As Republicans seek to brand their rivals as dangerously liberal, Democrats are matching Donald Trump’s public displays of enthusiasm.
U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris holds a rally with vice president pick in Philadelphia.
By ItsSoSanDiego | Aug 7th, 2024 | PHILADELPHIA
ALMOST EVERYTHING about the scene in a packed 10,000-seat basketball arena in Philadelphia on the evening of August 6th would have been unimaginable just six weeks ago. First, there was the sheer size and Swiftie-like zeal of a Democratic crowd waving their glow-in-the-dark wristbands, dancing to a DJ’s tunes, and fired by belief that their ticket might actually win the White House in November. Then there were the star attractions on stage: Kamala Harris, formally ratified as the party’s presidential nominee in an online delegate vote overnight, just over two weeks after Joe Biden’s decision to step aside. With her stood Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, Ms. Harris’s newly announced vice-presidential running-mate. Not since 1968 has one of America’s two major parties switched out a presidential nominee so late in a campaign. On current evidence of the move’s effects, they might consider doing so more often.
The rally’s purpose was to introduce Mr. Walz and to begin selling the rich Americana in his biography. Ms. Harris seemed particularly impressed by Mr. Walz’s long-ago side job as a “Friday Night Lights” American-football coach at the high school where he also taught social studies. She repeatedly referred to her running-mate as “Coach Walz” and conveyed an impression that the duties of a vice-president, admittedly vague, might somehow include winning sports championships. Overall, Ms. Harris made clear why she had selected Mr. Walz from a shortlist of qualified finalists. She positioned his life story—humble origins in small-town Nebraska, military service, teaching, responsible gun ownership, and not a whiff of law school or Wall Street fortune-hunting on his résumé—as a testament to her campaign’s Biden-esque focus on the middle class.
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Ms. Harris closed her remarks by celebrating the new Democratic ticket’s “only in America” pairing: she, “a daughter of Oakland, California, who was raised by a working mother”; and he, a “son of the Nebraska plains who grew up working on a farm.” She made no mention of foreign policy or immigration. Her forays into domestic policy largely stuck to familiar ground, such as protecting Obamacare and reproductive rights, and enacting new benefits such as paid family leave. Apart from relentless attacks on Donald Trump, which both Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz served up with verve to their roaring audience, Ms. Harris’s still-incipient campaign remains long on identity narrative and short on an agenda for governing. This is likely to continue through the made-for-TV Democratic convention in Chicago later this month—and perhaps all the way to November if strong polling numbers allow the campaign to get away with it.
The day’s subtext for Philadelphia Democrats was Ms. Harris’s decision to pass over Pennsylvania’s favorite son, Governor Josh Shapiro, who had been a front-runner to become Ms. Harris’s running mate. Pennsylvania is critical to Ms. Harris’s prospects of winning the electoral college, and Mr. Shapiro is popular there. Leading local Democrats had unabashedly endorsed Mr. Shapiro as a vice-presidential candidate. But the governor, who is Jewish, came under concerted attack from the national party’s left wing, largely over his support for school choice and Israel. Ms. Harris nonetheless interviewed him as a finalist at her Washington residence on August 4th, before dropping the news soon afterwards that he would not be the one. At the rally, despite this awkwardness, Mr. Shapiro showed off his rousing Barack Obama-derived oratory, and he elaborately praised Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz, who elaborately praised him in return.
Among rally-goers, the mood was generally one of understanding that politics has a ruthless side. Ted Stones, the Democratic leader in Philadelphia’s 12th ward, said he was “disappointed” when he heard the news, but he predicted that the local party would nonetheless “turn out and go.” Tatiana, who works in human resources, said the performative homage paid to Mr. Shapiro by Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz on stage “was calculated, but definitely needed.” The rally itself was an antidote to her disappointment: “It just fueled me.” Other attendees acknowledged that Mr. Shapiro had baggage because of his support for Israel and that Mr. Walz complemented Ms. Harris in ways their governor did not.
For their part, Republicans pounced on the perceived dissing of Mr. Shapiro. Mr. Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, speaking just before Mr. Walz’s selection was announced, said “antisemitism” in the Democratic Party would be to blame if Mr. Shapiro was overlooked. Mr. Vance followed up by traveling to Philadelphia, where he drew several hundred supporters to a 1,000-seat arena in South Philadelphia. Mr. Vance dismissed Mr. Walz as “one of the most far-left radicals in the entire United States government,” saying that his selection by Ms. Harris showed that she had “bent the knee to the far left of her party.” He and other Republicans were quick to brand the Harris-Walz ticket as “dangerously liberal.”
A campaign being conducted so far largely through social-media-ready accusations about being “weird” or “radical” may eventually require informed and nuanced comments about weakening job growth, interest-rate policy, reform at the Supreme Court, the war in Ukraine, and widening conflict in the Middle East. At the moment, neither campaign seems in a hurry to go there. Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump have jousted about scheduling a debate but have nothing firm on the calendar. Mr. Walz drew yet more roars when he told the crowd he “can’t wait” to debate Mr. Vance, “that is, if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up.” In the meantime, he and Ms. Harris are embarking on a week-long barnstorming tour of swing states. Mr. Trump has long taken pride in his emotive, well-attended rallies as an expression of his committed support. For now, at least, he has credible competition. ■
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