Kamala Harris and Tim Walz wrapped up their first week together on the campaign trail with a rally in Las Vegas on Saturday, as the Democratic party seeks to further galvanize its base and win over undecided voters in battleground states such as Nevada.
In what was the vice-president and Minnesota governor’s fifth rally in five days, the pair hoped to continue building on the renewed wave of enthusiasm and engagement among some voters and organizers since Joe Biden stepped down from the presidential race amid growing concerns over his cognitive health and entrenched support for Israel’s war in Gaza.
Harris told supporters at the rally she supported eliminating taxes on tips, taking a similar position to her rival, Donald Trump, in an effort to win over service workers, an important constituency in the state.
“It is my promise to everyone here when I am president we will continue to fight for working families, including to raise the minimum wage and eliminate taxes on tips for service and hospitality workers,” Harris said.
A major poll by the New York Times and Siena College published on Saturday found Harris leading Trump by four points in three key states – Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, reversing the downward trend for Democrats as Biden’s popularity and performance tanked.
Also on Saturday, Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Lauren Hitt clarified to the Associated Press that Walz “misspoke” over a 2018 video about “weapons of war that I carried in war”. His recent rise has led to many Republicans, including the vice-presidential nominee, Ohio senator JD Vance, to question Walz’s military record.
Some of the criticism centered on comments by Walz in a 2018 video circulated on social media by the Harris campaign in which he speaks out against gun violence and says: “We can make sure that those weapons of war, that I carried in war, is the only place where those weapons are at.” The comment suggests Walz portrayed himself as someone who spent time in a combat zone.
Walz served 24 years in various army national guard units but he was never in a combat zone.
“Governor Walz would never insult or undermine any American’s service to this country – in fact, he thanks Senator Vance for putting his life on the line for our country. It’s the American way,” Hitt said.
“In making the case for why weapons of war should never be on our streets or in our classrooms, the governor misspoke. He did handle weapons of war and believes strongly that only military members trained to carry those deadly weapons should have access to them, unlike Donald Trump and JD Vance who prioritize the gun lobby over our children.”
Harris-Walz’s introductory swing-state tour – with stops in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Arizona – comes amid a string of new endorsements including on Friday the local affiliate of the Culinary Union, which represents 60,000 workers in casino resorts, hotels and restaurants in Las Vegas and Reno.
Also on Friday, in what will be regarded as a significant coup, the historically politically neutral League of United Latin American Citizens (Lulac), the oldest Latino civil rights group, broke with tradition to endorse the Democratic ticket.
“The politics of hate-mongering and scapegoating Latinos and immigrants must be stopped,” said Domingo Garcia, the chairman of Lulac Adelante Pac, in a statement. “Latinos understand how much is at stake in this election, for not only our community but our democracy.”
On Friday, an estimated 15,000 people braved the 105F (40C) heat to attend the Harris and Walz event in Glendale, Arizona, a record turnout, according to her campaign, in a state the Democrats will need to throw everything at to win over the diverse coalition of voters that delivered them victory in 2020.
The candidates were introduced by Senator Mark Kelly, the Arizona Democrat and former contender for the vice-president nomination who is also a navy veteran and former astronaut.
In her speech, Harris focused on immigration and abortion, two key issues in the border state and nationally, and she addressed the state’s Indigenous communities who played a crucial role in Biden’s 2020 victory.
“As president, I will tell you, I will always honor tribal sovereignty and respect tribal self-determination,” she told the enthusiastic, sweltering crowd. Arizona is home to 22 Native American tribes, who account for just more than 5% of the population.
The vice-president responded to pro-Palestinian protesters by calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and the freeing of hostages – a marked contrast to her response to a similar interruption at a rally in Detroit earlier this week, which frustrated some progressives who want the US to stop arming Israel.
“Now is the time, and the president and I are working around the clock every day to get that ceasefire deal done and bring the hostages home,” Harris said to cheers after briefly pausing her stump speech.
She also addressed the issue of the Israeli missile strikes on a school compound in Gaza City that killed at least 80 people, telling reporters travelling with her in Phoenix, Arizona: “Yet again, far too many civilians have been killed. We need a hostage deal and we need a cease-fire. The deal needs to get done and it needs to get done now.”
The Harris campaign said more than 12,000 people were in the arena in Las Vegas on Saturday and police turned away roughly 4,000 more because people in line were becoming ill in the Nevada heat as temperatures reached 109F (40C).
Harris was due to travel to San Francisco in her home state of California on Sunday, to attend a fundraiser with the former House speaker Nancy Pelosi. Nearly 700 people were expected at the event, predicted to raise more than $12m, a campaign official said.
Trump was in Montana on Friday to try to boost a close Senate race. Montana is another state with a large and diverse Indigenous community but it is reliably Republican, having voted for only two Democratic candidates since 1952. Trump broke from his usual rambling monologue to play two video collages of Harris in an effort to paint the former attorney general of California as a leftist radical.
In a sign of how Harris has shifted momentum in the election, analysts at the Cook Political Report recently changed their take on the winnability of some swing states, switching Arizona, Nevada and Georgia from “lean Republican” when Biden was the candidate to a “toss-up” with Harris leading the ticket.
