Gov. Tim Walz visits Raleigh campaign office, raises money in first NC visit as VP candidate
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz visited Raleigh Thursday to greet volunteers, raise money and order a milkshake, making his first trip to North Carolina as a candidate for vice president.
Walz arrived in Raleigh from Georgia after recording his and Vice President Kamala Harris’ first on-air interview together with CNN’s Dana Bash.
N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper greeted his fellow Democrat when he arrived and immediately took him to get milkshakes at Cook Out.
“This is my first time at Cook Out, but Gov. Cooper told me this is the place to go for shakes,” Walz told nearby reporters.
He ordered a mint chocolate chip shake, and Cooper got M&M.
They then traveled to a campaign office in Raleigh where volunteers were making calls for Harris and Walz.
Winning NC
Cooper told the volunteers that Walz is “a great friend,” and said he “understands everyday people.”
Cooper and Walz know each other from their work as governors. Walz was chair of the Democratic Governors Association when Harris selected him as her running mate. He has since resigned as chair of the association to focus on the campaign and was succeeded by Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly.
“I think Vice President Harris made the absolute perfect choice” in selecting Walz as her running mate, Cooper said before introducing Walz to the phone bank volunteers.
At one point, Cooper also was considered a contender for that position, but he removed himself out of consideration.
“That is high praise coming from Roy Cooper,” Walz said as he stepped to the center of the room to speak to volunteers.
Walz chatted with the 30 volunteers who were gathered around a handful of tables. Walz brought them decorated cookies he picked up in Savannah, Georgia, from Cookie Queen Savannah.
Walz called the state an economic miracle, saying it has a dual ability to value middle-class people while also recruiting business. He also praised North Carolina for expanding Medicaid, and gave Cooper the credit.
On a chalkboard wall of the campaign office that was covered with sayings, Walz added his own: “Never underestimate public school teachers,” a nod to his career before going into politics.
As the governors worked the room, Walz took over a phone call from one volunteer and began talking to the voter himself. Cooper followed Walz’s lead and also began talking to the voter.
Walz told the volunteers that the campaign aims to reduce the margins in some areas that lean more Republican as part of their effort to win the state.
“And I think we know, it’s very difficult for a Republican presidential candidate to win the White House if they can’t win North Carolina,” Walz said. “It’s that simple.”
He added that the campaign “expects to win here.”
“It’s great to be in a room full of people who put North Carolina in play,” Walz told volunteers.
Walz on Trump
Walz made one more stop in Raleigh: a fundraiser where he thanked around 100 people for their support.
“It means the world to us, because we can translate that into talking to folks,” Walz said. ”We can translate that into a power of a politic that moves beyond us.”
He said he knew there were a lot of places people could be instead Thursday night, “like watching that football game.” UNC plays Minnesota Thursday night in Minneapolis in both teams’ first game of the season.
Walz’s visit Thursday came just hours before CNN aired Harris and Walz’s first televised interview. The Harris campaign has been repeatedly criticized over the last month for failing to do any interviews with reporters, making this a highly sought-after event by national reporters.
Walz said he trusts the elections to be fair.
“I trust the American people’s judgment in this,” Walz said. “I know in North Carolina that you’ve got good, solid election returns, and we’ll get the votes counted fairly, because that’s all we ask.”
He added that the campaign has seen new interest from young voters, as well as renewed interest from older voters who want to stand against the ideals that he said former President Donald Trump promotes, like being a dictator “on day one” and forsaking “those that are least among us.”
“If you think Donald Trump wakes up thinking about anybody but himself, you are sadly deluded on that,” Walz said.
Harris advancing in polls
Walz’s trip marks the Harris campaign’s first visit since multiple political analysts moved North Carolina from a state that leans Republican to a toss-up in the presidential race.
Recent analysis of North Carolina polls has found that Harris has done better than President Joe Biden among white, college-educated voters. Trump’s supporters are staying with him, but Harris is making gains among formerly undecided voters.
“What Kamala Harris has done is brought back the joy to politics, brought back the decency to politics,” Walz said.
Walz said he wants to get back to a time when people can go to Thanksgiving dinner and not “have stupid fights about politics.”
He said he wants people to have decent conversations that result in solutions.
“Those are things that don’t have to be that difficult,” Walz said. “And I’m telling you what: The vast majority of Americans know that.”
As the fundraiser ended, Walz walked off the stage to “Small Town,” by John Mellencamp.
“History is going to be made right here in North Carolina,” Walz said.
NC is a toss-up state
Democrats spent the past 15 months heavily investing in North Carolina, hoping to flip the state blue for the first time since 2008, when President Barack Obama won against former Sen. John McCain.
Cooper has said several times over the past several weeks that he has “a 2008 feeling” about this election.
When Biden was running for reelection, he had difficulty overcoming Trump’s support in North Carolina. Despite winning his 2020 election, Biden lost to Trump in North Carolina by 1.3% of the vote. And Trump led Biden in nearly every North Carolina-focused poll this election cycle.
But after Biden ended his campaign on July 21, following a dismal debate performance against Trump on CNN, he passed the torch to Harris, who became the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, and has led Trump in many North Carolina polls since.
Both Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball took note and moved North Carolina from a state that leans Republican to a toss-up in their analysis.
Harris’ campaign launch seems to have motivated Trump to pay more attention to the state. Trump, who had largely ignored North Carolina, has visited the state three times on July 24, Aug. 14 and Aug. 21. The latter was his first outdoor rally since an assassination attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, just days before the start of the Republican National Convention.
Harris, on the other hand, has visited North Carolina eight times in 2024, and surrogates from her and Biden’s former campaign have been in the state almost weekly.
Both Harris and Walz had planned to stop in North Carolina the week she selected Walz as her running mate, but Tropical Storm Debby made them both cancel their appearance.
This story was originally published August 29, 2024 at 9:27 AM.
