Harris' choice of Walz as running mate encourages Arab American community and key unions
EAU CLAIRE, Wisconsin: Representatives of the Arab-American community and major labor unions in the U.S. Midwest said Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris made the right choice in nominating Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate for the November election.
There was concern among some top Democratic politicians in Michigan that choosing the wrong running mate could slow momentum and split a coalition that had only recently begun to solidify after President Joe Biden decided to drop out of the race and let Harris take the lead.
Walz's inclusion in the race eased some tensions and signaled to some politicians that Harris had heard concerns about another likely vice presidential candidate, Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, who they felt had gone too far in his support for Israel.
“The party recognizes that it needs to rebuild a coalition,” said Abdullah Hammoud, mayor of Dearborn, Michigan. “The election of Walz is another sign of goodwill.”
Harris and Walz spent their first day of campaigning together in the Midwest on Wednesday. When they met with Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance on the tarmac in Wisconsin, they got an unusual insight into the toughness of the campaign in this region.
Democrats visited Wisconsin and Michigan in hopes of bolstering support among the younger, more diverse and pro-worker voters who played a key role in President Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election.
Harris said at the first rally of the day in Eau Claire, “As Tim Walz likes to point out, we are joyful warriors.” This sentiment was also fueled by the fact that Harris' campaign said it had raised $36 million in the first 24 hours after announcing Walz as her running mate.
The vice president said the couple was optimistic about the future, unlike former President Donald Trump, whom she accused of being stuck in the past and preferring a confrontational style of politics – even as she criticized her opponent herself.
“Anyone who suggests we should suspend the Constitution of the United States should never again have the chance to sit behind the seal of the United States,” Harris said to applause from a crowd that her campaign said numbered more than 12,000 people.
Wednesday's campaign momentum was particularly important for her and Walz, as Biden's successful coalition from four years ago had shown signs of splintering over the summer – particularly in Michigan, which has become a flashpoint for Democratic divisions over Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
In his speech to Harris at the Democratic rally in Wisconsin, Walz had some critical words for Vance, but his harshest words were for Trump. He said the former president “mocks our laws, he sows chaos and discord among the people, and that's not even mentioning his work as president.”
Republicans are trying to portray Harris and Walz as too liberal for the Midwest. Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) said in a conference call that Walz is “part of the radical, crazy left, just like Vice President Harris.”
Growing enthusiasm
But enthusiasm among Democrats has grown since Harris announced her candidacy and named Walz as her running mate.
“We love Joe. Joe was an incredible president, but he's just not the same ambassador anymore. And sometimes you need a better ambassador,” said Dan Miller of Pelican Lake, Wisconsin, who attended Walz-Harris' rally. “And that's Kamala.”
In Detroit, where nearly 80 percent of the population is black, this trend could be crucial. Politicians there have been warning the government for months that voter fatigue could prove costly in a city that is normally a stronghold of their party.
The Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit NAACP branch, said the excitement in the city was “mind-blowing,” comparing it to Barack Obama's first presidential run in 2008, when voters lined up long lines to elect the country's first black president.
But some Democratic politicians in Michigan fear that choosing the wrong vice president could slow that momentum and split a coalition that has only recently begun to form.
Arab-American politicians, who have great influence in Michigan due to their strong presence in the Detroit metropolitan area, had been vocal in their opposition to Shapiro because of his past comments on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
These politicians pointed in particular to a comment he made earlier this year about protests on college campuses, which they felt he unfairly compared the actions of student protesters to those of white supremacists. Shapiro, who is of Jewish descent, has criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but remained a staunch supporter of Israel.
Osama Siblani, publisher of Dearborn-based Arab American News and a prominent leader of Michigan's large Muslim community, was among those who met with White House adviser Tom Perez in Michigan last week.
Although Perez was in the state on an official mission, he has remained in touch with some Dearborn leaders since he and other senior officials traveled there with Biden to improve relations with the community.
Siblani said he met with Perez for over an hour on July 29 and told him that if Harris chose Shapiro, it would “end” future talks.
“Not selecting Shapiro is a very good step. It opens the door a crack for us,” said Siblani, who, like Hammoud, stressed that all meaningful talks also include political discussions.
Duel plans
Trump has also made it a point to appeal to voters in the Midwestern states by choosing Ohio Republican Senator Vance as his running mate. Vance even linked the Harris-Walz ticket to his own appearances in Michigan and Wisconsin on Wednesday.
The competing schedules overlapped so much that while Harris was still greeting a group of Girl Scouts who had come to watch her arrival at Wisconsin's Chippewa Valley Regional Airport, Vance's campaign plane landed nearby and taxied in the distance.
Harris posed for a group photo with the girls around the same time that Vance exited the plane and made his way to Air Force Two, followed by his security staff.
The vice president eventually got into her convoy and it drove off before they could speak, but that the two were so close to doing so on a tarmac was still unusual given their carefully planned campaign schedules.
“I just wanted to test out my future airplane,” Vance later told reporters, meaning he would fly on Air Force Two if he and Trump are elected in November. He also criticized Harris for not taking questions from reporters, although she sometimes answers shouted questions as she boards or disembarks her plane for campaign stops.
Later, Vance told the crowd at his event in Eau Claire, “We actually just saw the vice president's plane,” and then joked about the reporters traveling with him, “I thought they must be lonely because Kamala Harris isn't answering questions.”
“If these people want to call me weird, I call it a badge of honor,” Vance said, responding to a nickname Walz had used for him that had made the Minnesota governor famous online in the days before Harris nominated him as her vice presidential candidate.
