ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) 鈥 Vice President Kamala Harris declared herself and her new running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, 鈥渏oyful warriors" against Donald Trump on Wednesday as they spent their first full day campaigning together across the Midwest. They got an unusual glimpse of how hotly contested the region would be when they overlapped on a Wisconsin tarmac with Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance.
The Democrats visited Wisconsin and Michigan, hoping to shore up support among the younger, diverse, labor-friendly voters who were instrumental in helping President win the 2020 election.
Harris told the day's first rally in Eau Claire, "As Tim Walz likes to point out, we are joyful warriors.鈥 Contributing to that feeling, the Harris campaign said it had raised $36 million in the first 24 hours after she announced Walz as her running mate.
The vice president said the pair looks at the future with optimism, unlike Trump, the former president and Republican White House nominee, whom she accused of being stuck in the past and preferring a confrontational style of politics 鈥 even as she criticized her opponent herself.
鈥淪omeone who suggests we should terminate the Constitution of the United States should never again have the chance to sit behind the seal of the United States," Harris said, her voice rising.
Dan Miller, from Pelican Lake, Wisconsin, who was among 12,000-plus Eau Claire rally attendees, said Biden 鈥渉as been an incredible president, but he just isn鈥檛 the same messenger.鈥
"And sometimes you need a better messenger,鈥 Miller said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 Kamala.鈥
Later, at an evening event in an airport hangar outside Detroit where the campaign announced a crowd of 15,000, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer 鈥 herself frequently mentioned as a future presidential candidate 鈥 declared, 鈥淲e need a strong woman in the White House and it鈥檚 about damn time.鈥
鈥淭his election鈥檚 going to be a fight,鈥 Harris told the same event. "We like a good fight.鈥
The swing was especially important for Harris since Biden's winning coalition from four years ago has shown signs of fraying over the summer 鈥 particularly in Michigan, which has emerged as a focal point of over Biden鈥檚 handling of the .
With the president now out of the race, leaders of the Arab American community and key unions say they are encouraged by Harris' running mate choice. Walz鈥檚 addition to the ticket has soothed , signaling to some leaders that Harris had heard concerns about another leading contender for the vice presidential slot, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, who they felt had gone too far in his support for Israel.
鈥淭he party is recognizing that there鈥檚 a coalition they have to rebuild,鈥 said Abdullah Hammoud, the mayor of the heavily Arab American community of Dearborn, Michigan. 鈥淧icking Walz is another sign of good faith.鈥
Lingering dissensions were nonetheless on display during Harris鈥 Michigan speech, when she was interrupted by protesters opposing Israel's fighting with Hamas. At first, Harris said to those trying to disrupt her, 鈥淚 am here because I believe in democracy and everybody鈥檚 voice matters.鈥
That was a response , who often said when interrupted at his rallies that protesters should be allowed to speak before being removed by security. Harris, however, then quickly pivoted to a tougher tack, continuing, 鈥淏ut I am speaking now.鈥 That sparked cheers from most of the audience.
鈥淚f you want Donald Trump to win, then say that,鈥 the vice president continued over the protesters. 鈥淥therwise, I鈥檓 speaking.鈥
Those demonstrating were eventually led away, but not before a tense confrontation between Harris supporters and protesters who screamed at one another.
Trump, meanwhile, has emphasized appealing to Midwestern voters with his choice of , an Ohio senator, as his running mate. Vance bracketed the Harris-Walz ticket with Michigan and Wisconsin appearances of his own Wednesday.
He overlapped enough that while Harris was still greeting a group of Girl Scouts who came to see her arrive at Chippewa Valley Regional Airport in Wisconsin, Vance鈥檚 campaign plane landed nearby and was taxiing in the distance. Harris posed for a group picture with the girls around the same time Vance was deplaning, and he began walking over to Air Force Two, trailed by his security detail.
The vice president eventually climbed into her motorcade, and it pulled away before they could interact. Still, that the pair came so close to doing so was unusual given the carefully scripted nature of campaign schedules.
鈥淚 just wanted to check out my future plane,鈥 Vance later told reporters, meaning that he鈥檇 travel on Air Force Two should he and Trump be elected in November. He also criticized Harris for not holding press conferences since she became a presidential candidate.
鈥淚f those people want to call me weird I call it a badge of honor,鈥 Vance said, responding to a moniker Walz used to describe him that made the Minnesota governor notable online in the days before Harris tapped him as her running mate.
Walz had some critical words for Vance in both Wisconsin and Michigan but trained most of his sharpest words on Trump, saying the former president 鈥渕ocks our laws, he sows chaos and division amongst the people and that鈥檚 to say nothing of the job he did as president.鈥
Walz also stressed that he and Harris are promoting neighborliness and common community, even suggesting that his state's football fans were happy for Detroit's long-underperforming NFL team when it nearly made the most recent Super Bowl: 鈥淰ikings fans are proud of the Lions.鈥
The momentum could be pivotal in Detroit, which is nearly 80% Black, where leaders administration officials that voter apathy could cost them in a city that's typically a stronghold for their party.
Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the NAACP Detroit branch, said the excitement in the city now is 鈥渕ind-blowing.鈥 He likened it to Barack Obama's first presidential run in 2008, when voters waited in long lines to help elect the nation's first Black president.
Some Democratic leaders in Michigan had grown concerned that choosing the wrong running mate could slow that momentum, however, and fracture a coalition that has only recently .
Arab American leaders, who hold in Michigan due to a large presence in metro Detroit, had been vocal in their opposition to Shapiro due to his past comments regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Those leaders specifically pointed to a comment he made earlier this year regarding protests on university campuses, which they felt unfairly compared the actions of student protesters to those of white supremacists. Shapiro, who is Jewish, has criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while remaining a staunch supporter of Israel.
Osama Siblani, the publisher of the Dearborn-based Arab American News and a prominent leader in Michigan鈥檚 large Muslim community, was among those who met with White House adviser Tom Perez in Michigan last week. Perez has maintained contact with some Dearborn leaders since he and other there with Biden to mend ties with the community.
Siblani said he met with Perez for over an hour on July 29 and told him that if Harris chose Shapiro, it would 鈥渟hut down鈥 future conversations.
鈥淣ot picking Shapiro is a very good step. It cracks the door open a little more for us,鈥 Siblani said.
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Cappelletti reported from Michigan. Associated Press writers Mark Vancleave, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, Tom Krisher in Detroit, Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan, and Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.
