- New vice president, new strategy: the US Democrats change the campaign
Multiple times, the words of Kamala Harris are drowned out by the noise. Thousands of spectators cheer, clap, and cheer around the 59-year-old. Again and again, her supporters start chanting. The Democratic US presidential candidate beams. The man standing diagonally behind her beams even more: Tim Walz.
The governor of Minnesota, whom few outside his state knew until recently, is the big star this evening. Harris introduces the 60-year-old as her new vice-presidential candidate at a sports stadium in Philadelphia. Walz listens with a broad grin, repeatedly puts his hand on his heart, folds his hands in a gesture of thanks, and makes several bows.
In the next three months, the Democrats must introduce Walz to the country and the party. This is no easy task. And with the new vice-presidential candidate, they are also restructuring their campaign. A bit more lightness as a contrast to the gloomy horror scenarios of their opponent Donald Trump - that's at least the plan. Whether it will work remains to be seen.
On a casual approach
This also includes meeting Trump with more wit than panic. That's now Walz's job. Harris has hired him for messages that are straightforward, with a casual touch from the Midwest. In his debut in Philadelphia, Walz says about Trump, "During his term, the crime rate in the US has gone up, and that's not even counting the crimes he himself has committed." The crowd roars.
And Walz repeatedly tries to present the Democrats as the new feel-good team. Harris has "brought joy back," he calls out to the hall. While the party was less enthusiastic about the vice-presidential candidate in recent years, Harris has now become the new hope.
Until Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race, there was a gloomy mood over the Democrats - alternating between hopelessness, resignation, and pure despair. Now Biden is gone, Harris is here, and the base feels a sense of renewal.
New "energy" and "enthusiasm"
"Until Biden withdrew, the mood was really down," says Ken Grimes, who came to the rally from a suburb of Philadelphia. "Now it's different. Everyone is excited." The mere prospect that the presidential race no longer seems entirely lost has put the party in great excitement in just a few weeks. However, it is completely unclear whether Harris can ultimately beat Trump. The fact that the race against a convicted criminal who has been surrounded by scandals for years is so close should give the Democrats pause for thought.
But the people at the rally push that thought away. They are just happy to have left the latest Biden crisis behind and talk about new "energy" and "enthusiasm" in the party - men, women, young, old, black, white, all alike. Suddenly, they say, the race is open again, and there's a chance that Harris, not Trump, will move into the White House - as the first woman in the history of the country, and as the first black woman to boot.
Harris is already a pioneer in the vice-presidential office in both respects. She can score more points among black voters, women, and young people than Trump. But the former prosecutor from the West Coast state of California has a harder time with male white voters from the working class. And that's where Walz comes in - even if some spectators in Philadelphia admit that they didn't even know he existed until recently.
The Democrat grew up in the countryside, in a small town in the state of Nebraska, served in the military, was in the National Guard, later became a teacher and football coach, before transitioning into politics, first as a Representative in the House, and since 2019, he has been the Governor of Minnesota. Walz has a far less glamorous resume than others who were in the conversation for the vice spot. He doesn't come from one of the swing states, the most hotly contested and potentially decisive states, and has been largely unknown on the national stage so far. However, he brings a lot to the table that Harris needs.
Walz is a white man from the Midwest who grew up in modest circumstances, down-to-earth, pragmatic, a hunter, and a gun owner. At the same time, he holds liberal views, supports the right to abortion, advocates for stricter gun laws, or free meals for students. He has strong support from the left wing of the party. Trump rails that it would be the "most radical-left duo in American history". However, some in the Democratic base might find the combination of Harris and Walz too liberal.
In the coming days, the two will embark on a whirlwind campaign tour through all the swing states. The stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the kickoff for this. Trump is sending his vice, J.D. Vance, to all the same places as the Democratic duo.
Walz vs. Vance
Walz is, in a way, what Harris is to Trump with Vance: a partner who grew up in simple circumstances in the countryside - a connection to the working class and those just getting by. However, unlike Walz, Vance didn't become a teacher and football coach later, but a financial investor with a law degree from the elite American university, Yale.
Walz uses this against him and jokes in Philadelphia: "Like all normal people I grew up with in the heartland, J.D. went to Yale, had his career funded by billionaires, and then wrote a bestseller bashing the people of his home." Laughter erupts in the hall again.
The new strategy against Trump
Walz has shaped the new strategy of not taking Trump and Vance too seriously. Trump often paints grim scenarios of the country's downfall under the leadership of "leftist" Democrats who would destroy the USA, do nothing about a criminal migrant invasion, and lead the country into a third world war.
For a long time, the Democrats under Biden also relied on dark warnings that Trump was an existential threat to democracy and world peace. But with Walz, there was a shift.
The unassuming man from Minnesota gradually changed the way the entire party talks about Trump over the past few weeks. Walz is the inventor of the "weird" label for the former president - roughly "strange" or "odd" in English. Walz started this in an interview, and gradually, all the prominent heads in the party picked up the slogan. In Philadelphia, Walz also uses his campaign catchphrase, saying about Trump and Vance: "These guys are creepy, and yes, they're damn weird."
Now it's become a rallying cry that echoes through the halls: "He's a weirdo," the crowd chants about Trump (roughly "He's a weirdo" in English). Not being taken seriously - that might particularly irk Trump. And it's an attack that's hard to counter. With Walz, there's likely to be more of this from now on.
During their nationwide campaign tour, the United States Democratic duo of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will visit several swing states. To contrast with Donald Trump's gloomy horror scenarios, the team aims to present a more casual and less panicked approach.
Despite being relatively unknown outside Minnesota before his vice-presidential nomination, Tim Walz brings a unique perspective to the Democratic ticket as a white man from the Midwest, with experience as a teacher, coach, and governor.
