most pro-choice states in the country, with 76 percent of all voters and 81 percent of Latino voters believing abortion should be legal. Abortion will be directly on the ballot in the state this year, and Nevadans are mobilizing around the issue of choice. Vice President Harris has been a champion of protecting reproductive freedoms and has rallied with Nevadans on reproductive freedoms in April, highlighting the ballot initiative and thanking reproductive rights organizers, who were in attendance collecting signatures for the ballot initiative. The Nevada ballot initiative campaign ultimately submitted more than double the required signatures needed to qualify for the ballot.
In Arizona, voters are already living under an abortion ban and will also vote on a ballot measure to add a right to an abortion to the state constitution, which is supported by 65 percent of Arizona voters. Earlier this year, after MAGA Republicans in Arizona enacted a near-total ban on abortion, the Harris campaign witnessed a groundswell of support around the measure – thanks in part to Vice President Harris, who visited the state in April specifically to highlight the 1864 ban.. At her most recent stop in Arizona, Vice President Harris joined Latina actress Francia Raisa and Arizona Corporation Commissioner Anna Tovar to highlight the threat a second Trump presidency would pose to reproductive freedom nationwide, particularly for Latinas and the women of Arizona.
Team Harris-Walz is running to fix our broken immigration system:
Arizonans and Nevadans want leaders who will take tough, smart action to fix our broken immigration system, strengthen border security, and expand pathways to citizenship. Vice President Harris has a record of standing up for border security throughout her career, while also fighting for DREAMers, and expanding pathways to citizenship, as the Biden-Harris Administration did this June.
On the campaign trail, Vice President Harris has put a spotlight on Trump for tanking the toughest set of border security measures in decades that was widely supported and would have provided critical resources to secure the border. She and Governor Walz are campaigning on a promise to bring back the deal if elected. To double down on their message, our campaign is highlighting her fight to secure the border in a new ad running in both states.
Last month, border mayors in Arizona endorsed Vice President Harris because they trust her to keep their communities safe. As a former border-state prosecutor, Harris went after transnational gangs that smuggled weapons and drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border as California Attorney General. As Vice President, she supported some of the toughest reforms to our border in decades, and because of the tough actions she supported, border crossings in June reached the lowest level in years.
Meanwhile, on the campaign trail, Trump will have to explain why he killed the bipartisan bill endorsed by the Border Patrol union to improve border security, and defend his legacy of ripping mothers from their children – a record Arizonans and Nevadans reject soundly election after election.
Trump and MAGA Republicans are alienating the independent voters needed to win the Southwest:
Donald Trump and the least popular VP pick of all time are playing catchup, while campaigning on a toxic Project 2025 agenda to ban abortion nationwide, raise costs on families, and allow Trump to rule as a dictator on ‘day one.’
Thanks to Trump, Nevada and Arizona have become the epicenter of MAGA extremism. Seventeen people were recently indicted in connection with an alleged scheme to overturn the 2020 election, including 11 alleged fake electors. Heading into November, Arizona Republicans continue to push the Big Lie, so much so that conservative Republicans—such as former Governor Jan Brewer—have called out the current Republican Party for embracing election denialism. Trump’s Nevada campaign is being run by top Trump loyalists including Michael McDonald, Vice Chair Jim Hindle III, and Trump-endorsed Republican National Committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid, who have all been indicted by a grand jury for conduct connected to their roles in a 2020 fake elector scheme.
In 2022, the MAGA Republicans embrace of Trump’s election denialism lost them major races across the Southwest, costing Republicans the U.S. Senate majority and the Governor’s mansion in Arizona. Trump and Vance have proven that they will continue to alienate moderate Republicans and independent voters by campaigning like Kari Lake instead of John McCain.
The bottom line: Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz’s momentum across the battlegrounds is real and will be on full display in Arizona and Nevada, where we’ve built massive coordinated campaigns as Trump has almost no presence whatsoever. Our campaign will continue our work to reach the diverse voters who power our victories in the Southwest, highlighting the stakes of the race for reproductive rights and the Vice President’s leadership to secure the border. During this Southwest swing, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz will highlight their positive vision for the future and Donald Trump’s Project 2025 agenda to drag voters in the past, and they will continue to show we are fighting to earn every vote and reach communities all across the Southwest.
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Harris for PresidentAugust 10, 2024
Team Harris-Walz is Doing the Work to Win A Close Election
It’s been almost three weeks since Vice President Harris launched her presidential bid, and since then we’ve seen a groundswell of support — the type of grassroots support, organizing, and fundraising that wins elections.This week, that momentum has only grown with the addition of Governor Tim Walz to the ticket. Team Harris-Walz has seen an extraordinary amount of enthusiasm for this new ticket, raising $36 million in the first 24 hours. Just a few days into joining the ticket, Governor Walz’s popularity is already surging — as JD Vance’s continues to tank.
Even with this momentum, as Vice President Harris continues to make clear, we are the underdogs in this race and we’re taking nothing for granted. We believe this will be a very close election, decided by a very small number of voters, in just a few states.
This week was a prime example of our theory of the case at work: we broke through, turned enthusiasm into action, and reached the voters who will decide this election. Let’s take a look:
- In the first 24 hours after Governor Walz was announced as Vice President Harris' running mate, Team Harris-Walz raised a grassroots-powered $36 million dollars on top of an enormous outpouring of support and praise from Democratic elected officials, Republicans, independents, and both business and labor leaders. This is the money that will go to talking to voters and building campaign presences in every community to elect Democrats up and down the ticket.
- Vice President Harris and Governor Walz drew historic crowds during our battleground states tour including 14,000+ in Philadelphia, 12,000+ in Eau Claire, and 15,000+ in both Detroit and Arizona. These events matter not only because they make Trump very, very mad, but because they get our message to voters, and expand our supporter network:
- Event coverage earns us consistent and at-scale earned media to amplify our message in places voters get their news: across evening news, front pages, and local media.
- The rallies also broke through online: On KamalaHQ across platforms, we saw 54 million impressions on both speeches (Eau Claire and Detroit) on Wednesday, and Vice President Harris’ channels across platforms saw 70 million impressions.
- They also serve as opportunities to recruit supporters and volunteers that will be critical to reaching the voters who will decide the election — in Arizona alone, we picked up 3,000 volunteer shifts. That’s 3,000 Harris-Walz supporters who will be making the case to their communities about voting this November.
- Launched a new TV ad and our first ad targeting Latino voters that highlights Kamala Harris’ middle class roots, along with an ad touting her fight to secure the border. Part of a historic $50 million paid media campaign ahead of the Democratic National Convention, this campaign helps define who Kamala Harris is for voters in a crowded, divided media environment.
