Kamala Harris’ words are lost in the noise. Around her, thousands of spectators scream, clap and cheer. Her supporters continue to shout. The Democratic candidate for the presidency of the USA is shining. The man behind her even more so: Tim Walsh. Until recently, few outside his home state knew the Minnesota governor. But tonight he is the big star. Harris introduced the 60-year-old as her new vice presidential candidate at a stadium in Philadelphia. Walsh listens with a broad smile, repeatedly puts his hand over his heart, folds his arms in a gesture of gratitude.

Democrats must now introduce Walsh to the country and the party within three months. This is no easy task. And they are also restructuring their election campaign. A little more lightness as a contrast to the dark horror scripts of their opponent, Donald Trump – at least that’s the plan. It remains to be seen if this will work.

With sarcasm as a weapon

That includes dealing with Trump with humor, not panic. That’s Walsh’s job now. Harris chose him to convey simple messages with a Midwestern twist. During his Philadelphia debut, Walsh said of Trump that the crime rate in the United States has increased during his time in office, “and that’s not even including the crimes he’s committed.” The crowd cheers.

Walsh tries several times to project the Democrats as the new feel-good group. Harris “brought back the joy,” shouts the room. The party has not been particularly thrilled with the vice president in recent years. But in a time of need, Harris has now become the new bearer of hope.

Until the day Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, a dark mood prevailed among Democrats — alternating between hopelessness, resignation and sheer despair. Now Biden is gone, Harris is there — and a sense of optimism has taken over the base.

New “energy” and “enthusiasm”

“By the time Biden left, the mood was really down,” said Ken Grimes, who came to the rally from a Philadelphia suburb. “Now things are different. Everyone is excited.” In just a few weeks, just the prospect that the presidential race no longer seemed completely lost sent the party into ecstasy. It’s entirely unclear whether Harris will actually be able to prevail over Trump in the end. That the race against a convicted felon who has been surrounded by scandal for years is so lopsided should give Democrats cause for concern.

But the people in the audience don’t think that. For now, they are happy to have put the latest Biden crisis behind them and are enjoying a new “energy” and “enthusiasm” in the party – men, women, young, old, black and white. Suddenly the race is open again, they say, and there’s a chance that in the end it won’t be Trump who moves into the White House, but rather Harris – as the first woman in the country’s history, and indeed the first black woman.

Harris is already a front-runner for the vice presidency in two respects. He can score more points than Trump among black voters, women and young people. But the former district attorney from the west coast state of California is struggling with white, working-class male voters. And that’s where Walsh is supposed to help — even if some viewers in Philadelphia admit they didn’t even know he existed until recently.

Balance for Harris

The Democratic vice presidential candidate grew up in a small town in the state of Nebraska, was in the military, served in the National Guard, later became a teacher and football coach before jumping into politics, first as a member of the House of Representatives, since 2019 governor of Minnesota. Walsh has a much less glamorous resume than others who have been nominated for the vice presidency. He does not come from one of the so-called “swing states,” the most contested and potentially critical states, and so far he is not known on the national scene. But it brings many things that Harris urgently needs.

He is a white man from the Midwestern states who grew up in humble circumstances, down to earth, pragmatic, someone who likes to hunt and owns his own guns. At the same time, he is someone with liberal views who supports abortion rights, stricter gun laws and free lunches for students. It has support mainly in the left wing of the party. Trump complains that they are the “most left-wing radical duo in American history.” In fact, to some in the Democratic base the combination of Harris and Walsh could seem too liberal.

In the coming days, the two will make a blitz campaign in all the swing states. Stopping in Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania is the beginning. Trump is sending his deputy JD Vance to all those places alongside the Democratic duo.

Walsh vs. Vance

Walsh is pretty much what Trump had in mind for Vance: a fellow who grew up in humble circumstances in the country — as a liaison to the working class and those barely getting by. But unlike Walsh, Vance later became not a teacher and football coach, but rather a financial investor with a law degree from the elite American university Yale.

Walsh also uses it against him, mocking him in Philadelphia: “Like all the normal people I grew up with, Vance went to Yale, had his career funded by billionaires, and then wrote a bestseller condemning people in his homeland,” he shouts again to the audience, who cheer.

The new tactic against Trump

Walsh devised his new strategy of not taking Trump and Vance too seriously. During his campaign appearances, Trump always indulges in horror scenarios about the downfall of the country under the leadership of “far-left” Democrats. They wanted to destroy the US, watch an invasion of criminal immigrants and lead the country into a World War III.

In return, Democrats under Biden also relied on dire warnings that Trump was an existential threat to democracy and world peace. But with Walsh there was a change.

In recent weeks, the invisible man from Minnesota has gradually changed the way the entire party talks about Trump. Walsh is the inventor of the “weird” stamp for the former president: weird. Walsh introduced this in an interview and gradually all prominent figures in the party adopted the slogan. Walsh echoed that in Philadelphia, saying of Trump and Vance, “These guys are scary and yeah, they’re weird.”

It has now become a battle cry, echoing through the room: “He’s a freak,” the crowd is now chanting about Trump. Trump is likely to be particularly unhappy that he is not being taken seriously. And it is an attack that is difficult to deal with. With Walsh opposite him, he should expect more of this type from here on out.

Edited by: Kostas Argyros