Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz launched his first solo campaign stop as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate Tuesday by leaning into his union background and championing workers in a speech to a labor group in Los Angeles.
The event comes exactly one week since Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, named him as her running mate. In the whirlwind days since, Walz has catapulted from little-known Midwestern governor to national sensation.
As a former union member himself, Walz greeted the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees convention by telling attendees, “When unions are strong, America’s strong.” He was a member of the National Education Assn. during his years as a high school teacher, and he frequently touted his background.
“I happen to be the first union member on a presidential ticket since Ronald Reagan,” Walz said. “But rest assured, I won’t lose my way.”
Walz also called for more gun control and raises for teachers. He pointed to one of Harris’ first jobs working at McDonald’s as proof of her credibility growing up in a working-class family. “Can you simply picture Donald Trump working at a McDonald’s?” Walz said.
He directed several jabs at his opponents, at one point calling Republican presidential nominee and former President Trump a “scab” for supporting so-called right-to-work laws, which enable a person to work for a company without joining a union or paying dues. The governor also addressed comments by Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), Trump’s running mate, that Walz had misled the public about his military history.
In 2018, when speaking on gun control, Walz said he carried weapons in a war. A campaign spokesperson later said Walz misspoke, as he did not serve in combat — though he did have a tour overseas in Italy. Vance, a Marine veteran, accused Walz of abandoning his unit, which deployed to Iraq a few months after Walz retired in order to run for Congress.
“I am damn proud of my service to this country,” Walz said, “and I firmly believe that you should never denigrate another person’s service record. For anyone who put on that uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I just have a few simple words: Thank you for your service and sacrifice.”
The Minnesota governor implored the audience to have hope, but also to organize, volunteer and vote.
“I will cop to being an eternal optimist. That’s me. But I come by it honestly. I supervised the damn high school lunchroom for 20 years. You do not survive that without being an optimist,” he said, laughing.
“Tim is more than an ally. He understands us because he is one of us, a union brother who spent years as a public service worker in his community,” AFSCME President Lee Saunders said. “He embodies the very best of public service, leading with empathy, looking after every one and leaving behind no one.”
Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz speaks at the AFSCME convention in downtown Los Angeles.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
The convention Tuesday morning had a rocky start, with lines stretching down halls throughout the Los Angeles Convention Center as people waited to get through a chaotic security apparatus. But a festive atmosphere pervaded the hall before Walz arrived, as attendees sang and danced to “Under the Bridge” performed by the Freedom Singers, a choir from Skid Row. Nearly 4,000 people sat under state delegation signs in a large, darkened convention hall but leaped to their feet to cheer loudly and wave green AFSCME-for-Harris-Walz signs when the governor walked onstage as “Small Town” by John Mellencamp played.
“Probably should be a few more union members in elected office,” Walz said, turning to Saunders. “You might want to work on that.”
The campaign stop underlines the importance of labor to the Harris-Walz campaign, which has enjoyed widespread support from unions such as the Culinary Workers Union of Nevada, which endorsed Harris over the weekend. Harris told supporters in Las Vegas that she backed a policy to end taxes on tips — a proposal frequently touted by Trump in recent weeks. The Trump campaign called Harris “desperate” for copying his proposal.
“Tim Walz is likely arriving in California today hoping to find a sympathetic voter base that is enthusiastic about his and Kamala Harris’ radical agenda,” California Republican Party Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson said in a statement. “Unfortunately for him, Californians are all too familiar with the ramifications of far-left policies championed by Harris and are leaving California’s Democrat Party by the tens of thousands as a result.”
After Los Angeles, Walz was scheduled to headline a fundraiser in Newport Beach. Later this week, the governor will travel to a fundraiser in Denver, then on to the East Coast for stops in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
He and Harris spent the last week in a battleground blitz with stops in Pennsylvania and Michigan. They spent the weekend on a Western tour, headlining rallies in Nevada and Arizona.
After Las Vegas, Harris went to San Francisco for a homecoming fundraiser, where she brought in $13 million.
