EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — Vice President Kamala Harris and her new running mate Tim Walz made their first Midwestern campaign stop here Wednesday — speaking to thousands of supporters as they attempted to firm up their standing in pivotal swing states.
Walz, the 60-year-old governor of nearby Minnesota, and Harris, 59, presented themselves as middle-class champions — as the Republican ticket of Donald Trump and JD Vance makes similar appeals citing high inflation and record illegal immigration under the Biden-Harris administration.
Walz recounted his past as a school teacher and National Guard member told the thousands-strong outdoor audience in western Wisconsin that his message on abortion was “mind your own damn business.”
Trump, the former president and current GOP nominee, is “too busy servicing [sic] himself,” Walz said.
The swing-state crowd of mostly senior citizens experienced multiple heat-related incidents, including a guest seeming to faint — and seemed cool to Walz’s attacks on Trump, 78, and Vance as “not normal,” “creepy” and “weird as hell.”
Walz made similar personal attacks at his first joint rally with Harris on Tuesday night — including a vulgar reference to a couch, which was well-received by the more mixed-age audience in Philadelphia.
The large crowd that showed up for Harris and Walz was a striking reflection of enthusiasm that contrasted notably with Biden’s poorly attended events ahead of his decision last month to retire amid concerns about his mental acuity.
At one point, Harris appeared to respond to a “lock him up!” chant from the crowd against Trump — who faces a quartet of criminal cases that he claims are politically motivated — by saying “the courts are going to handle that part of it.”
Popular hometown indie band Bon Iver served as an opening act for Harris and Walz, whose state employs many of the area’s residents.
Harris claimed at the Wisconsin rally that Trump would “weaken the middle class” — a charge the GOP contender has made about her own policies.
The VP described herself as “a daughter of Oakland, California, who was raised by a working mother and had a summer job at McDonald’s” and Walz as “a son of the Nebraska plains who grew up working on a farm.”
She also referred to her running mate as “Coach Walz,” referencing his time as a high school football coach.
The branding apparently worked for some rally attendees. Dave Jacoby, 65, of Trego, Wis, told The Post that “the country’s going to fall in love with Tim Walz.”
“He’s a hunter like I am,” the Midwesterner said.
