On Saturday, September 21, the Democratic vice presidential candidate and Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, held a rally at Freedom High School in Bethlehem, PA, his first time in the Lehigh Valley since being announced as the nominee.
Vice President Kamala Harris picked Walz to be her vice presidential running mate in August 2024, mere weeks after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race. After an extensive vetting process with a variety of potential VP candidates, Walz and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro emerged as finalists.
Taking place at the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, the rally focused on appealing to Latino voters, bringing speakers such as actress Liza Colón-Zayas and actor Anthony Ramos. Both of these speakers are emblematic of a larger aggressive push from the campaign to reach out to Latino voters in battleground states with a $3 million investment in Spanish-language radio and Hispanic community events.
Other speakers included Bethlehem City Mayor J. William Reynolds, Congresswoman Susan Wild, Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure, and Field Organizer Angel Pilkey-Chevez.
Additionally, the speakers talked extensively about the value of education, along with emphasizing gun control reforms concerning school shootings. There were repeated attacks directed towards former President Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance for prior comments relating to gun violence.
There was also an intense focus on the importance of Pennsylvania and Northampton County specifically. As evidenced by the consideration of Gov. Shapiro, this campaign has emphasized the importance of winning PA in this election.
With 19 Electoral College votes, PA is the most significant swing state in the 2024 election, a point that was emphasized multiple times throughout the rally. Specifically, Northampton County is a bellwether county, which means that, typically, it votes in favor of the winning candidate of the election. In particular, Congresswoman Wild said that “you don’t win our district, you don’t win PA.”
At the beginning of his speech, Walz discussed the connection between Bethlehem and Minnesota. Additionally, he talked about the importance and significance of Bethlehem in both World Wars.
Walz used to be a social studies teacher and talked at length about school gun violence and safety, book bans, and implementing free school lunches.
He also emphasized the campaign’s proposed economic policies, such as the $6,000 child tax credit, expanding the Affordable Care Act, Biden’s infrastructure law, and increasing manufacturing jobs under the Biden-Harris administration.
During Walz’s speech, four protesters erupted with chants and demonstrations in support of Palestine. The crowd started chanting “USA” every time a protest erupted.
One of the attendees of the rally passed out during Walz’s remarks, which made the candidate halt the speech. After the attendee received medical help, Walz clapped and said, “That’s what Pennsylvanians do — they help each other.”
Most of all, Walz talked about hope and being politically engaged.
“I don’t care if you’re not into politics,” he said. “Politics is into you.”