- Demonstrated how the unprecedented labor support, including the recent endorsement by the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 16 along with the flurry of additional endorsements behind this ticket delivers not just words on a press release but tangible organizing prowess and hundreds of millions of dollars that will help us win a close election in November.
- Expanded the infrastructure and capacity needed to harness the enthusiasm we’re seeing to win this November. We now tout over 1,500 coordinated staff, over 265 coordinated offices, and this strong existing infrastructure is delivering by mobilizing the surge of enthusiasm into action across the country on the ground, talking to the voters who will decide this election.
Meanwhile, let’s look at how Donald Trump and his campaign are approaching this close election.
Last night in Montana, Donald Trump’s ranting and raving focused (well not so focused) on committing the RNC to subverting the 2024 election, spewing grotesque attacks against the media, and promising to gut funding for every public school in the country.
One month ago, the Trump campaign was “planning for a landslide win.” They boasted of all the paths they had to 270 they even “stopped counting.
Fast forward to this month. Trump isn’t just taking voters for granted with no real infrastructure to speak of, he’s doubling down on the same old angry, spiteful, and self-obsessed extremist views America rejected in 2020.
He’s not campaigning in swing states, is attacking popular Republican governors in states he needs to win and trashing his staff, engages in public meltdowns every several days, spews so many blatant lies we can’t keep up with them, said this week he would ban abortion medication, and was caught (again) completely intertwined in Project 2025.
This morning, The New York Times reports it’s even worse down in Mar-a-Lago. Trump is attacking donors, throwing his running mate under the bus, and lashing out at staff. He is unfocused, unprepared, and incapable of delivering any positive message for the American people.
The bottom line? While the Trump-Vance team is spiraling, Team Harris-Walz is riding a historic wave of earned media and translating the immense grassroots enthusiasm into winning a close election this November.
Kevin Munoz
Harris-Walz Senior Spokesperson
First Joint Appearance of Harris and Walz...
The White House
Remarks by Vice President Harris and Governor Tim Walz at a Campaign Event
Temple University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
August 6, 2024
[WHITE HOUSE TRANSCRIPT released Aug.
7 | C-SPAN
video]
5:58 P.M. EDT
THE VICE PRESIDENT: We’re doing this! (Applause.) Oh! (Applause.) We’re doing this. (Applause.) We’re doing this. (Applause.)
Good evening, Philadelphia! (Applause.) Good evening. (Applause.) Good evening, good evening. (Laughs.) (Applause.) Good evening, everyone. Good evening. Good evening.
Oh, it is good to be back in Pennsylvania. (Applause.)
So, let me say, on behalf of myself and the first second gentleman of the United States, my husband, Doug Emhoff -- (applause) -- thank you for the warm welcome. (Applause.)
And let me just say, it’s good to be here with all of the friends, all of the leaders who are here. I want to thank former Governor Ed Rendell -- (applause); Senator Bob Casey, who we will reelect this November -- (applause); Senator John Fetterman -- (applause); Mayor Cherelle Parker -- (applause); and Chairman Jaime Harrison. (Applause.)
And it is so good to be here with your incredible governor, Josh Shapiro. (Applause.) And I will say Josh is a dear, dear friend and an extraordinary leader. He and I have been spending a lot of time together over the years. And I told Josh, “Look, I am so, so invested in our friendship, in doing this together.” Because together, with Josh Shapiro, we will win Pennsylvania. (Applause.) We will win Pennsylvania.
And I thank you, Josh. I thank you. (Applause.)
So -- so, Philadelphia, I launched my campaign for the president of the United States a mere two weeks ago. (Applause.) And it's -- it's been a bit of a whirlwind. (Laughter.)
And just last night, the delegates to the Democratic National Convention finished voting, and so -- (applause) -- I stand -- I stand before you today to proudly announce I am now officially the Democratic nominee for president of the United States. (Applause.)
And so, now we got some work to do. We need to move to the general election and win that. (Applause.)
And to all the friends, listen, we also need to level set. We are the underdogs in this race, but we have the momentum, and I know exactly what we are up against. (Applause.)
Now, many of you know, before I was elected vice president or elected a United States senator, I was an elected attorney general and, before that, elected district attorney. (Applause.) And before that, I was a courtroom prosecutor. (Applause.)
So, in those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds -- (applause): predators who abused women --
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: -- fraudsters who scammed consumers --
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: -- cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: So, hear me when I say -- (applause) -- I know Donald Trump's type. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: So -- but let --
AUDIENCE: Lock him up! Lock him up!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Let me -- let me just say.
AUDIENCE: Lock him up! Lock him up!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Let me say. Hold on.
AUDIENCE: Lock him up! Lock him up!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hold on, hold on.
This campaign, our campaign is not just a fight against Donald Trump. (Applause.) Our campaign, this campaign is a fight for the future. (Applause.) It’s a fight for the future.
And, Pennsylvania, we fight for a future with affordable housing, affordable health care, affordable childcare, paid leave. (Applause.) We fight for a future where we build a broad-based economy where every American has the opportunity to own a home, to start a business, and to build wealth. (Applause.)
We fight for a future where we bring down prices that are still too high and lower the cost of living for American families -- (applause) -- so that they have the chance not just to get by but to get ahead. (Applause.)
We fight for a future where we defend our most fundamental freedoms: the freedom to vote -- (applause); the freedom to be safe from gun violence -- (applause); the freedom to love who you love openly and with pride -- (applause); and the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body not having her government tell her what to do. (Applause.)
So --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I love you too.
So, here's the thing. Here's the thing. Since the day that I announced my candidacy, I set out to find a partner who can help build this brighter future -- (applause) -- a leader who will help unite our nation and move us forward; a fighter for the middle class; a patriot who believes, as I do, in the extraordinary promise of America -- (applause) -- a promise -- a promise of freedom, opportunity, and justice not just for some but for all. (Applause.)
So, Pennsylvania, I'm here today because I found such a leader: Governor Tim Walz of the great state of Minnesota. (Applause.)
So, to those who know him best -- to those who know him best, Tim is -- is more than a governor. To his wife, Gwen, he is a husband. To his kids, Hope and Gus, he is a dad. To his fellow veterans, he is Sergeant Major Walz. (Applause.) To the people -- to the people of Southern Minnesota, for 12 years, he was Congressman. (Applause.) To his former high school students, he was Mr. Walz. (Applause.) And to his former high school football players, he was Coach -- (applause) -- Coach -- Coach.
