What we learned from the road trip with Vice President Harris and Tim Walz : NPR

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Vice President Kamala Harris is campaigning in Arizona today with her running mate, Tim Walz, by her side. In a campaign that has been moving at warp speed, this week has been a whirlwind for the Democratic ticket. NPR senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith takes us on the candidates’ swing state tour.

TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: When Air Force Two landed at the Detroit Airport, it was instantly clear that this is a different campaign than the grim March to November Democrats had been girding themselves for.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: All right, (inaudible). Get ready for the future president of the United States, Kamala Harris. (Inaudible). Make some noise.

KEITH: There was a party atmosphere, with thousands of supporters spilling out of the aircraft hangar where the rally was being held. Harris aides danced on the tarmac, and DJs pumped up the crowd as everyone waited for Harris and Walz to step off the plane, and when they did, the place went wild. It was a scene that resembled Trump rallies from an earlier era. But for Democrats, there hasn’t been a nominee who could consistently attract these kinds of crowds since Obama. Just 24 hours earlier, Harris and Walz were in an arena, Temple University, together on stage for the first time.

VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: Good evening, Philadelphia.

KEITH: Harris introduced Walz, a governor and former congressman who got his start as a high school teacher and football coach.

HARRIS: Under those Friday night lights, Coach Walz motivated his players to believe they could achieve anything. And together, they defied the odds – hear this out – going from a winless record to the school’s first-ever state championship.

KEITH: When Walz took the mic, he thanked Harris, who less than 12 hours earlier had called him at home in Minnesota to tell him he was the one.

TIM WALZ: Thank you, Madam Vice President, for the trust you put in me. But maybe more so, thank you for bringing back the joy.

KEITH: For Democrats, joy and politics haven’t gone together in a long time. Josie Steller and Tim Cincoski left their house at 7:30 in the morning to get to the Harris-Walz rally in Eau Claire, Wis., Wednesday afternoon.

TIM CINCOSKI: We were talking about that on the car right here. Like, four, three, four weeks ago, we were pretty down in the dumps, you know, and pretty worried, had a pretty gloomy outlook.

JOSIE STELLER: Like, deleting social media just to, like, not look at the negativity and everything.

CINCOSKI: And now, yeah, it just feels like it flipped so much.

KEITH: This week on the campaign trail, Harris, who Republicans have mocked for her laugh, is going all in on joy.

HARRIS: In this fight, as Tim Walz likes to point out, we are joyful warriors because we know that while fighting for a brighter future may be hard work, hard work is good work. Hard work is good work.

KEITH: Just like the Mankato West football team Walz coached, Harris says she and Walz are still the underdogs in this race. Recent polls show Harris edging ahead of Trump, but they also show a race that could be won or lost within the margin of error. Standing in front of an estimated 15,000 people in Detroit, a record for the campaign, Walz tried to prepare supporters for the hard work ahead.

WALZ: And here’s my thing. There’s a lot of things going to happen, by the way. We got about 91 days, and I keep telling people it’s 91 days. My God, you can do anything for 91 days, 90. Christ, I haven’t slept in 24 hours. You know why? We’ll sleep when we’re dead. We’ll sleep when we’re dead.

KEITH: Presidential campaigns can be punishing, and there’s little chance that Harris, even with all her recent good fortune, will face a glide path to November. There were hints of the challenges that could come. Protesters interrupted her remarks in Detroit, demanding a cease-fire in Gaza. And after the second interruption, she stopped mid-sentence to shut them down.

HARRIS: You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that, otherwise, I’m speaking.

KEITH: By the next morning, she was getting criticism from both the left and the right about where she stands on Israel and its war with Hamas. And more broadly, the pressure is building for Harris to move beyond feel-good rally speeches to detail what she wants to do as president and how she intends to do it. She committed to a sit-down interview by month’s end and at least one debate with former President Trump in September. It’s all moving so fast. Tamara Keith, NPR News.

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