Early Harris-Walz rallies feature big crowds, talk of 'joy' and unsolicited GOP counterprogramming

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Big crowds, go-to applause lines, talk of joy — and some unsolicited Republican counterprogramming.

These were common themes during the first big campaign swing for Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as the new Democratic ticket barnstormed through five battleground states this past week on a get-to-know-us tour.

They opened with a boisterous rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday, hours after Harris announced Walz as her running mate. From there it was a march through Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada. Planned stops in Georgia and North Carolina were washed out by Tropical Storm Debby.

The tour was a way to help both candidates introduce themselves to voters, especially independent and undecided voters in states where the Democrats are in tight races against Republican nominee Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

It was also a way for Harris and Walz to get to know each other better.

A look back at the campaign swing:

Thousands of people have been flocking to Harris’ campaign rallies, a sign that her groundbreaking candidacy has generated new momentum among Democrats who were unenthused about President Joe Biden's reelection bid. Harris is the first Black woman and first person of Asian descent to become a major political party’s nominee for president.

By the campaign's count, 12,000 people turned out for rallies in Philadelphia and Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It was 15,000 in the Detroit area and in Glendale, Arizona. In Las Vegas on Saturday, more than 12,000 people were inside a university arena when authorities halted admissions because people were becoming ill waiting outside in 109-degree heat to go through security. About 4,000 people were still in line when the entrances closed, the campaign said.

To Lance Jones, a Tucson native who attended the Arizona rally, it felt like “the tables have turned with Harris and Walz.” He predicted his state "is going from basically red to purple to blue.”

Those crowd numbers annoyed Trump, who regularly attracts thousands to his own rallies.

“Oh, give me a break,” he said at a news conference when asked about Harris. “Nobody’s had crowds like I have.”

The Republican ticket didn't just weigh in from afar, Vance tried to shadow his Democratic rivals during the opening days of their tour. He made appearances in Philadelphia and Detroit hours before the Democrats arrived in those cities.

But after Harris and Vance landed around the same time in Eau Claire on Wednesday, the Republican stepped off his plane and walked toward Air Force Two.

Vance later joked about the in-your-face move, saying he had a “bit of fun” while trying to “check out my future plane.” Air Force Two would become his primary mode of travel if he and Trump are elected in November.

Harris and Walz delivered basically the same speeches — heavy on personal biography — from one rally to the next, with some tweaks to tailor their remarks to the particular audience and state.

Harris added lines about fighting for working people and the upside of organized labor to her remarks in Michigan. In Arizona and Nevada, where migration is a big concern, she drew on her prosecutorial background to tell the crowd she had gone after transnational gangs, drug cartels and smugglers when she was California’s attorney general.

“I prosecuted them in case after case, and I won,” Harris said.

In Las Vegas, where the economy is heavily dependent on the hospitality industry, she promised to work to eliminate federal taxes on tips for restaurant and other service industry employees. Trump, who floated the same idea several months ago, posted on social media that she was a "copycat.”

Harris closed her rallies by asking people what kind of country they want to live in, before calling them to action and declaring, “When we fight, we win.”

Walz, largely unknown outside the Midwest, went deep on his personal story of serving in the Army National Guard and his years as a high school teacher and football coach, as a member of Congress and governor. In a campaign partly centered on restoring reproductive rights, he shares that he and his wife, Gwen, suffered through years of in vitro fertilization treatments before their daughter, Hope, was born.

Each candidate has lines that rev up the crowd

— “Hear me when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type,” says Harris, describing the kinds of people she went after as a prosecutor.

— “Even if we wouldn’t make the same choice for ourselves, there’s a golden rule: Mind your own damn business,” says Walz, explaining what he said was the Midwest approach to private, personal decisions such as whether to have an abortion.

— “We'll sleep when we're dead,” says Walz, urging audiences to give it their all for however many days are left in the campaign.

Walz introduced both words to the campaign. Even before he joined the Democratic ticket, his description of Trump and Vance and their policies as “weird” caught on. Harris herself used the description a few times.

As Walz says, “No one’s asking for that weird crap."

Walz also credits Harris with “bringing back the joy” to politics, and Harris herself described the Democratic ticket as “joyful warriors.”

At several stops, the crowd started chanting “lock him up” aimed at Trump, an echo of the chants that Trump's campaign audiences directed at Democrat Hillary Clinton during the 2016 race.

Harris has a ready comeback to move things along. “Hold on. Let the courts take care of that. We’re going to beat him in November," she says.

Likewise, she had a ready rejoinder for disruptions from protesters upset that the administration isn't doing more to protect Palestinians during Israel's war with Hamas in Gaza.

As she told them in Arizona, "I respect your voices but we are here to now talk about this race in 2024.”

At each stop, Walz reminded people of the countdown to Election Day, Nov. 5.

By Friday in Phoenix, it must have seemed a blur: He was off by a day when he set the countdown at 87, instead of 88 days.

He isn't the only one counting.

A troop of Girl Scouts greeted the vice president at the airport in Wisconsin on Wednesday, 90 days out from the election. Snippets of their conversation overheard by reporters suggested they may have been chatting about summer plans.

Harris was heard replying, “I’m planning on going somewhere in 90 days.”