And in 91 days -- (applause) -- the nation will know Coach Walz by another name: vice president of the United States. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Tim! Tim! Tim!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: So, America, for some folks, they're just getting to know Coach Walz's story. And I'll tell you, he is the proud product of a middle-class family in rural Nebraska. (Applause.) He is a veteran who served our nation in uniform for more than two decades -- (applause) -- as a member of the Army National Guard, and he went to college on the G.I. Bill. (Applause.)
He is someone who, long before he entered politics, worked as a teacher. (Applause.) When Coach Walz and his wife, Gwen, moved from his native Nebraska to Minnesota nearly 30 years ago, they both took jobs at the local high school. (Applause.) Coach Walz taught social studies; Gwen taught English. (Applause.)
After school, Tim was the linebackers coach for the football team -- (applause) -- where I've heard the stories about he had a knack for using the game of football to teach life lessons. He saw the potential in kids who sometimes didn't even see it in themselves. (Applause.)
Under those Friday night lights, Coach Walz motivated his players to believe they could achieve anything. And, together, they defied the odds -- hear this out -- going from a winless record to the school's first-ever state championship. (Applause.) (Laughs.) Coach. Coach. A- --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.) (Laughter.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And I'll say and I'll add, Tim wasn't only a role model on the football field. Around that same time, Coach Walz was approached by a student in his social studies class. The young man was one of the first openly gay students at the school and was hoping to start a gay-straight alliance. At a time -- (applause) -- at a time when acceptance was difficult to find for LGBTQ students, Tim knew the signal that it would send to have a football coach get involved. (Applause.) Right?
So, he signed up to be the group's faculty advisor. (Applause.) And as students have said, he made the school a safe place for everybody. (Applause.) In the high school yearbook, the students voted Coach Walz the, quote, “most inspiring faculty member.” (Applause.)
And as I think everyone here can see, Tim Walz was the kind of teacher and mentor that every child in America dreams of having -- (applause) -- and that every kid deserves; the kind of coach, because he's the kind of person who makes people feel like they belong and then inspires them to dream big. And that's the kind of vice president he will be. (Applause.) And that's the kind of vice president America deserves. (Applause.)
So, it was Coach Walz’s students who actually helped him decide to run for office, and he served 12 years in Congress, representing a purple district, as he reached across the aisle to get things done.
He was the highest-ranking -- (applause) -- he was the highest-ranking enlisted man to ever serve in the United States Congress -- (applause) -- and the top Democrat on the Veterans Committee. (Applause.) And he was known as one of Capitol Hill's best marksmen -- (laughter) -- winning a bipartisan sharpshooting contest year after year. (Applause.)
In Washington, Tim worked to raise the minimum wage -- (applause); to protect the freedom of workers to join a union -- (applause); and he cast one of the critical votes to pass the Affordable Care Act -- (applause) -- which, of course, gave health insurance to tens of millions of Americans.
And I'm going to tell you, when we win, Tim and I will continue to make the Affordable Care Act even stronger. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: When we win! When we win! When we win!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: We will win. That’s right.
Now let's talk about what we're dealing with on the other side.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: So, on that last topic, if Donald Trump gets the chance, he will end the Affordable Care Act --
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: -- and take us back to a time when insurance companies had the power to deny people with preexisting conditions. You remember what that was like? Children with asthma, breast cancer survivors, grandparents with diabetes.
Well, Governor Walz and I will not let that happen -- (applause) -- because we believe health care should be a right and not just a privilege for those who can afford it. (Applause.)
As governor, Tim has continued to fight for working families. He secured paid leave for workers in Minnesota. (Applause.) And he refused -- he refused, as governor, to allow any student in their public schools to go hungry -- (applause) -- so he made school breakfast and lunch free for every child. (Applause.)
And Tim Walz and I, we agree about many things, including when our middle class is strong, America is strong. (Applause.) And strengthening the middle class will be my defining goal as I am president of the United States. (Applause.)
So, Pennsylvania, ours is a fight for the future of the middle class and it is a fight for freedom. (Applause.) In this moment, we are witnessing a full-on attack against hard-fought, hard-won freedoms and rights. (Applause.)
Take reproductive freedom. Now think about this: Donald Trump said he wants to punish women.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And as a result of his actions, today in America one out of three women live in a state with a Trump abortion ban -- one out of three.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Some of these bans go back to the 1800s, even before women had a right to vote. Think about that.
Well, Tim and I have a message for Trump and others who want to turn back the clock on our fundamental freedoms: We're not going back. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: We're not going back! We're not going back! We're not going back!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: We’re not going back. We’re not going back.
AUDIENCE: We're not going back! We're not going back! We're not going back!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And so, let me say about Tim Walz, he has shown up to stand against these attacks long before he stood on the stage with me. After Roe was overturned, he was the first governor in the country to sign a new law that enshrined reproductive freedom as a fundamental right. (Applause.)
And with Tim Walz by my side, when I am president of the United States and we win majorities in the United States Congress, we will pass a bill to restore reproductive freedom, and I will proudly sign it into law. (Applause.)
Tim Walz has also defended the sacred freedom to vote. As governor -- (applause) -- as governor, he signed the most significant expansion of voting rights in Minnesota in over 50 years. (Applause.) And with Governor Walz’s help, when I am president, we are going to finally pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. (Applause.) We're going to get it done.
So, Tim is a hunter and a gun owner who believes, as the majority of gun owners do, that we need reasonable gun safety laws in America. (Applause.) So, as governor, he expanded background checks and increased penalties for illegal firearm sales. (Applause.)
And together, when we win in November, we are finally going to pass universal background checks -- (applause) -- red flag laws, and an assault weapons ban. (Applause.)
Through his work, Tim, he -- you know, the way I think about it, he really does shine a light on a brighter future that we can build together. In his state, he has been a model chief executive. And with his experience, I'm telling you, Tim Walz will be ready on day one. (Applause.)
In fact -- in fact, when you compare his resume -- (laughter) -- shall we? -- to Trump's running mate, well -- well -- well, some might say it's like -- it's like a matchup between the varsity team and the JV squad. (Applause.) (Laughs.)
So, Pennsylvania, ultimately, in this election, we each face a question: What kind of country do we want to live in? A country -- a country of freedom -- (applause) -- compassion, and rule of law or a country of chaos, fear, and hate?
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And here's the beauty of our democracy: We each have the power to answer that question. We each have the power to answer that question. (Applause.) The power is with the people. (Applause.)
We love our country, and I believe it is the highest form of patriotism to fight for the ideals of our country. (Applause.) That -- that is how we preserve the promise of America.
