During a Wisconsin rally Monday evening, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) led three Midwestern governors in making the pitch to swing-state voters to put Vice President Kamala Harris in the Oval Office.
With just 22 days until the final ballots are cast, Govs. Tony Evers (D-WI) and Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) joined Harris’s running mate on a Green Bay stage to support the vice president, who is in a tough battle against former President Donald Trump to solidify support in the Midwest. The region will likely sway the outcome of the election.
“You’ve got a Lions fan, a Packers fan, and a Vikings fan all on the same ticket up here,” Walz joked with the crowd. “The only thing more amazing here is you got Dick Cheney, Bernie Sanders, and Taylor Swift all on the same ticket.”
Continuing on a more serious note, Walz opened up a blistering line of accusations against Trump, saying the former president would use the military to “dispel the enemy within” if elected to a second term.
“The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, said no one has ever been more dangerous to this country than Donald Trump,” Walz said.
“He is a fascist to his core. Let that sink in, and don’t be a damn bit afraid of saying it because that’s exactly who he is,” Walz continued before pivoting to praise Harris.
“But here’s the thing, here’s the good news: We get to do something about it. If you’re like me, I am sick and tired of this guy, ready to turn the page on him, and we can do that by making Kamala Harris president of the United States,” he said.
As the latest polls indicate that Trump is in a dead heat with Harris in Michigan and Wisconsin, Walz made an appeal to pro-Second Amendment voters that a Harris administration wouldn’t strip away gun rights.
“I’m gonna take no crap off these guys. I know guns. I’m a veteran. I’m a hunter. Kamala Harris is a gun owner, as we found out. We’re not going to let them make this about the Second Amendment,” Walz said, referencing school shootings. “Because we defend the Second Amendment, but our first responsibility is the safety and security of our children.”
Harris has taken progressive stances on gun rights throughout the majority of her political career. As San Francisco district attorney, Harris supported a 2005 ballot measure that prohibited San Francisco residents from possessing pistols. Conservatives called the mandatory “gun buyback” proposal Harris backed during her brief 2020 presidential bid a “confiscation scheme.”
During her 2024 presidential campaign, Harris has positioned herself as a pro-Second Amendment gun owner, though she continues to support an “assault weapons” ban. Harris recently called the gun, which is owned by roughly 16 million Americans, a “tool of war.”
Whitmer focused her attacks on Trump’s economic policy, telling voters, “We here in the Midwest, we know his record of broken promises, right?”
“The Midwest is best, and the world’s got to learn, right?” she told the Wisconsin crowd. “We know Trump claimed he would save American manufacturing. On this issue, and like so many others, he was all talk.”
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Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s Democratic governor urged people to get out and vote for Harris as he noted that “so many undecided voters” have yet to choose their candidate.
“When it came time to picking a vice presidential nominee, she had the good sense to pick a Midwestern, former teacher-turned-governor,” Evers praised. “And I know my friend Tim Walz is going to be an incredible, incredible vice president. That’s because governors get s*** done.”