Northeast
Harris, Walz kick off battleground state swing as VP's running mate introduced to Americans
PHILADELPHIA — Democrat Gov. Tim Walz is not a household name outside his home state of Minnesota.
So, in the hours after Vice President Harris named the former longtime congressman and two-term governor as her running mate on the Democratic Party’s 2024 ticket, the Harris campaign instantly began working to showcase Walz.
His biography was blasted out on social media platforms, including Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter, and the Harris campaign spotlighted the governor in a new video.
And the vice president and Walz on Tuesday evening, in Pennsylvania’s largest city, kicked off a jam-packed campaign swing through the key battleground states that will likely determine the outcome of their 2024 election matchup against former President Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.
VICE PRESIDENT HARRIS NAMES MINNESOTA GOV TIM WALZ AS HER RUNNING MATE
The Harris campaign says that over 12,000 people attended the first rally with Vice President Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
The campaign said that the rally drew over 14,000 people into the Liacouras Center at Temple University. The figure included the overflow crowd that wasn’t able to make into the arena.
The introduction to Walz is needed because 7 in 10 Americans didn’t know enough about the governor to form an opinion, according to a new poll by Marist College for NPR and “PBS NewsHour.”
As she boarded Air Force Two on her way to Philadelphia, Harris said Walz “is going to make a great vice president” when asked why she chose him over some of the other front-runners in the veepstakes: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona.
Shapiro, who arrived to a loud and sustained standing ovation, spotlighted to the hometown crowd that “every single day I go to work for you” and that “I focus on getting sh-t done for all of you,” which elicited loud cheers.
And pointing to the Minnesota governor, Shapiro also said to cheers that “Tim Walz is a great man. Tim Walz is an outstanding governor…and I’ll tell you something else, Tim Walz is a dear friend.”
Walz returned the compliment later in the rally when he spoke, telling the crowd “what a treasure you have in Josh Shapiro.”
WHAT THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN SAYS ABOUT KAMALA HARRIS’ NEW RUNNING MATE
The Harris campaign on Tuesday evening said it hauled in more than $20 million from grassroots supporters in the hours after the vice president announced her running mate, which it said was “one of the campaign’s best fundraising days this cycle.”
Vice President Kamala Harris (right) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz team up for the first time on the campaign trail, hours after the vice president named Walz as her running mate on the Democrats’ ticket, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 6, 2024 (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
The naming of the 60-year-old Walz was not a shocker as his name was instantly thought to be in contention in the 16 days since Harris succeeded President Biden as the party’s standard-bearer.
Walz, a former high school teacher and coach who spent nearly a quarter-century in the National Guard, was elected to the House in 2006 and re-elected five times. He represented Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, a mostly rural district covering the southern part of the state.
Having the plainspoken Walz on the national ticket not only helps Harris in Minnesota – a state that leans blue in presidential elections that the Trump campaign has been aiming to flip this year – it also benefits the vice president in the two neighboring Midwestern battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan.
WHO IS TIM WALZ? MEET THE HARRIS RUNNING MATE WHO CALLED REPUBLICANS ‘WEIRD PEOPLE’
The governor will also be able to showcase a slew of progressive policy victories in Minnesota, including protecting abortion rights, legalizing recreational marijuana, and restricting gun access to curb shootings. And the naming of Walz over more moderate Democrats such as Shapiro and Kelly will please the progressive wing of the party.
“As a governor, a coach, a teacher and a veteran, he’s delivered for working families like his,” Harris said in announcing her choice.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speak at a campaign rally in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Harris said “one of the things that stood out to me about Tim is how his convictions on fighting for middle class families run deep.”
“It’s personal,” she said. “He grew up in a small town in Nebraska, spending summers working on his family’s farm. His father died of cancer when he was 19, and his family relied on Social Security survivor benefit checks to make ends meet. At 17, he enlisted in the National Guard, serving for 24 years. He used his GI Bill benefits to go to college and become a teacher.”
And at the rally, Harris pointed to the synergy with her running mate, saying “Coach Walz and I may hail from different corners of this great country. But our values are the same….We both believe in lifting people up, not knocking them down.”
Harris repeatedly referred to Walz as “coach” as she highlighted his teaching and football coaching career. She also noted that the governor was the “highest-ranking enlisted man to ever serve in” Congress and that he “was known as one of Capitol Hill’s best marksmen.”
Walz, in his speech, noted that “for 24 years I proudly wore the uniform of this nation” and spotlighted that he and his siblings followed in their father’s footsteps in becoming educators.
