Moments after taking the stage for their first rally together Tuesday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz thanked Vice President Kamala Harris for putting her trust in him as her new running mate. But, he added, \u201cmaybe more so, thank you for bringing back the joy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just a month ago, Democrats were feeling less than joyful as they agonized over the fate of President Joe Biden\u2019s reelection campaign after a bad debate performance. His decision to eventually drop out and back Harris as his replacement reinvigorated the party.<\/p>\n
In his first day on the ticket, Walz appeared to give Democrats another jolt of energy.<\/p>\n
His selection drew plaudits from elected officials along the ideological spectrum ranging from Sen. Joe Manchin III (I-W.Va.) to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). But it also gave rank-and-file Democrats another fresh face to get excited about on social media and the campaign trail, with his Midwestern folksiness and happy-warrior demeanor.<\/p>\n
Olivia Julianna, a 21-year-old digital strategist and content creator from Houston, scored a front-row seat at the Philadelphia rally, and though Walz was not her first choice for running mate, she said she left \u201ccompletely sold.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just has this raw sense of humility and humanity that I feel like you don\u2019t see from politicians very often,\u201d said Julianna, who often posts about politics to her nearly 375,000 X followers. \u201cHe comes across as very authentic and genuine. And I think that kind of energy and authenticity will inspire hope\u201d across the political spectrum.<\/p>\n
It remains to be seen if the energy can shake up the race, where Harris and former president Donald Trump are still polling closely in battleground states.<\/p>\n
Trump, during an appearance Wednesday on Fox News, sought to portray Walz as \u201ca very, very liberal man\u201d and \u201ca shocking pick\u201d \u2014 echoing lines that other Republicans have embraced in trying to discredit Harris\u2019s selection.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could not be more thrilled,\u201d Trump said, suggesting Harris had passed over better alternatives.<\/p>\n
Vice-presidential candidates rarely fundamentally alter the race. And in politics, the best day for any candidate is often considered their first day, before the opposition\u2019s attacks set in. But for now, Democrats see at least an intangible benefit to the fresh enthusiasm.<\/p>\n
\u201cFun campaigns are winning campaigns,\u201d Democratic operative Caitlin Legacki wrote on X. \u201cAnd this is a very, very fun campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n
That has been especially true on social media. From Harris\u2019s announcement of Walz until 5 p.m. Tuesday, posts about Walz on TikTok racked up over 43 million collective views. Sixty-nine percent of those views came from videos produced by progressive content creators and 28 percent came from politically independent creators, according to CredoIQ, a social media analytics firm.<\/p>\n
The Harris campaign has helped stoke the online fervor, selling a camouflage \u201cWalz Harris\u201d hat after some supporters suggested it as a play on a similar-looking hat made popular by singer Chappell Roan. A campaign official said the product sold out in a half-hour.<\/p>\n
\u201cWalz has gone from virtual unknown to household name overnight,\u201d said Brendan Gahan, chief executive officer and co-founder of Creator Authority, a digital and influencer marketing agency. \u201cThis surge in popularity isn\u2019t just driven by political pundits; he\u2019s having a viral moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris had a similar experience after Biden withdrew. Social media filled with celebratory memes referencing her May 2023 remarks recalling how her mother would question young people if they think they \u201cjust fell out of a coconut tree.\u201d The singer Charli XCX gave Harris another boost online when she posted on X, \u201ckamala IS brat,\u201d referring to the singer\u2019s term for a carefree lifestyle.<\/p>\n
Harris\u2019s devotees became \u201ccoconut-pilled.\u201d And before long, advocates for her to pick the Minnesota governor were \u201cWalz-pilled,\u201d impressed with his down-to-earth appeal and liberal policy achievements in Minnesota, such as making school lunch free.<\/p>\n
Harris leaned into Walz\u2019s folksiness during their first rally together Tuesday in Philadelphia. As he laughed and applauded effusively alongside her, she repeatedly called him \u201cCoach Walz\u201d and noted how he also went by \u201cMr. Walz\u201d when he taught high school students.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd in 91 days, the nation will know Coach Walz by another name \u2014 vice president of the United States,\u201d Harris said to big cheers.<\/p>\n
Speaking after Harris, Walz offered no shortage of lighthearted moments. He shouted out to \u201cold White guys\u201d in the crowd, alluded to a baseless internet joke about Trump\u2019s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) \u2014 the crowd roared with laughter \u2014 and reprised the jab that helped make him a serious vice-presidential contender in the first place, calling the Republican ticket \u201cjust weird as hell.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julianna said Harris\u2019s campaign has been smart to leverage all the online exuberance about Harris and Walz in a way that energizes highly engaged supporters but is still accessible to everyday voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just really, really brilliant,\u201d said Julianna, who rose to prominence in 2022 after using online ridicule from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to raise money for abortion access.<\/p>\n
Lindsey Gamble, an online marketing and digital strategy consultant in Boston, also praised the Harris campaign for tapping into the online energy, saying she \u201chas been really digital first throughout this campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like FOMO [Fear of Missing Out], when you see someone tweeting about [Walz] or posting about him, it\u2019s sparking interest to dive deeper and learn more about him,\u201d Gamble said.<\/p>\n
The hours before the rally saw abundant jokes on social media about what some called his \u201cMidwestern dad vibes.\u201d Enthusiasts circulated a five-year-old video of him and his teenage daughter trying to record a message about the start of hands-free driving in Minnesota, bickering with one another while seated together in the front seat of a car.<\/p>\n
\u201cTim Walz 100000% stands at his doorstep when it\u2019s raining and says \u2018we needed this,\u2019\u201d the prominent gun-control activist David Hogg said Tuesday on social media, spawning many other posts applying stereotypical dad behavior to Walz.<\/p>\n
As Democrats celebrated, Republican sought to exploit what they argue are Walz\u2019s weaknesses.<\/p>\n
While some Republicans went after Walz directly, others also used his debut to question Harris\u2019s judgment. Vance said it \u201cjust highlights how radical Kamala Harris is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a person who listened to the Hamas wing of her own party in selecting a nominee,\u201d Vance told reporters, referring to Harris\u2019s decision to pass over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, whose Israel positions had drawn some liberal opposition.<\/p>\n
Other Republicans took to social media to also criticize Harris\u2019s decision to pass over Shapiro \u2014 and express surprise that she did not pick the popular governor of a swing state.<\/p>\n
As Republicans started attacking Walz in dark terms \u2014 Trump said in an email to supporters that Walz will \u201cunleash HELL ON EARTH\u201d \u2014 some supporters responded with joyful past photos of the governor, including of him laughing heartily while holding a piglet.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoconut-pilled. Walz-pilled,\u201d the former Barack Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau said on X as the news of Walz\u2019s selection broke. \u201cWhat else can the internet manifest for this election??\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Moments after taking the stage for their first rally together Tuesday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz thanked Vice President Kamala Harris for putting her trust in him as her new running mate. But, he added, \u201cmaybe more so, thank you for bringing back the joy.\u201d Just a month ago, Democrats were feeling less than joyful as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7448,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}