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Speaking together on Tuesday, Aug. 6, in their first joint rally since Harris tapped Walz as her running mate, Vice President Harris, age 59, said this election will come down to one thing: freedom.
"The freedom from gun violence, freedom to vote, freedom to love who you wish to with pride, and the freedom for women to do what they wish with their body and not have the government tell them what to do," she said to rapturous applause.
Harris struck a tone of progress with no room to retreat or give ground on the biggest issues facing the country.
Harris promised to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and secure reproductive rights for women on day one. She also said her administration would push for universal background checks to purchase firearms and fight to get an assault weapons ban.
However, she also promised more compassionate politics, where Americans treat one another like neighbors and not enemies.
Harris said the 60-year-old Walz had a history of reaching across the aisle to get things done, and it's why she believes he will be a strong vice president.
"He's a husband to Gwen, a father to Hope and Gus, a veteran — Sgt. Major Walz — and to the people of Southern Minnesota, He was a congressman," she said. "To his former high school students he was Mr. Walz. And to his former high school football players he was Coach Walz. And in 91 days, the nation will know Coach Walz by another name: Vice President of the United States."
Walz, who entered the nation's political conscience only a few weeks ago after several viral interviews, used that flair to rile up the crowd.
"We've got 91 days (until Election Day)," he said. "My god that's easy. We'll sleep when we're dead."
He tore into Republican nominee former President Donald Trump as a man who grew up with wealth and can't understand the plight of the middle class. He slammed Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance, as an elite who climbed out of the Appalachian Mountains only to turn around the cast aspersions on the people he grew up with — someone who takes money from billionaires to do their bidding in Congress regardless of what it means for the people he represents.
Harris and Walz promised to bolster the middle class with policies meant to lower "too high" prices and the cost of living for American families.
Walz characterized Trump's campaign as mean-spirited with a "backwards agenda."
Walz's speech focused on not returning to Trump's America, which he said was riddled with fear, anger, and mismanagement.
"Trump froze in the face of the COVID crisis," Walz said. "Make no mistake, violent crime was up under Donald Trump. And that's not even counting the crimes he committed."
Walz added that he grew up understanding the Golden Rule: "Mind your own damn business."
He thanked Harris for "bringing back the joy" to American politics and not spiteful rhetoric of exclusion.
Harris was just as effusive toward Walz.
“He’s the kind of person who makes people feel like they belong and then inspires them to dream big," she said. "... That’s the kind of vice president America deserves."
Tuesday's rally was the first stop in a seven-state campaign blitz.
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