And after all, you know, the promise of America is what makes it possible for two middle-class kids -- one a daughter of Oakland, California -- (applause) -- who was raised by a working mother; the other a son of the Nebraska plains who grew up working on a farm -- (applause) -- it's the promise of America, because only in America -- only in America is it possible for them together to make it all the way to the White House. (Applause.)
Only in America. Only in America. Only in America.
AUDIENCE: U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: That’s right.
AUDIENCE: U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: That’s right. That’s right.
And so, Coach Walz and I may hail from different corners of our great country, but our values are the same. And we both believe in lifting people up, not knocking them down. (Applause.)
He and I, we both know the vast majority of people in our country have so much more in common than what separates them. (Applause.) When we look at folks, we see, in our fellow Americans, neighbors, not enemies -- (applause) -- not enemies.
And so, my promise to you is this. Our campaign will reach out to everyone, from red states to blue states -- (applause) -- from the heartland to the coasts; in rural, urban, suburban, and Tribal communities. (Applause.) We are running a campaign on behalf of all Americans. (Applause.) And when elected, we will govern on behalf of all Americans. (Applause.)
And so, with Tim Walz by my side and with all of you at our side -- (applause) -- let us fight for the promise of our future. (Applause.)
And with that, I ask: Pennsylvania, are you ready to make your voices heard? (Applause.)
Do we believe in freedom? (Applause.)
Do we believe in opportunity? (Applause.)
Do we believe in the promise of America? (Applause.)
And are we ready to fight for it? (Applause.)
And when we fight --
AUDIENCE: We win!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: -- we win. (Applause.)
And now welcome the next vice president of the United States, Tim Walz. (Applause.)
GOVERNOR WALZ: Wow. (Applause.) Thank you. Wow.
Thank you, Philadelphia. (Applause.)
Thank you, Madam Vice President, for the trust you put in me but, maybe more so, thank you for bringing back the joy. (Applause.) I'm thrilled to be on this journey with you and Doug -- this incredible journey.
And, Pennsylvania, I know you know this, but, my God, what a treasure you have in Josh Shapiro. (Applause.) Holy hell, can this guy bring the fire. He can bring the fire. This is a visionary leader. Also, I have to tell you, everybody in America knows, when you need a bridge fixed, call that guy. (Applause.)
And I think sometimes we forget and you see people a little one-dimensional, but seeing a guy who cares so deeply about his family, a man with compassion, vision -- and I'll have to tell you this; I know this from experience -- there is no one you would rather go to a Springsteen concert in Jersey with than him -- (laughter) -- than that guy. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Bruce!
GOVERNOR WALZ: Bruce!
And I can't wait for all of you and America to get to know my incredible wife, Gwen, a 29-year public school educator --(applause) -- don't ever underestimate teachers -- (applause) -- and our two beautiful kids, Hope and Gus.
I couldn't be prouder to be on this ticket and to help Vice President Harris become what we all know is very, very good for us to think about: next president of the United States of America. (Applause.)
From her first day as a prosecutor, as a district attorney, attorney general of the great state of California -- (applause) -- a United States senator, and vice president of the United States -- (applause) -- Vice President Harris has fought on the side of the American people. (Applause.)
She took on the predators, she took on the fraudsters, she took down the transnational gangs, she stood up against powerful corporate interests, and she never hesitated to reach across the aisle if it meant improving people's lives. (Applause.) And I want all of you to hold this and don't ever underestimate the power of this: She does it all with a sense of joy. (Applause.)
I know a little something about that commitment to people. I was born in West Point, Nebraska. I lived in Butte, a small town of 400, where community was a way of life. Growing up, I spent the summers working on the family farm. My mom and dad taught us: Show generosity towards your neighbors and work for a common good. (Applause.)
My dad served in the Army during the Korean War, and with his encouragement, at 17, I joined the Army National Guard. (Applause.) For 24 years, I proudly wore the uniform of this nation. (Applause.) The National Guard gave me purpose, it gave me the strength of a shared commitment to something greater than ourselves, and just as it did for my dad and millions of others, the G.I. Bill gave me a shot at a college education. (Applause.)
My dad was a teacher; my brothers and sisters and I followed in their footsteps. (Applause.) Three out of four of us married teachers -- (applause) -- what we do. For nearly 20 years, I had the privilege of teaching high school social studies and coaching football -- (applause) -- including winning that state championship. (Laughs.) (Applause.) Don't ever close the yearbook. Don’t ever.
But it was my students -- they encouraged me to run for office. They saw in me what I was hoping to instill in them: a commitment of common good, a belief that one person can make a difference. So, in 2006 -- (applause) -- in 2006, I took a leap, and I ran for Congress. (Applause.) And because high school teachers are super optimistic, I was running in a district that had one Democrat since 1892. (Laughter.)
Well, my neighbors graced me with an opportunity to represent them in the United States House of Representatives. (Applause.) I'm proud of the work we did there together. I worked across the aisle on veterans issues, on agriculture, and on ways to grow rural economies. I learned the art of compromise without compromising my values. (Applause.)
And now as governor the great state of Minnesota, I bring those experiences to bear in tackling the challenges that are facing our great state. Minnesota’s strengths comes from our values, our commitment to working together, to seeing past our differences, to always being willing to lend a helping hand. Those are the same values I learned on the family farm and tried to instill in my students. I took it to Congress and to the state capitol, and now Vice President Harris and I are running to take those very values to the White House. (Applause.)
Now, Donald Trump sees the world a little differently than us.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
GOVERNOR WALZ: First of all, he doesn't know the first thing about service. (Applause.) He doesn't have time for it because he's too busy serving himself. (Applause.) Again and again and again, Trump weakens our economy to strengthen his own hand. (Applause.) He mocks our laws, he sows chaos and division, and that's to say nothing of his record as president. (Applause.)
He froze in the face of the COVID crisis, he drove our economy into the ground, and make no mistake, violent crime was up under Donald Trump. (Applause.) That's not even counting the crimes he committed. (Applause.)
You know --
AUDIENCE: Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
GOVERNOR WALZ: -- some of us --
AUDIENCE: Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
GOVERNOR WALZ: -- some of us are --
AUDIENCE: Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
GOVERNOR WALZ: Some of us -- some of us in here are old enough to remember. I see you down there. (Laughter.) I see those old white guys. (Laughter.) Some of us are old enough to remember when it was Republicans who were talking about freedom. It turns out now what they meant was the government should be free to invade your doctor's office.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
GOVERNOR WALZ: In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and their personal choices that they make. Even if we wouldn't make the same choice for ourselves, there's a golden rule: Mind your own damn business. (Applause.)
