Harris, Walz Energize Crowd at First Nevada Rally as Democratic Presidential Ticket
In a high-energy rally held in Las Vegas last Saturday, Vice President Kamala Harris, alongside her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, rallied their supporters while acknowledging the momentum of their recently launched presidential campaign. However, they warned their loyal followers that defeating former President Donald Trump would not be an easy task. “We have 87 days until the election,” Harris informed the exuberant crowd at the Thomas & Mack Center, adding that it would be a tight race until the very end.
With over 12,000 attendees, according to the Harris-Walz campaign, the rally marked Harris’s seventh trip to Nevada this year but her first as the Democratic presidential nominee. The event came to pass only three weeks after President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race, in which he named Harris as the Democratic party’s nominee. An estimated 4,000 people were turned away by local law enforcement due to fears of overheating in the triple-digit heat. Yet, Walz comforted those who were unable to secure entry by reassuring, “Don’t worry, we’re going to be back a lot.”
Stance on Key Issues
The Democratic ticket of Harris and Walz, and their opening speakers, alternated their speeches with grave warnings and elation. Throughout the rally, the speakers reminded their audience about the threats to personal freedoms and democracy, and simultaneously celebrated the prospect of electing the country’s first woman president.
Walz commended Harris and her supporters, stating that politics can also be about supporting “goodness.” He applauded Harris for bringing joy to politics. Meanwhile, Harris stated the 2024 elections stake was “even higher” than in 2016 or 2020 in light of the recent Supreme Court ruling granting criminal immunity to presidents for actions taken in the office.
The vice president was critical of Trump, blaming him for undermining a bipartisan immigration reform package and associating him with Project 2025, a comprehensive plan developed by a right-wing think tank aiming to significantly expand presidential powers and reconfigure the federal government.
Support from Nevada’s Democrats
The Harris-Walz campaign was heartily endorsed by all five of Nevada’s Congressional Democrats. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, who was Nevada’s attorney general from 2007 to 2015 while Harris served as California’s AG from 2011 to 2017, referred to Harris as a “good friend”. According to media reports, she was among those consulted by Harris for her vice-presidential pick. Gesturing towards the significance of each vote, Cortez Masto reminded the gathering of her win in 2022 – a marginal victory that allowed Democrats to maintain a majority in the US Senate.
As a part of their campaign, Harris and Walz’s policies emphasized protecting reproductive freedom, implementing common-sense gun laws, and advancing federal student loan programs. These were greeted with fervor by the crowd, but Harris made a point of reminding her audience that their enthusiasm would need to be sustained into Election Day in November. “Let’s not pay too much attention to the polls,” she urged, maintaining that there was hard work ahead. However, apprehension was not the only sentiment present during the rally; invoking a sentiment of elation and a sense of victory, Walz proclaimed, “I know very clearly that I am preaching to the choir, but hear my words for you: The choir needs to sing.”
Ongoing Struggle for Victory
The Trump campaign suggested that the support would not last through to the polls in November despite recent statistics indicating Harris’s lead over Trump in key swing states. Yet, with Harris and Walz leading the charge, the Democrats remain committed to the upcoming battle in the election.
