Kamala Harris and Tim Walz hold rally in Philadelphia

Vice President Kamala Harris and her new running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, made their first public appearance together at an AA rally in Philadelphia Tuesday evening.

“I’m so proud to be on this ticket,” Walz told an excited crowd of more than 12,000, according to the Harris campaign. “Thank you for bringing joy back.”

“From the day I announced my candidacy, I began looking for partners to help me build this brighter future,” Harris said during a rally speech Tuesday. “I found that leader: Tim Walz, the governor of the great state of Minnesota.”

Just two weeks ago, Wallace was a relatively unknown Democrat on the national stage. But his sharp, candid media interviews and his appealing, middle-class, Midwestern profile quickly put him on Harris’ shortlist for vice presidential nomination.

Harris’s campaign officially announced Walz as her running mate Tuesday morning, solidifying her position as the Democratic nominee with just 91 days until the election.

Waltz offered sharp criticisms of former President Donald Trump and the Republican field of Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, some of which drew laughter from the audience.

“Without a doubt, violent crime has increased under Donald Trump,” Walls said. “And that’s not even including the crimes he’s committed.”

The Minnesota governor also sought to draw a sharp contrast between himself and Vance, who has built his political career on representing Midwestern values.

“Like all the other people I grew up with in the Midwest, JD went to Yale, got bankrolled by Silicon Valley billionaires, and wrote a bestseller criticizing that community,” Waltz joked.

Harris called attention to several elements of Waltz’s biography in her speech, including his time in the Army National Guard, his decades as a high school teacher and football coach, and his time advising the school’s gay-straight coalition.

Harris also introduced a few new lines in her stump speeches, which sounded tailor-made to appeal to moderates and political independents.

“Here’s my promise to you: Our campaign will reach everyone from red states to blue states, from the Midwest to the coasts, in rural, urban, suburban and tribal communities,” Harris said, emphasizing her campaign’s strategy of using Waltz to expand the Democratic coalition.

“We are campaigning on behalf of all Americans,” she said.

Since Waltz was announced as her running mate, the campaign has released new Harris-Waltz merchandise, run several ads featuring Waltz and posted social media statements.

The campaign said it has raised $20 million in donations since Waltz was announced, a drop in the bucket compared to the $310 million the campaign raised in July alone.

Over the past two weeks, Walz has gone through an accelerated vice presidential vetting process, joining contenders like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Kentucky Gov. Andy Besha.

Shapiro, the second-strongest contender, joined a Harris-Wales rally in his hometown Tuesday evening and gave an impassioned speech endorsing her despite not winning the vice presidential nomination, according to reports.

“I will do everything I can to make sure Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are the next leaders of our country,” Shapiro told the crowd. “Tim Walz is a great patriot. Let me tell you, Tim Walz is a dear friend.”

Harris’s decision to be her running mate underscores a frenzied push by Democrats to change course in the weeks since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race following a dismal performance in the June debate with Trump.

“I started my campaign for president of the United States just two weeks ago, and it’s been a bit of a whirlwind,” Harris said at a Philadelphia rally, acknowledging the turbocharged timeline her campaign is operating on. “Now we have work to do. We have to get to the general election and win.”