These guys are after my heart, chanting “Mind your own damn business.” That feels good, so thank you.
Look, that includes IVF, and this gets personal for me and my family. (Applause.) When my wife and I decided to have children, we spent years going through infertility treatments, and I remember praying every night for a call for good news, the pit in my stomach when the phone rang, and the agony when we heard that the treatments hadn't worked. So, it wasn't by chance that when we welcomed our daughter into the world, we named her Hope. (Applause.)
When the vice president and I talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make your own health care decisions -- (applause) -- and for our children to be free to go to school without worrying they’ll be shot dead in their classrooms. (Applause.)
By the way, as you heard, I was one of the best shots in Congress. But in Minnesota, we believe in the Second Amendment, but we also believe in commonsense gun violence laws. (Applause.)
Vice President Harris’s idea of freedom is a ticket for education to be that ticket to the middle class, not crippling debt -- (applause); air that's clean, water that's pure, communities that are safe -- (applause); a place where we settle our political differences not through violence but with our votes. (Applause.) And that's what this election is about: What direction will this country go in?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Freedom! (Applause.)
GOVERNOR WALZ: We’re not going back. Well, Donald Trump would damn sure take us backwards, let's be clear about that.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
GOVERNOR WALZ: And don't believe him when he plays dumb. He knows exactly what Project 2025 will do to restrict our freedoms -- (applause) -- to rig the economy to help the super-rich.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
GOVERNOR WALZ: If Trump gets a chance to return, he's going to pick up exactly where he left off four years ago --
AUDIENCE: Booo --
GOVERNOR WALZ: -- only this time it will be much, much worse: raising costs on middle-class family. He will repea- -- repeal the Affordable Care Act, no doubt about it.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
GOVERNOR WALZ: He'll gut Social Security and Medicare.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
GOVERNOR WALZ: And when somebody tells who they are, they -- believe them. He said he would ban abortion across this country, and he'll do it whether or not Congress is there or not.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
GOVERNOR WALZ: Donald Trump is not fighting for you or your family.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: You are!
GOVERNOR WALZ: He never s- -- 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 up in Mar-a-Lago, wondering how he can cut taxes for his rich friends. (Applause.)
And I got to tell you, his running mate shares his dangerous and backward agenda for this country. (Applause.) J.D. Vance literally -- literally wrote the foreword for the architect of the Project 2025 agenda.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
GOVERNOR WALZ: Like all regular people I grew up with in the heartland, J.D. studied at Yale -- (laughter) -- had his career funded by Silicon Valley billionaires, and then wrote a bestseller trashing that community. Come on. That's not what Middle America is.
And I got to tell you, I can't wait to debate the guy. (Applause.) That is if -- if he's willing to get off the couch and show up, so -- (laughter). You see what I did there?
Look -- (laughs) -- I got to tell you -- pointing out just an observation of mine that I -- that I made. I just have to say it. You know it, you feel it: These guys are creepy and, yes, just weird as hell. That's what you see. (Laughs.) (Applause.) That's what you see.
So, you know what's out there, so say it with me: We aren't going back.
AUDIENCE: We aren’t going back!
GOVERNOR WALZ: We aren’t going back.
AUDIENCE: We're not going back! We're not going back! We're not going back!
GOVERNOR WALZ: We are not going back.
AUDIENCE: We're not going back! We're not going back! We're not going back!
GOVERNOR WALZ: So, we got 91 days. My God, that's easy. (Laughter.) We'll sleep when we're dead. (Applause.)
Over those next 91 days and every day in the White House, I’ll have Vice President Harris's back -- every single day. (Applause.) And we'll have yours. (Applause.)
You know how this works. We can't do it alone. We need you, each and every one of you. (Applause.) Go over to KamalaHarris.com, get on board, because we need you.
Freedom to make our own choices -- this leader -- this compassionate, careful, joyous leader -- believes in each and every one of you. (Applause.)
My God, you came here tonight to sit at the very top because you love this country and you're not going back. (Applause.)
She believes in the opportunity for every single person to join the middle class. She believes in the promise of America.
We just got to fight. We just got to fight, because as soon-to-be-President Harris says, when we fight --
AUDIENCE: We win!
GOVERNOR WALZ: -- we win. (Applause.)
Thank you, Philadelphia. Thank you, Vice President. God bless America. (Applause.)
END 6:49 P.M. EDT
THE VICE PRESIDENT: We’re doing this! (Applause.) Oh! (Applause.) We’re doing this. (Applause.) We’re doing this. (Applause.)
Good evening, Philadelphia! (Applause.) Good evening. (Applause.) Good evening, good evening. (Laughs.) (Applause.) Good evening, everyone. Good evening. Good evening.
Oh, it is good to be back in Pennsylvania. (Applause.)
So, let me say, on behalf of myself and the first second gentleman of the United States, my husband, Doug Emhoff -- (applause) -- thank you for the warm welcome. (Applause.)
And let me just say, it’s good to be here with all of the friends, all of the leaders who are here. I want to thank former Governor Ed Rendell -- (applause); Senator Bob Casey, who we will reelect this November -- (applause); Senator John Fetterman -- (applause); Mayor Cherelle Parker -- (applause); and Chairman Jaime Harrison. (Applause.)
And it is so good to be here with your incredible governor, Josh Shapiro. (Applause.) And I will say Josh is a dear, dear friend and an extraordinary leader. He and I have been spending a lot of time together over the years. And I told Josh, “Look, I am so, so invested in our friendship, in doing this together.” Because together, with Josh Shapiro, we will win Pennsylvania. (Applause.) We will win Pennsylvania.
And I thank you, Josh. I thank you. (Applause.)
So -- so, Philadelphia, I launched my campaign for the president of the United States a mere two weeks ago. (Applause.) And it's -- it's been a bit of a whirlwind. (Laughter.)
And just last night, the delegates to the Democratic National Convention finished voting, and so -- (applause) -- I stand -- I stand before you today to proudly announce I am now officially the Democratic nominee for president of the United States. (Applause.)
And so, now we got some work to do. We need to move to the general election and win that. (Applause.)
And to all the friends, listen, we also need to level set. We are the underdogs in this race, but we have the momentum, and I know exactly what we are up against. (Applause.)
Now, many of you know, before I was elected vice president or elected a United States senator, I was an elected attorney general and, before that, elected district attorney. (Applause.) And before that, I was a courtroom prosecutor. (Applause.)
So, in those roles, I took on perpetrators of all kinds -- (applause): predators who abused women --
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: -- fraudsters who scammed consumers --
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: -- cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: So, hear me when I say -- (applause) -- I know Donald Trump's type. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: So -- but let --
AUDIENCE: Lock him up! Lock him up!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Let me -- let me just say.
