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What's happening on the campaign trail today
- Vice President Kamala Harris today picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. He joined her onstage at this evening's rally in Philadelphia, where they're kicking off a swing through battleground states.
- Walz has been governor since 2019 and previously represented Minnesota's 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House for over a decade. Before his political career, he taught high school, coached football and served in the Army National Guard for 24 years.
- Where there's Harris, there's also Sen. JD Vance of Ohio. Former President Donald Trump's running mate held a rally in Philadelphia hours before Harris took the stage at her event. Vance then plans to rally supporters in the same cities Harris and Walz are visiting this week.
- It's primary day in Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington. Democratic Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, who's a member of the "squad," lost her re-election bid, and Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington, a Republican who voted to impeach Trump, faces a challenger of his own.
Big dad energy: How Harris got to Walz
Harris had just 16 days to pick someone she could be linked to forever. She ended up going with one of the options that she — and the rest of the world — knew the least.
Walz was a dark horse from the start, left off early lists of potential running mates. But no one used the 16 days since Biden stepped aside more effectively than Walz, who charmed Harris and national Democrats alike with a Diet Mountain Dew-fueled media tour that labeled the opposition as “weird” and won him a spot in history.
The choice will leave an indelible imprint on the image of Harris that is still forming for many Americans, who know her far less than they do Biden or Trump, raising the stakes of a choice that can be difficult in the best of times, let alone under unprecedented time pressure.
Rep. Cori Bush loses Democratic primary after campaign onslaught from pro-Israel groups
Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., has lost her primary, handing a pro-Israel group another victory against a member of the progressive “squad” of lawmakers.
St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell has defeated Bush, NBC News projects. Bell is expected to carry Missouri’s deep-blue 1st Congressional District in November after a primary that exposed the party’s divisions over Israel, with Bush a vocal critic of the Israeli government and the country’s response to Hamas’ terrorist attacks on Oct. 7.
“I’ll be a progressive member of Congress, but I’m also going to be a practical member of Congress,” Bell told NBC News over the weekend. “I recognize that we can’t get anything done without majorities, and so that means we need to work with our fellow Democrats up there, and we also when we can reach across the aisle and work with folks to get things done for this region and for this country.”
Rep. Elissa Slotkin thanks Sen. Debbie Stabenow for passing 'the torch'
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, who is running to succeed Sen. Debbie Stabenow, thanked her fellow Michigan Democrat tonight for deciding to “pass the torch.”
"As I embark on the next 90 days ahead of this general election, I’m doing so only because she made this incredibly courageous decision to pass the torch deliberately,” Slotkin said of Stabenow, 74, after they embraced at Slotkin's watch party following her primary victory.
Slotkin, 48, used similar "torch" language in July when she called on Biden to drop his re-election bid.
And in a nod to the Harris campaign’s “Just plain weird” messaging about the Trump-Vance ticket, Slotkin said: “For everyone who believes our country is better than our current politics, I ask you to give me a shot. My message is simple. Join us on Team Normal.”
Walz promotes new camo campaign cap
After his first day as Harris' running mate, Walz posted a photo of himself wearing a camouflage cap with the Harris-Walz logo, with a link to purchase it for $40 on the campaign's website.
Walz has long been a hunter and regularly touts his gun ownership as a reason he's in favor of gun control measures.
"You are not going to frame this that this is taking your guns, because I’m going to frame it that you’re not sticking up for our children,” he told reporters at a news conference last year, criticizing opponents of gun laws who accused Democrats of wanting to take away their guns.
Tim Walz’s election results don’t show a clear blue-collar boost
Harris’ tactical calculation with her running mate pick is that Walz could provide a decisive boost in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — three states that, if Democrats can hold on to them, would make their ticket highly likely to win.
One of the Democrats’ chief challenges in those states is in blue-collar and small-town areas, where the party once ran competitively (or at least respectably) before the floor fell out amid and after Trump’s emergence in 2016. The thinking is that Walz’s story and style will be relatable and reassuring to some of these voters, blunting at least part of the Trump GOP’s newfound dominance.
There’s a catch, though: Walz wasn’t able to do that himself in his last campaign.
With Harris and Walz, Democrats put abortion rights at the top of the agenda
Months before he was selected as Harris’ running mate, Walz toured a Planned Parenthood clinic in his state alongside Harris — the first time a sitting president or vice president had visited an abortion provider.
The visit in March put Minnesota’s efforts to safeguard reproductive rights in the spotlight.
Now, Harris and Walz represent a Democratic ticket that vocally supports access to abortion and fertility treatment in an election in which those issues are expected to be important to voters and a focus of many Democratic campaigns.
Tim Walz was named ‘most inspiring teacher’ — and other memories from former students
As a teacher and coach at Mankato West High School, Walz gave out hallway high-fives, was named “most inspiring teacher,” motivated students to become educators themselves and helped create a turnaround story for the football team.
Now governor of Minnesota and the vice presidential pick on the Democratic presidential ticket, Walz is still remembered fondly by his former students and players.
“He was probably one of the most well-liked teachers in the school while he taught there,” said Katie Heintz, 41, who had Walz as a teacher her junior year of high school and is now the director of a library in the area.
Buttigieg jokes about standing in for Vance in debate prep
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tonight joked about his experience playing former Vice President Mike Pence in 2020 as Harris prepped for a vice presidential debate, indicating that he'd be willing to play Vance this year if asked.
In an interview on MSNBC, host Jen Psaki asked Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana: "If that debate happens, [Walz is] not going to have a lot of time to prepare. He's going to need someone to stand in for JD Vance at debate prep. You know any Democrats who can play a millennial Ivy League-educated military veteran from the Midwest?"
Buttigieg chuckled as Psaki listed off his own biography, which is similar to Vance's.
"Obviously, I'll make myself useful however, I can," he said. "I'm still recovering a little bit from the experience of trying to inhabit the mind of Mike Pence in order to play that role for Kamala Harris when she was in debate prep four years ago."
‘We are the underdogs’: Harris introduces running mate Walz as a coach, veteran and protector of reproductive rights
Harris introduced her running mate to the nation at a raucous rally in Pennsylvania’s biggest city tonight, playing up Walz’s background as a teacher, football coach, national guardsman and “one of the best marksmen” on Capitol Hill.
Thousands of supporters roared as Harris and Walz alternated between playing up his bio and taking shots at Trump and Vance.
“We are the underdogs in this race,” Harris said. “But we have the momentum, and I know exactly what we are up against.”
Rep. Madeleine Dean disappointed Shapiro wasn't picked but 'delighted' with Walz
Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., said tonight that her immediate reaction to hearing Gov. Josh Shapiro wouldn't be Harris’ running mate was “disappointment,” adding she’s a huge fan of Shapiro's.
But she immediately added in remarks to reporters after the Harris-Walz rally: "I have gotten to know Tim Walz and his history, his spectacular spirit of service with a twist — a great sense of humor, very intellectual, middle-of-the-road, middle-of-the-country sensibilities. And just a really smart guy. So I’m just delighted.”