Anika Begay
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, greet supporters at Pittsburgh International Airport on Sunday.
Julia Nikhinson/AP
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Julia Nikhinson/AP
Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz campaigned in western Pennsylvania on Sunday, laying out their message for voters in the key state ahead of the Democratic National Convention.
The first stop on the Democrats’ “bus tour” was a campaign office in conservative Beaver County, where Harris and Walz sat in on a call center. Former President Trump won Beaver County with nearly 60 percent of the vote in 2020.
Harris and Emhoff call potential voters from a campaign office in Rochester, Pennsylvania, on Sunday. (Photo by Kevin Lamarque/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
KEVIN LAMARQUE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
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KEVIN LAMARQUE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Pennsylvania, which Trump won in 2016 and Biden in 2020, remains perhaps the most coveted state for both candidates. Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, will make separate campaign stops in York and Philadelphia on Monday.
Harris and Walz then spoke to supporters outside the field office. Harris told the crowd that her campaign was “born out of love for country.”
“When you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for,” Harris said. “When you stand for workers, you fight for workers. When you stand for freedom, whether it’s making decisions about your body or love, who you love, you fight for those things. … That’s what our election is about.”
Harris also said that in recent years there has been “a perversion” that “makes it seem like the measure of a leader’s strength is who he puts down, when in fact we know that the real measure of a leader’s strength is who he lifts up.”
In his speech, Walz recalled his days as a high school football coach.
“There’s an old saying, ‘You don’t hope to win. You prepare to win and you give it your all,'” Walz said. “And you know, when that game is over, you want to know that you gave it your all. And that’s all we ask of you. We leave it all on the field.”
The bus tour is expected to include additional stops in Beaver County, as well as the Democratic stronghold of Allegheny County, which includes Pittsburgh and its suburbs. Trump campaigned on the opposite side of the state on Saturday, holding a rally in Wilkes-Barre.