AUDIENCE: Lock him up! Lock him up!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Let me say. Hold on.
AUDIENCE: Lock him up! Lock him up!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Hold on, hold on.
This campaign, our campaign is not just a fight against Donald Trump. (Applause.) Our campaign, this campaign is a fight for the future. (Applause.) It’s a fight for the future.
And, Pennsylvania, we fight for a future with affordable housing, affordable health care, affordable childcare, paid leave. (Applause.) We fight for a future where we build a broad-based economy where every American has the opportunity to own a home, to start a business, and to build wealth. (Applause.)
We fight for a future where we bring down prices that are still too high and lower the cost of living for American families -- (applause) -- so that they have the chance not just to get by but to get ahead. (Applause.)
We fight for a future where we defend our most fundamental freedoms: the freedom to vote -- (applause); the freedom to be safe from gun violence -- (applause); the freedom to love who you love openly and with pride -- (applause); and the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body not having her government tell her what to do. (Applause.)
So --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I love you too.
So, here's the thing. Here's the thing. Since the day that I announced my candidacy, I set out to find a partner who can help build this brighter future -- (applause) -- a leader who will help unite our nation and move us forward; a fighter for the middle class; a patriot who believes, as I do, in the extraordinary promise of America -- (applause) -- a promise -- a promise of freedom, opportunity, and justice not just for some but for all. (Applause.)
So, Pennsylvania, I'm here today because I found such a leader: Governor Tim Walz of the great state of Minnesota. (Applause.)
So, to those who know him best -- to those who know him best, Tim is -- is more than a governor. To his wife, Gwen, he is a husband. To his kids, Hope and Gus, he is a dad. To his fellow veterans, he is Sergeant Major Walz. (Applause.) To the people -- to the people of Southern Minnesota, for 12 years, he was Congressman. (Applause.) To his former high school students, he was Mr. Walz. (Applause.) And to his former high school football players, he was Coach -- (applause) -- Coach -- Coach.
And in 91 days -- (applause) -- the nation will know Coach Walz by another name: vice president of the United States. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Tim! Tim! Tim!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: So, America, for some folks, they're just getting to know Coach Walz's story. And I'll tell you, he is the proud product of a middle-class family in rural Nebraska. (Applause.) He is a veteran who served our nation in uniform for more than two decades -- (applause) -- as a member of the Army National Guard, and he went to college on the G.I. Bill. (Applause.)
He is someone who, long before he entered politics, worked as a teacher. (Applause.) When Coach Walz and his wife, Gwen, moved from his native Nebraska to Minnesota nearly 30 years ago, they both took jobs at the local high school. (Applause.) Coach Walz taught social studies; Gwen taught English. (Applause.)
After school, Tim was the linebackers coach for the football team -- (applause) -- where I've heard the stories about he had a knack for using the game of football to teach life lessons. He saw the potential in kids who sometimes didn't even see it in themselves. (Applause.)
Under those Friday night lights, Coach Walz motivated his players to believe they could achieve anything. And, together, they defied the odds -- hear this out -- going from a winless record to the school's first-ever state championship. (Applause.) (Laughs.) Coach. Coach. A- --
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.) (Laughter.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And I'll say and I'll add, Tim wasn't only a role model on the football field. Around that same time, Coach Walz was approached by a student in his social studies class. The young man was one of the first openly gay students at the school and was hoping to start a gay-straight alliance. At a time -- (applause) -- at a time when acceptance was difficult to find for LGBTQ students, Tim knew the signal that it would send to have a football coach get involved. (Applause.) Right?
So, he signed up to be the group's faculty advisor. (Applause.) And as students have said, he made the school a safe place for everybody. (Applause.) In the high school yearbook, the students voted Coach Walz the, quote, “most inspiring faculty member.” (Applause.)
And as I think everyone here can see, Tim Walz was the kind of teacher and mentor that every child in America dreams of having -- (applause) -- and that every kid deserves; the kind of coach, because he's the kind of person who makes people feel like they belong and then inspires them to dream big. And that's the kind of vice president he will be. (Applause.) And that's the kind of vice president America deserves. (Applause.)
So, it was Coach Walz’s students who actually helped him decide to run for office, and he served 12 years in Congress, representing a purple district, as he reached across the aisle to get things done.
He was the highest-ranking -- (applause) -- he was the highest-ranking enlisted man to ever serve in the United States Congress -- (applause) -- and the top Democrat on the Veterans Committee. (Applause.) And he was known as one of Capitol Hill's best marksmen -- (laughter) -- winning a bipartisan sharpshooting contest year after year. (Applause.)
In Washington, Tim worked to raise the minimum wage -- (applause); to protect the freedom of workers to join a union -- (applause); and he cast one of the critical votes to pass the Affordable Care Act -- (applause) -- which, of course, gave health insurance to tens of millions of Americans.
And I'm going to tell you, when we win, Tim and I will continue to make the Affordable Care Act even stronger. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: When we win! When we win! When we win!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: We will win. That’s right.
Now let's talk about what we're dealing with on the other side.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: So, on that last topic, if Donald Trump gets the chance, he will end the Affordable Care Act --
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: -- and take us back to a time when insurance companies had the power to deny people with preexisting conditions. You remember what that was like? Children with asthma, breast cancer survivors, grandparents with diabetes.
Well, Governor Walz and I will not let that happen -- (applause) -- because we believe health care should be a right and not just a privilege for those who can afford it. (Applause.)
As governor, Tim has continued to fight for working families. He secured paid leave for workers in Minnesota. (Applause.) And he refused -- he refused, as governor, to allow any student in their public schools to go hungry -- (applause) -- so he made school breakfast and lunch free for every child. (Applause.)
And Tim Walz and I, we agree about many things, including when our middle class is strong, America is strong. (Applause.) And strengthening the middle class will be my defining goal as I am president of the United States. (Applause.)
So, Pennsylvania, ours is a fight for the future of the middle class and it is a fight for freedom. (Applause.) In this moment, we are witnessing a full-on attack against hard-fought, hard-won freedoms and rights. (Applause.)
Take reproductive freedom. Now think about this: Donald Trump said he wants to punish women.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And as a result of his actions, today in America one out of three women live in a state with a Trump abortion ban -- one out of three.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Some of these bans go back to the 1800s, even before women had a right to vote. Think about that.
Well, Tim and I have a message for Trump and others who want to turn back the clock on our fundamental freedoms: We're not going back. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: We're not going back! We're not going back! We're not going back!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: We’re not going back. We’re not going back.
