Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her new running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, put his Midwestern credentials to the test on Wednesday (August 7) with rallies in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan.
The Democratic candidates are using the campaign swing states to introduce Walz, a former teacher and football coach and a veteran of the Army National Guard, to voters around the country after he beat out better-known Democrats for the No. 2 spot.
Polls show Harris has erased the lead Trump had built during the final faltering weeks of President Joe Biden’s campaign, and a re-energized Democratic Party has flooded her campaign with donations since she rose to the top of the ticket two weeks ago.
Democrats regard Wisconsin and Michigan as near must-wins in the 2024 election. The states have loomed large for the party since Hillary Clinton’s unexpected defeats there helped clinch Trump’s 2016 win.
Biden beat Trump in both states in 2020. But opinion polls showed him facing a close battle in Michigan before he dropped out of the race last month, with many members of the state’s significant Arab and Muslim American population fuming over the humanitarian crisis of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
