Arab American community, key unions cheered by election of Harris Waltz as running mate
EAU CLAIRE, Wis.: Leaders of the Arab American community and key labor unions in the American Midwest said Wednesday that Vice President Kamala Harris made the right choice in selecting Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz as her running mate in the November election.
Some Democratic leaders in Michigan worry that picking the wrong running mate could slow momentum and fracture a coalition that has only recently begun to coalesce after President Joe Biden's landmark decision to drop out of the race and give way to Harris.
Adding Waltz to the ticket changed some of the tension, signaling to some leaders that Harris heard concerns about the other leading vice presidential contender, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, who they say has gone too far in his support for Israel.
“The party recognizes that there is a coalition that they have to rebuild,” said Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan. “Choosing Walz is another sign of good faith.”
Harris and Walz spent their first full day of campaigning together in the Midwest on Wednesday, where they got a rare glimpse of just how tough the fight will be in the region when they squared off on the Wisconsin tarmac with GOP vice presidential candidate Jay D. Wensom.
Democrats visited Wisconsin and Michigan, hoping to shore up support among the young, diverse, affluent voters who were instrumental in helping President Joe Biden win the 2020 election.
At the first rally of the day in Eau Claire, Harris said, “As Tim Waltz likes to celebrate, we are joyful warriors.” Harris' company said it raised $36 million in the first 24 hours after it announced Waltz as its partner.
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 favoring a confrontational style of politics – even as she herself criticized her opponent.
“Someone who suggests that we should end the United States Constitution should never again have the opportunity to sit behind the seal of the United States,” Harris said, her voice rising to applause from the crowd, which her campaign said was more than 12,000 people.
Wednesday's campaign shake-up was particularly important for her and Waltz as Biden's winning coalition four years ago showed signs of crumbling over the summer — especially in Michigan, which has become a hotbed of Democratic divisiveness over Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Speaking at a Democratic rally in Wisconsin ahead of Harris, Walz had some criticism of Vance, but directed most of his harshest remarks at Trump, saying the former president “makes a mockery of our laws, he creates chaos and division among people, and that's not let alone the job he did as president.”
Republicans are trying to portray Harris and Walz as too liberal for the Midwest, with Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., saying in a conference call that Walz is “part of the radical, crazy left, just like Vice President Harris.”
A burst of enthusiasm
But Democrats' enthusiasm grew after Harris announced her candidacy and chose Waltz as her running mate.
“We love Joe. Joe was an incredible president, but he's not the right messenger at all. And sometimes you need a better messenger,” said Dan Miller of Pelican Lake, Wis., who attended the Walz-Harris rally. “And this is Kamala.”
The momentum could be key in Detroit, which is nearly 80 percent black, where leaders have warned administration officials for months that voter apathy could cost them in a city that is usually a stronghold for their party.
The Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the Detroit chapter of the NAACP, said the excitement in the city right now is “staggering.” He compared it to Barack Obama's first presidential election in 2008, when voters stood in long lines to help elect the nation's first black president.
Some Democratic leaders in Michigan worry that picking the wrong running mate could slow that momentum and tear apart a coalition that has only recently begun to coalesce.
Arab American leaders, who have significant influence in Michigan due to their large presence in metro Detroit, have been vocal in their opposition to Shapiro because of his past comments regarding the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
These leaders specifically pointed to a comment he made earlier this year regarding protests on college campuses in which he said it was unfair to compare the actions of student protesters to those of white supremacists. Shapiro, who is Jewish, has criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while remaining a staunch supporter of Israel.
Osama Siblani, publisher of the Dearborn-based Arab American News and a prominent leader in 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 official business, he maintained contact with some Dearborn leaders as he and other top officials traveled there with Biden to build community relations.
Siblani said he met with Perez for more than an hour on July 29 and told him that if Harris chose Shapiro, it would “shut down” any future talks.
“Not selecting Shapiro is a very good move. It opens the door even more for us,” said Siblani, who, along with Hammoud, emphasized that any meaningful conversation must include a discussion of policy.
Duel schedule
Trump also emphasized his appeal to Midwestern voters by choosing Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, as his running mate. Vance even bracketed the Harris-Waltz ticket with Michigan and Wisconsin on Wednesday.
The match schedules coincided well enough, and while Harris was still greeting a group of Girl Scouts who had come to watch her arrive 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 Vance was getting off the plane, and he began walking toward Air Force Two, escorted by his security.
Eventually the vice president climbed into her motorcade and he drove off before they could interact. Still, for the pair to come this close on tarmac was unusual, given the carefully scripted nature of the campaign's schedule.
“I just wanted to check out my future plane,” Vance later told reporters, implying that he will travel on Air Force Two if he and Trump are elected in November. He also criticized Harris for not answering reporters' questions, although she sometimes answers pointed questions while boarding or exiting planes for campaign stops.
Vance later told the crowd at his event in Eau Claire, “We actually just saw the vice president's plane,” then joked about the reporters traveling with him: “I figured they must be lonely because Kamala Harris does not answer questions.'
“If these people want to call me weird, I call it a badge of honor,” Vance said, responding to the nickname Waltz used to describe him, which made the Minnesota governor famous online days before Harris named him as her running mate. .
