Tim Walz talks about Pennsylvania jobs, lowering costs during Bucks County campaign stop
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz returned to Pennsylvania Thursday to stump for Vice President Kamala Harris as the countdown to Election Day winds down.
Walz, the Democratic candidate for vice president, spoke Thursday morning at the Boilermakers Local 13 Labor Hall in Bristol Township, Bucks County.
"This game is tied. It's tied in Pennsylvania," Walz said. "Two minutes left on the clock, but we've got the damn ball. When unions are strong, the middle class is strong. When the middle class is strong, America's strong."
During his speech, Walz talked about employment and lowering costs for Americans while criticizing former President Donald Trump's tenure in the White House and the job market during his presidency.
"Four years ago with Donald Trump, we had lost 2.7 million jobs, including 275,000 jobs in Pennsylvania alone," Walz claimed. "Unemployment was way up, and Donald Trump had so badly botched the COVID pandemic we were out there fighting with our neighbors to get toilet paper."
Following the campaign event in Bucks County, Walz was scheduled to travel to Erie for what the Harris-Walz campaign described as a "local stop" later in the day. Harris is taking her appeal to the people to the battleground states of Arizona and Nevada Thursday.
Walz's homestretch stop shows the importance Bucks County could play in the race for Pennsylvania. The county broke for Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton in the last two elections. Still, state data shows Republican registrations outpace Democrats by nearly 6,000, with around 86,000 other or not affiliated.
Harris supporters like Donielle Lawson, who came from Chicago to canvass for Harris, aren't taking anything for granted.
"Let me fly in. I'm gonna knock on some doors, and we're going to get this done," Lawson said.
Supporters said on Thursday they feel optimistic about Harris's chances in Bucks County and Pennsylvania.
"I actually think we're going to improve on Joe Biden's numbers," said state Sen. Steve Santarsiero, the chairperson for Bucks County Democrats.
"I want Bucks County to show up and show out, and I want to be able to proudly say we had an integral role in her winning this state," Jeff Marshall, a Harris supporter from Washington Crossing, said.
But in purple Bucks County, a group of Trump supporters waved flags and held signs – just up the street from the Walz rally. They, too, like their candidate's odds.
"I feel great about it. Because Bucks County has turned red," Lisa Leedom said. I see a lot of Trump signs, not as many Harris signs. So I'm hearing really good things."
Earlier this week, Bucks County was sued by the campaigns for Trump and Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick after some voters were turned away from mail-in ballot voting on demand on Tuesday, Oct. 29.
The lawsuit alleged the county was engaging in voter suppression, and a judge ruled Wednesday that voters can able to apply for, receive, vote, and return a mail-in ballot until the close of business on Friday, Nov. 1.
On social media, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Republican and Democratic clerks of elections are working together with law enforcement to ensure only eligible voters are registered and can vote.
Walz was in the Delaware Valley last week to deliver remarks at a campaign fundraiser in Philadelphia. He also traveled to Allentown to meet with Latino voters before continuing to Scranton for a rally on Oct. 25.
Pennsylvania was also Walz's first stop after the vice presidential debate with Trump's running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.
The candidates and their supporters have made numerous stops in Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia area in recent weeks, courting voters in a battleground state that has 19 Electoral College votes up for grabs on election night.
According to CBS News' latest estimates of voter support in the country's most competitive states, Harris and Trump are tied in Pennsylvania and tied or nearly tied in the remaining battlegrounds.