Harris had one last stop on Sunday — San Francisco — before returning to Washington. This one was all about collecting campaign cash for the fight ahead.

House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., joined Harris for the event, which the campaign said raised more than $12 million.

Pelosi spoke of wanting “democracy to win an Olympic gold” on Election Day. And Harris, to cheers after saying “we will win this election,” told supporters, “We do not have a day to waste.”

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Associated Press writer Gabriel Sandoval in Glendale, Arizona, contributed to this report.

Attendees wait in line before a campaign rally with Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Jae Hong)

A supporter carries a sign before Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, walks back from looking at Air Force Two at Chippewa Valley Regional Airport, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024, in Eau Claire, Wis. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FILE - Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz arrive at a campaign rally in Philadelphia, Aug. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz arrive at a campaign rally in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service on Tuesday were investigating the origin of suspicious packages that have been sent to or received by elections officials in more than a dozen states, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or that any of the packages contained hazardous material.

The latest packages were sent to elections officials in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York and Rhode Island. Mississippi authorities reported a package was delivered there Monday, and the Connecticut Secretary of State's office said the FBI alerted it of a package that was intercepted.

The FBI is collecting the packages, some of which contained “an unknown substance,” agency spokesperson Kristen Setera in Boston said in a statement.

“We are also working with our partners to determine how many letters were sent, the individual or individuals responsible for the letters, and the motive behind the letters,” she said. “As this is an ongoing matter we will not be commenting further on the investigation, but the public can be assured safety is our top priority.”

It’s the second time in the past year that suspicious packages were mailed to election officials in multiple states.

The latest scare comes as early voting has begun in several states ahead of the high-stakes elections for president, Senate, Congress and key statehouse offices, causing disruption in an already tense voting season. Local election directors are beefing up security to keep workers and polling places safe while also ensuring that ballots and voting procedures won’t be tampered with.

The National Association of Secretaries of State condemned what it described as a “disturbing trend” of threats to election workers leading up to Nov. 5, as well as the second apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

“This must stop, period,” the group said. "Our democ­racy has no place for political violence, threats or intimidation of any kind.”

On Tuesday, the FBI notified the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth’s office that postal service investigators had identified a suspicious envelope delivered to a building housing state offices. The package was intercepted. No employees from the office had contact with the envelope, which is now in the hands of the FBI.

Packages also were sent to secretaries of state and election offices in Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wyoming this week. The packages forced evacuations in Iowa, Oklahoma and Wyoming. Hazmat crews in several states quickly determined the material was harmless.

The Mississippi Secretary of State’s Elections Division said it received a package similar to those sent to other states and that the state Department of Homeland Security was testing it. The division said it has notified county election officials to be on the lookout.

Oklahoma officials said the material sent to the election office there contained flour.

“We have specific protocols in place for situations such as this,” Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said in a statement after the evacuation of the six-story Lucas State Office Building in Des Moines.

A state office building in Topeka, Kansas, was evacuated due to suspicious mail sent to both the secretary of state and attorney general, Kansas Highway Patrol spokesperson April M. McCollum said in a statement.

Topeka Fire Department crews found several pieces of mail with an unknown substance on them, though a field test found no hazardous materials, spokesperson Rosie Nichols said. Several employees were exposed to it and were being monitored.

In Oklahoma, the State Election Board received a suspicious envelope in the mail containing a multi-page document and a white, powdery substance, agency spokesperson Misha Mohr said. Testing determined the substance was flour.

State workers in an office building next to the Wyoming Capitol in Cheyenne were sent home Monday pending testing of a white substance mailed to the secretary of state’s office.

Suspicious letters were sent to election offices and government buildings in at least six states last November, including the same building in Kansas that received suspicious mail Monday. While some of the letters contained fentanyl, even the suspicious mail that was not toxic delayed the counting of ballots in some local elections.

One of the targeted offices was in Fulton County, Georgia, the largest voting jurisdiction in one of the nation’s most important swing states. Four county election offices in Washington state had to be evacuated as election workers were processing ballots cast, delaying vote-counting.

The letters caused election workers around the country to stock up the overdose reversal medication naloxone.

Election offices across the United States have taken steps to increase security amid an onslaught of harassment and threats following the 2020 election and the false claims that it was rigged.

LeBlanc reported from Boston. Christina Almeida Cassidy in Atlanta; Anthony Izaguirre in Albany, New York; Susan Haigh in Norwich, Connecticut; Jim Salter in O’Fallon, Missouri; Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan; Mead Gruver in Cheyenne, Wyoming; Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City and John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, contributed to this report.

The Oklahoma State Election Board Office inside the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, was one of at least five states in the U.S. which election officials received suspicious packages on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Sean Murphy)

FILE - William R. Snodgrass Tennessee Tower stands June 22, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)

The Oklahoma State Election Board Office inside the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, was one of at least five states in the U.S. which election officials received suspicious packages on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Sean Murphy)

The Oklahoma State Election Board Office inside the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, was one of at least five states in the U.S. which election officials received suspicious packages on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Sean Murphy)

A hazmat crew from the National Guard's Civilian Support Team investigates after a suspicious package was delivered to election officials at the Missouri Secretary of State's Jefferson City, Mo., office on Tuesday Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Summer Ballentine)