Harris, Walz to campaign in Wisconsin, Michigan – DW – 08/07/2024

US presidential hopeful Kamala Harris and her newly-announced running mate Tim Walz will campaign in the key battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin on Wednesday.

The pair will stop in Eau Claire, Wisconsin and Detroit, Michigan, a day after they kicked off their joint campaign in Pennsylvania.

The two states are part of the “Blue Wall” that Democrats will need to win to elect Harris to the White House.

Wisconsin and Michigan will also be an early test for the Midwestern credentials of Walz, who served as the governor of nearby Minnesota.

Trump calls Walz a ‘shocking pick’

Earlier on Wednesday, Republican nominee Donald Trump slammed Harris and Walz in an interview on the breakfast TV show “Fox & Friends.”

Trump called Walz a “shocking pick” and sought to paint him as a radical progressive sidekick for Harris.

“He’s a smarter version of her,” Trump said.

Trump also said he was keen to debate Harris, after he said he would skip a scheduled debate on broadcaster ABC with the Democratic nominee after US President Joe Biden pulled out of the race.

Trump has instead called for a debate with Harris on the conservative-friendly Fox network with a live audience.  

“I hear she’s sort of a nasty person but not a good, good debater. But we’ll see because we’ll be debating her, I guess in the pretty near future. It’s going to be announced fairly soon but we’ll be debating her,” Trump said.

Trump previously said he would prefer to debate Harris on Fox, which is perceived as being friendlier to him, but also said that “every network loves me very much right now.”

zc/wd (Reuters, AP)