Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump offered a preview Wednesday of what the final 90 days of the 2024 election could look like, with both candidates leaning heavily on their respective running mates to help make their campaign pitch to voters.
Trump tapped Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) as his running mate on the first night of the Republican National Convention in July, while Harris settled on Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) on Tuesday ahead of a joint rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Now, Trump and Vance are trying to make an issue of their counterparts hiding from the press, with Vance in particular being deployed to shadow Harris and Walz’s campaign appearances Wednesday in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Trump himself began the day with a call in to Fox & Friends to say he “could not be more thrilled” that Harris picked Walz as her running mate and also indicated he’s warming to the idea of debating Harris on the original Sept. 10 date he’d previously agreed to with President Joe Biden.
“I don’t know how she debates,” Trump said. “I hear she’s sort of a nasty person but not a good debater, but we’ll see because we’ll be debating her, I guess, in the pretty near future. It’s going to be announced fairly soon, but we’ll be debating her.”
He’d previously tried to move the debate to Sept. 4 and the network from “fake news” ABC to the more GOP-friendly Fox, but Harris’s team rejected the idea. With Harris eschewing unscripted events and steadily improving in the polls, Trump may hope a debate can reset the race.
“I think debates are very important, and I think she’ll be exposed, just like Biden was exposed,” Trump told the Fox hosts.
Vance continued the theme by holding a solo press conference in Detroit where he called on reporters individually. He chided Harris for not doing the same.
“Kamala Harris pretends to be something different depending on which audience she’s speaking to,” Vance said. “She has been able to hide this a little bit because for the past couple of weeks, she only speaks in front of a teleprompter, she never gives unscripted remarks, and she’s hidden from the American media and from the American people.”
Driving the point home, Vance then approached Harris’s plane when both landed within minutes of each other at the airport in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, asking aloud why Harris won’t talk to the press.
“I also thought you guys may get lonely because the vice president doesn’t answer questions from reporters,” he added, referencing the fact that Harris has yet to hold a press conference or interview since jumping into the 2024 race.
Vance, a U.S. Marine veteran, also opened a new line of attack against Walz specifically, highlighting questions about Walz’s 24 years of National Guard service and his decision to retire prior to being deployed to Iraq.
The question is whether the press or, more importantly, the voters will care. Harris and Walz met an enthusiastic audience in Eau Claire in the afternoon and talked up their “joyful warrior” campaign.
“We are joyful warriors,” Harris said to waves of cheers at the outdoor event. “Because we know that while fighting for a brighter future may be hard work, hard work is good.”
The fired-up crowd broke into chants of “V-P Walz!” “We’re not going back!” and “They’re so weird!” throughout the pair’s remarks, and the Harris campaign said that 12,000 people attended the event, which included a concert from Wisconsin-based indie rock band Bon Iver.
Afterward, Harris stopped at a local store to buy cheese curds and raw honey, then left the state without taking questions from reporters before flying to Detroit with Walz for her second rally of the day. On the flight to Detroit, Walz held an off the record conversation with the traveling press corps, a move Harris has taken to since entering the race herself in late July.
In Michigan, the Democratic ticket pulled a page out of the Trump playbook, opting to host an outdoor rally at the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, where Beyonce’s “Run the World” blasted over the loudspeaker upon Air Force Two’s arrival. “Freedom,” also by Beyonce, followed as the ticket approached the hangar on foot.
Harris campaign officials said that 15,000 were in attendance at the Detroit rally.
As for the remarks themselves, Harris and Walz largely stuck to the expected script.
“Holy hell, can you throw a party here in Michigan?” Walz told the crowd before echoing Harris’s comments from earlier in the day. “The one thing that I will not forgive [Republicans] for is they’re trying to steal the joy from this country. They try and steal the joy, but you know what? You know what? Our next president brings the joy, she emanates the joy.”
“When you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for. We know what we stand for,” Harris in turn stated after taking the stage. “We are joyful warriors.”
Despite Harris’s theme of positivity, she was repeatedly interrupted by protesters. She and Biden have been pressured for months by pro-Palestinian activists calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
“I’m here because we believe in democracy. Everyone’s voice matters,” Harris said in response to the first interruption. “But I am speaking now. I am speaking.”
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Despite attempting to continue with her remarks, the interruptions did not stop.
“You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking,” Harris retorted, earning her biggest applause of the night.