AUDIENCE: We're not going back! We're not going back! We're not going back!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And so, let me say about Tim Walz, he has shown up to stand against these attacks long before he stood on the stage with me. After Roe was overturned, he was the first governor in the country to sign a new law that enshrined reproductive freedom as a fundamental right. (Applause.)
And with Tim Walz by my side, when I am president of the United States and we win majorities in the United States Congress, we will pass a bill to restore reproductive freedom, and I will proudly sign it into law. (Applause.)
Tim Walz has also defended the sacred freedom to vote. As governor -- (applause) -- as governor, he signed the most significant expansion of voting rights in Minnesota in over 50 years. (Applause.) And with Governor Walz’s help, when I am president, we are going to finally pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. (Applause.) We're going to get it done.
So, Tim is a hunter and a gun owner who believes, as the majority of gun owners do, that we need reasonable gun safety laws in America. (Applause.) So, as governor, he expanded background checks and increased penalties for illegal firearm sales. (Applause.)
And together, when we win in November, we are finally going to pass universal background checks -- (applause) -- red flag laws, and an assault weapons ban. (Applause.)
Through his work, Tim, he -- you know, the way I think about it, he really does shine a light on a brighter future that we can build together. In his state, he has been a model chief executive. And with his experience, I'm telling you, Tim Walz will be ready on day one. (Applause.)
In fact -- in fact, when you compare his resume -- (laughter) -- shall we? -- to Trump's running mate, well -- well -- well, some might say it's like -- it's like a matchup between the varsity team and the JV squad. (Applause.) (Laughs.)
So, Pennsylvania, ultimately, in this election, we each face a question: What kind of country do we want to live in? A country -- a country of freedom -- (applause) -- compassion, and rule of law or a country of chaos, fear, and hate?
AUDIENCE: Booo --
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And here's the beauty of our democracy: We each have the power to answer that question. We each have the power to answer that question. (Applause.) The power is with the people. (Applause.)
We love our country, and I believe it is the highest form of patriotism to fight for the ideals of our country. (Applause.) That -- that is how we preserve the promise of America.
And after all, you know, the promise of America is what makes it possible for two middle-class kids -- one a daughter of Oakland, California -- (applause) -- who was raised by a working mother; the other a son of the Nebraska plains who grew up working on a farm -- (applause) -- it's the promise of America, because only in America -- only in America is it possible for them together to make it all the way to the White House. (Applause.)
Only in America. Only in America. Only in America.
AUDIENCE: U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: That’s right.
AUDIENCE: U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: That’s right. That’s right.
And so, Coach Walz and I may hail from different corners of our great country, but our values are the same. And we both believe in lifting people up, not knocking them down. (Applause.)
He and I, we both know the vast majority of people in our country have so much more in common than what separates them. (Applause.) When we look at folks, we see, in our fellow Americans, neighbors, not enemies -- (applause) -- not enemies.
And so, my promise to you is this. Our campaign will reach out to everyone, from red states to blue states -- (applause) -- from the heartland to the coasts; in rural, urban, suburban, and Tribal communities. (Applause.) We are running a campaign on behalf of all Americans. (Applause.) And when elected, we will govern on behalf of all Americans. (Applause.)
And so, with Tim Walz by my side and with all of you at our side -- (applause) -- let us fight for the promise of our future. (Applause.)
And with that, I ask: Pennsylvania, are you ready to make your voices heard? (Applause.)
Do we believe in freedom? (Applause.)
Do we believe in opportunity? (Applause.)
Do we believe in the promise of America? (Applause.)
And are we ready to fight for it? (Applause.)
And when we fight --
AUDIENCE: We win!
THE VICE PRESIDENT: -- we win. (Applause.)
And now welcome the next vice president of the United States, Tim Walz. (Applause.)
GOVERNOR WALZ: Wow. (Applause.) Thank you. Wow.
Thank you, Philadelphia. (Applause.)
Thank you, Madam Vice President, for the trust you put in me but, maybe more so, thank you for bringing back the joy. (Applause.) I'm thrilled to be on this journey with you and Doug -- this incredible journey.
And, Pennsylvania, I know you know this, but, my God, what a treasure you have in Josh Shapiro. (Applause.) Holy hell, can this guy bring the fire. He can bring the fire. This is a visionary leader. Also, I have to tell you, everybody in America knows, when you need a bridge fixed, call that guy. (Applause.)
And I think sometimes we forget and you see people a little one-dimensional, but seeing a guy who cares so deeply about his family, a man with compassion, vision -- and I'll have to tell you this; I know this from experience -- there is no one you would rather go to a Springsteen concert in Jersey with than him -- (laughter) -- than that guy. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Bruce!
GOVERNOR WALZ: Bruce!
And I can't wait for all of you and America to get to know my incredible wife, Gwen, a 29-year public school educator --(applause) -- don't ever underestimate teachers -- (applause) -- and our two beautiful kids, Hope and Gus.
I couldn't be prouder to be on this ticket and to help Vice President Harris become what we all know is very, very good for us to think about: next president of the United States of America. (Applause.)
From her first day as a prosecutor, as a district attorney, attorney general of the great state of California -- (applause) -- a United States senator, and vice president of the United States -- (applause) -- Vice President Harris has fought on the side of the American people. (Applause.)
She took on the predators, she took on the fraudsters, she took down the transnational gangs, she stood up against powerful corporate interests, and she never hesitated to reach across the aisle if it meant improving people's lives. (Applause.) And I want all of you to hold this and don't ever underestimate the power of this: She does it all with a sense of joy. (Applause.)
I know a little something about that commitment to people. I was born in West Point, Nebraska. I lived in Butte, a small town of 400, where community was a way of life. Growing up, I spent the summers working on the family farm. My mom and dad taught us: Show generosity towards your neighbors and work for a common good. (Applause.)
My dad served in the Army during the Korean War, and with his encouragement, at 17, I joined the Army National Guard. (Applause.) For 24 years, I proudly wore the uniform of this nation. (Applause.) The National Guard gave me purpose, it gave me the strength of a shared commitment to something greater than ourselves, and just as it did for my dad and millions of others, the G.I. Bill gave me a shot at a college education. (Applause.)
My dad was a teacher; my brothers and sisters and I followed in their footsteps. (Applause.) Three out of four of us married teachers -- (applause) -- what we do. For nearly 20 years, I had the privilege of teaching high school social studies and coaching football -- (applause) -- including winning that state championship. (Laughs.) (Applause.) Don't ever close the yearbook. Don’t ever.