He also threw out some zingers at the Republican ticket, including spotlighting Trump’s numerous court cases and legal entanglements. “Make no mistake, violent crime was up under Donald Trump, and that doesn’t even count the crimes he committed!” Walz said.
And pointing to Vance, he said “I can’t wait to debate the guy…that is if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up.”
And he repeated his line that Trump and Vance “are creepy and just weird.”
It was a very different take from the Trump campaign, which instantly targeted Walz.
“Kamala Harris just doubled down on her radical vision for America for tapping another left-wing extremist as her VP nominee,” the moderator in a new Trump campaign video charged. “Tim Walz will be a rubber stamp for Kamala’s dangerous liberal agenda.”
GOP running mate Sen. JD Vance criticizes Vice President Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz at a Trump campaign event in Philadelphia on Aug. 6, 2024. (Fox News/Paul Steinhauser)
And Vance, who was in Philadelphia hours before the Democrat ticket arrived, called Walz’s record as governor “a joke” and said he was “one of the most far-left radicals in the entire United States government at any level.”
Vance is tailing Harris and Walz with small-scale events this week as they hold rallies in key swing states.
As the Harris-Walz rally concluded, the Democratic National Committee announced that the running mates had been officially certified as the party’s 2024 nominees.
Harris, near the top of her comments at the rally, pointed to her formal winning of the DNC’s virtual roll call of delegates to the upcoming convention, saying to cheers that “I am now officially the Democratic nominee.”
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Read the full article from Here
Afloat is an ideal option if you’ve ever had dreams of owning your own boat but have been told that boat ownership requires endless reserves of cash. Or if you’ve ever wanted to experience a houseboat, although I’d describe my houseboat as more of a floating hotel room.
I’ve made no secret of my dislike of the word “staycation,” but I’ll admit that booking at Afloat is as close as you can get to a staycation in Boston. Depending on your sea legs and your tolerance of motion, of course.
This is also one of the best lodging deals in Boston. My petite houseboat with a queen bed (although it looked more like a double) was $260 a night; two-bedroom yachts were $350. Moored at Constitution Marina in Charlestown, with views of the Zakim Bridge, the only way to get better water views would be to jump into the harbor.
There were some downsides to my houseboat, named Casita, which I believe translates into “little house with a touch of saltwater corrosion that bobs gently in a marina.” The interior was small, as in, I wouldn’t recommend this houseboat for anyone over 230 pounds or over 6 feet 2 inches, give or take. If you’re a hotel snob, it might not be a fit for your high-falutin’ tastes. The room is spartan, but it had everything I needed. There was a full bathroom, a coffee maker, a refrigerator, a hair dryer, an iron, Wi-Fi, air conditioning, heat, and a television.
Wait, but there’s more! There are plenty of moored boats and houseboats that you can rent on Airbnb or VRBO, but how many of them include a pool where you can splash your cares away? Or communal barbecues where you can BYOB (that’s bring your own beef) and grill your dinner? These are marina extras included in my stay that I was not expecting. I spent time by the pool with a soccer-crazed family from Norway. I tried to change the topic from soccer to my favorite Norwegian pop stars. The family hastily grabbed their towels and left the pool area.
There are people to escort you to your boat and carry your luggage. They also explained the room’s features. I assume if I were staying on a yacht, the orientation would be more detailed, including “do not untie this boat and start sailing to Bermuda.” There was a paper bag on the bed of my room filled with houseboat essentials: lip balm, a tin of mints, a blueberry Nutri-Grain bar, a bag of mini rice cakes, and a postcard of the marina.
Afloat has another advantage that I hadn’t anticipated. It gave me entrance to the rarified world of marina life. At one point or another, we’ve all walked by a marina and looked down as sun-kissed boat owners sipped beer on the decks of their yachts or hosed down their sailboats after a day at sea. We walk by, green in the gills with envy, trying to justify our feelings by saying that buying a boat is about as solid an investment as encasing cash in concrete and throwing it to the bottom of the ocean. But really, we want to be a part of it.
Finally, I had an entree into the marina universe. I walked around and checked out the other boats, my bare feet on the warm wooden planks. I casually waved or said, “How’s it going?” in a tone that indicated that I was also a part of marina culture, my imaginary yacht sitting nearby. I’m sure my jaunty nautical ensembles helped solidify my place there.
I generally avoid bed-and-breakfasts in the same way I avoid smiling folks on the sidewalk holding a clipboard who say, “Excuse me, sir, do you have a minute…” But Afloat is a different kind of B&B. I didn’t have to talk to other guests or sit awkwardly at a table with strangers in the morning. There’s also no hard and fast rule that breakfast ends at 9 a.m., which, coincidentally, is the time I normally wake up.