But it was my students -- they encouraged me to run for office. They saw in me what I was hoping to instill in them: a commitment of common good, a belief that one person can make a difference. So, in 2006 -- (applause) -- in 2006, I took a leap, and I ran for Congress. (Applause.) And because high school teachers are super optimistic, I was running in a district that had one Democrat since 1892. (Laughter.)
Well, my neighbors graced me with an opportunity to represent them in the United States House of Representatives. (Applause.) I'm proud of the work we did there together. I worked across the aisle on veterans issues, on agriculture, and on ways to grow rural economies. I learned the art of compromise without compromising my values. (Applause.)
And now as governor the great state of Minnesota, I bring those experiences to bear in tackling the challenges that are facing our great state. Minnesota’s strengths comes from our values, our commitment to working together, to seeing past our differences, to always being willing to lend a helping hand. Those are the same values I learned on the family farm and tried to instill in my students. I took it to Congress and to the state capitol, and now Vice President Harris and I are running to take those very values to the White House. (Applause.)
Now, Donald Trump sees the world a little differently than us.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
GOVERNOR WALZ: First of all, he doesn't know the first thing about service. (Applause.) He doesn't have time for it because he's too busy serving himself. (Applause.) Again and again and again, Trump weakens our economy to strengthen his own hand. (Applause.) He mocks our laws, he sows chaos and division, and that's to say nothing of his record as president. (Applause.)
He froze in the face of the COVID crisis, he drove our economy into the ground, and make no mistake, violent crime was up under Donald Trump. (Applause.) That's not even counting the crimes he committed. (Applause.)
You know --
AUDIENCE: Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
GOVERNOR WALZ: -- some of us --
AUDIENCE: Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
GOVERNOR WALZ: -- some of us are --
AUDIENCE: Lock him up! Lock him up! Lock him up!
GOVERNOR WALZ: Some of us -- some of us in here are old enough to remember. I see you down there. (Laughter.) I see those old white guys. (Laughter.) Some of us are old enough to remember when it was Republicans who were talking about freedom. It turns out now what they meant was the government should be free to invade your doctor's office.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
GOVERNOR WALZ: In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and their personal choices that they make. Even if we wouldn't make the same choice for ourselves, there's a golden rule: Mind your own damn business. (Applause.)
These guys are after my heart, chanting “Mind your own damn business.” That feels good, so thank you.
Look, that includes IVF, and this gets personal for me and my family. (Applause.) When my wife and I decided to have children, we spent years going through infertility treatments, and I remember praying every night for a call for good news, the pit in my stomach when the phone rang, and the agony when we heard that the treatments hadn't worked. So, it wasn't by chance that when we welcomed our daughter into the world, we named her Hope. (Applause.)
When the vice president and I talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make your own health care decisions -- (applause) -- and for our children to be free to go to school without worrying they’ll be shot dead in their classrooms. (Applause.)
By the way, as you heard, I was one of the best shots in Congress. But in Minnesota, we believe in the Second Amendment, but we also believe in commonsense gun violence laws. (Applause.)
Vice President Harris’s idea of freedom is a ticket for education to be that ticket to the middle class, not crippling debt -- (applause); air that's clean, water that's pure, communities that are safe -- (applause); a place where we settle our political differences not through violence but with our votes. (Applause.) And that's what this election is about: What direction will this country go in?
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Freedom! (Applause.)
GOVERNOR WALZ: We’re not going back. Well, Donald Trump would damn sure take us backwards, let's be clear about that.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
GOVERNOR WALZ: And don't believe him when he plays dumb. He knows exactly what Project 2025 will do to restrict our freedoms -- (applause) -- to rig the economy to help the super-rich.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
GOVERNOR WALZ: If Trump gets a chance to return, he's going to pick up exactly where he left off four years ago --
AUDIENCE: Booo --
GOVERNOR WALZ: -- only this time it will be much, much worse: raising costs on middle-class family. He will repea- -- repeal the Affordable Care Act, no doubt about it.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
GOVERNOR WALZ: He'll gut Social Security and Medicare.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
GOVERNOR WALZ: And when somebody tells who they are, they -- believe them. He said he would ban abortion across this country, and he'll do it whether or not Congress is there or not.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
GOVERNOR WALZ: Donald Trump is not fighting for you or your family.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: You are!
GOVERNOR WALZ: He never s- -- 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 up in Mar-a-Lago, wondering how he can cut taxes for his rich friends. (Applause.)
And I got to tell you, his running mate shares his dangerous and backward agenda for this country. (Applause.) J.D. Vance literally -- literally wrote the foreword for the architect of the Project 2025 agenda.
AUDIENCE: Booo --
GOVERNOR WALZ: Like all regular people I grew up with in the heartland, J.D. studied at Yale -- (laughter) -- had his career funded by Silicon Valley billionaires, and then wrote a bestseller trashing that community. Come on. That's not what Middle America is.
And I got to tell you, I can't wait to debate the guy. (Applause.) That is if -- if he's willing to get off the couch and show up, so -- (laughter). You see what I did there?
Look -- (laughs) -- I got to tell you -- pointing out just an observation of mine that I -- that I made. I just have to say it. You know it, you feel it: These guys are creepy and, yes, just weird as hell. That's what you see. (Laughs.) (Applause.) That's what you see.
So, you know what's out there, so say it with me: We aren't going back.
AUDIENCE: We aren’t going back!
GOVERNOR WALZ: We aren’t going back.
AUDIENCE: We're not going back! We're not going back! We're not going back!
GOVERNOR WALZ: We are not going back.
AUDIENCE: We're not going back! We're not going back! We're not going back!
GOVERNOR WALZ: So, we got 91 days. My God, that's easy. (Laughter.) We'll sleep when we're dead. (Applause.)
Over those next 91 days and every day in the White House, I’ll have Vice President Harris's back -- every single day. (Applause.) And we'll have yours. (Applause.)
You know how this works. We can't do it alone. We need you, each and every one of you. (Applause.) Go over to KamalaHarris.com, get on board, because we need you.
Freedom to make our own choices -- this leader -- this compassionate, careful, joyous leader -- believes in each and every one of you. (Applause.)
My God, you came here tonight to sit at the very top because you love this country and you're not going back. (Applause.)
She believes in the opportunity for every single person to join the middle class. She believes in the promise of America.
We just got to fight. We just got to fight, because as soon-to-be-President Harris says, when we fight --
AUDIENCE: We win!
GOVERNOR WALZ: -- we win. (Applause.)
Thank you, Philadelphia. Thank you, Vice President. God bless America. (Applause.)
END 6:49 P.M. EDT
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