Instead, when you check in, you’re given $10 vouchers for Emmi Bakery & Cafe, which is a fish’s throw from the marina. Here, I could get whatever I liked, whenever I liked (the cafe closes at 4 p.m.), without feeling obligated to make small talk with strangers. The advantage of staying in a houseboat over a yacht is that it has a small, private deck adjacent to it, surrounded by herbs and flowers. I invited friends over, some of whom did not appreciate the charms of Casita as much as I did.
My husband was the first visitor. He entered with a look of horror and declared, “This place is terrible. I thought you only stayed at nice hotels.” Within five minutes, he grew seasick and quickly exited, never to return.
“I’m going to call you in the morning to make sure you haven’t floated out to sea,” he said as I rolled my eyes.
Other friends were kinder, but not much. I broke out a bottle of wine on the deck at sunset while my friends popped open the Dramamine. I barely noticed the sway, but the more delicate among you might blanch quickly.
Being at Constitution Marina gave me an excuse to explore Charlestown, a part of the city that I rarely see. Not because I don’t like it, but because parking can be a bear. I had dinner outside at Monument Restaurant and Tavern, looked around at Boston National Historic Park, and took the MBTA ferry from Charlestown to Long Wharf. For $3.75, I had a quick scenic spin in the harbor.
I’ll give the houseboat at Bed and Breakfast Afloat Boston a rating of four anchors out of five. I think much of my good vibes had to do with the perfect weather and the views, but I also loved the feeling of adventure and the way the water rocked me to sleep. That’s a feature you can’t find at any other B&B in the city.
28 Constitution Road, www.bedandbreakfastafloat.com. 617-241-9640.
Christopher Muther can be reached at christopher.muther@globe.com. Follow him @Chris_Muther and Instagram @chris_muther.
Pittsburg, PA
Analysis: Here’s why the Pittsburgh Symphony’s budget just jumped by $7 million to $42 million
Connecticut is taking a step to make sure workers are paid fairly.
On June 30, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed Public Act 26-17, which enables the State Comptroller to issue a stop work order and withhold state funds to contractors that are not properly paying their employees.
The bill was signed on the construction site for Greeneville Elementary School, which is one of the four new elementary schools being built in Norwich. The State of Connecticut is reimbursing the city for 80% of the project, and the law applies to “any place where the state is making a payment,” Lamont said.
Wage theft can take many forms
It matters because wage theft can take many forms, from money taken from base pay, to money not given in benefits, Kimberly Glassman, director of compliance and government affairs for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 478, said.
Local 478 also has a presence in the Norwich school building project, with 10 to 20 union members working at each site daily, Glassman said.
What do state leaders think of the Greeneville site’s progress?
Lamont is impressed with how quickly the work is going.
“They told me that the walls went up in the last two weeks, so a lot of progress is happening,” he said.
During the bill signing, Norwich Mayor Swarnjit Singh touted the importance of using union labor and the value of project labor agreements.
“We are on time and on budget,” he said.
After the bill signing, Singh said its possible the Greeneville School building could be complete as soon as the first quarter of 2027, he said.
“They’re not wasting any time,” Singh said.
State Rep. Derrel Wilson attended the original Greeneville School as a kid, and still lives in Greeneville. He was credited as being one of the driving forces for getting the workers bill passed.
“It’s exciting seeing this revitalization for our neighborhood, seeing active construction and watching individuals rebuild our community,” Wilson said.
-
Politics2 minutes agoMamdani ripped for claiming victory over capitalism after NYC’s multi-billion dollar taxpayer funded bailout
-
Health7 minutes agoAmerican vaccines that transformed public health over 250 years: ‘Outweighs harm’
-
Sports14 minutes agoEx-NFL reporter Dianna Russini interaction with police officer to dodge traffic ticket comes to light
-
Business22 minutes agoJoby Aviation creates a joint venture with Toyota to build air taxis
-
Entertainment29 minutes agoInside Eddie Huang’s sadboi era and turning a new page with his novel
-
Lifestyle32 minutes agoWait, it’s a candle? Her beeswax fruit and veggie ones look so real, you’ll want to take a bite
-
Politics37 minutes agoCommentary: The sad inevitability of Justice Alito’s birthright citizenship dissent
-
Sports47 minutes ago
2026 World Cup knockout round TV schedule, game previews and results
