Remarks by Vice President Harris and Governor Tim Walz at a Campaign Event in Rochester, PA
Beaver Field Office
Rochester, Pennsylvania
3:01 P.M. EDT
GOVERNOR WALZ: Oh, man — (applause) — it is.
Doug gets the bro hugs. He brings it, so — (laughter). Well, thank you, and it’s true.
And — and to Gwen and Doug, both, I — all of you — none of us do this alone. We’re all in this together.
I think this is a room that knows this campaign will be won in rooms just like this all across the country. (Applause.)
It will be run with people sitting on the phone banks in there, dialing numbers, and people picking up the phone on a Sunday and having somebody say, “Do you have a minute to talk about the future of our country?” That’s a pretty big step to pick up that phone and talk. But listening to these folks in here, people are doing it. They’re doing it.
And the thing I can tell you what Kamala Harris has brought to this for so many things — from experience as a prosecutor to an attorney general to a United States senator to a vice president to the next President of the United States — (applause) — th- — there’s that resume, which is out — without question, but the reason they’re picking up the phone and the reason that they’re standing thousand deep in 109 degree heat in Las Vegas is: She’s bringing out the joy in the hearts of Americans. She’s bringing out — (applause) — she’s bringing out the kindness that ties us together, the decency, the vision of a better tomorrow.
And these — (applause) — each of these volunteers and the people who put it on, they all said it. They said it is so much better to be for for something rather than against something — to be for the future, not going back. Those — (applause) –that’s what people know.
And we — some of us who have less hair and are old enough — can remember when you could go to Thanksgiving, watch a Steelers game with your relatives, and not complain about politics the whole time, not be on each other’s neck — (applause) — because you shared a commitment to democracy, a commitment to personal freedoms, a commitment to public education, a commitment to infrastructure. (Applause.)
We don’t call each other names. We don’t do it. And we don’t use the least fortunate amongst us as punchlines for our jokes because they’re our neighbors. They’re our neighbors. And so, you’re getting an opportunity to see the best side of America.
And for the young people here, they maybe haven’t seen a campaign like this because of COVID, because of things that’s happening. This is a chance to bring out that joy, turn the page, and look to the future, this idea of going forward, so — (applause).
Doug — Doug is right. He told you my kids were backstage in awe. He didn’t tell you they were probably in awe because they could not believe that I got through that thing and through that speech — (laughter) — that that was amazing to them. But I’ll tell you what, they have felt part of this family, because they can feel the decency radiating off these people. They can see the commitment. They know that children matter. They know that family matters. They know that individuals matter.
And this leader knows that it’s not any of government’s business to be in your health care decisions. Those are your decisions. (Applause.)
And this is a leader who celebrates love in all forms that it comes by — (applause) — that we love each other.
And for the young people, you hear somebody talking about this: We have the right to send our children to school to be free from being shot dead in their classrooms. That’s what it is. (Applause.)
And this is a nation — can ensure clean water, clean air, and a bright future for our children.
So, I have to tell you, we’ve got 79 days. And you’ll hear me say this — Doug is going to correct me on this — I say, “That’s easy. We can sleep when we’re dead.” He s- — (laughter) — Doug said we can sleep on November 6th after this election is over, so he may be right. (Applause.)
But, look, coming into football country and being an old football coach, there’s an old saying, “You — you don’t hope you’re going to win. You prepare to win. And you give it the best you’ve got. And you know when that game’s over, you want to know you left it all on the field.”
And that’s all we’re asking. Let’s leave it all on the field. Let’s get this thing done, because — (applause) — because when my grandkids and your grandkids ask you about this — because on Nomber — November 6th, you were there: first time when you got to welcome madam president of the United States, Kamala Harris. (Applause.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Tim Walz! (Applause.)
Hey, everybody. (Laughs.) We’re back, and we’re going to keep coming back and we’re going to keep coming back. (Applause.)
I want to thank — I want to thank everybody.
I want to start with Tim Walz. Isn’t he fantastic? (Applause.) I like to call him Coach Walz, and, you know, he is — he’s done so much for our country, and he’s going to make an extraordinary vice president of the United States.
Gwen, I mean, girl, just — you just killed it, I’m telling you. (Laughs.) I mean, you know, there’s something — I don’t know — my first-grade teacher, Mrs. Frances Wilson attended my law school graduation. I just love teachers. I think anyone who decides to become a teacher, it’s just — it’s — it’s one of the greatest gifts that one has that they give. And I thank you, Gwen, for doing all that you have done. Thank you. (Applause.)
And my husband is — Doug, you are doing so much and you’ve been traveling all over our country, and I want to thank you. And you are going to, yet again, make history as the first gentleman of the United States. (Laughs.) (Applause.)
There are a lot of incredible leaders here. I want to just, for a moment, mention my friend Bob Casey. (Applause.) You — we have got to send him back to the United States Senate. For the time that I was in the United States Senate and worked with Bob — I’m going to tell you something. You know, we had these — we would have these meetings where all of the Democratic senators would get together for lunch, no cameras in the room. Bob, to- — almost every time, was one of the ones who would stand up in that room with all the other senators from around the country talking about the working people of Pennsylvania and why we needed to have you in our mind when we were thinking about national policy every single day. That’s who Bob Casey is. Let’s send him back to the United States Senate. (Applause.)
Chris Deluzio, we want to thank you. (Applause.) What he is doing in the halls of Congress — again, I mean, you send some fighters to D.C., Pennsylvania. You sent some fighters to D.C.
Your next attorney general — DePasquale, where are you? (Applause.) I’ve done that work, I know what it requires, and you’re going to be outstanding.
So, you’ve got a lot of work, Pennsylvania, on your shoulders right now that you’re carrying and you who are here volunteering to do this work. And it’s —
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: And we’re going to get it done. (Applause.)
And Malcolm Kenyatta knows exactly what I’m talking about. I see him almost every time I come into the state.
So, I want to just address you all right now, as the volunteers. You know, Tim said it: This campaign for us is really born out of love of country. We all here, we love our country, and we know our country is going to be as strong as our willingness to fight for it and to fight for what we stand for. (Applause.)
You know, when you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for. When you stand for working people, you fight for working people. When you stand for freedom, whether it be to make decisions about your own body or love who you love, you fight for those things. (Applause.) When you believe in ending child poverty, you fight for that. When you believe in what we need to do to lift up the middle class, you fight for the middle class. (Applause.)
These are the things we stand for, and these, therefore, are the things we fight for. And that’s what our election is about.
Our election is about understanding the importance of this beautiful country of ours in terms of what we stand for around the globe as a democracy — as a democracy.
We know there’s a duality to the nature of democracy. On the one hand, incredible strength when it is intact; what it does for its people to protect and defend their rights, their liberty, and their freedom — incredibly strong. And incredibly fragile. It is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it.
And that’s what this campaign is about. This campaign is about a recognition that, frankly, over the last several years, there’s been this kind of perversion that has taken place, I think, which is to suggest —
AUDIENCE MEMBER: (Inaudible.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: — which is to suggest that the measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down when. When what we know is the real and true measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you lift up. (Applause.)
That’s what we see as strength. We know what strength looks like. That’s what strength looks like. (Applause.) Anybody who’s about beating down other people is a coward. (Applause.) This is what strength looks like.
So, we know what we are about. We know what we stand for.
And one of the beautiful things about these next 79 days is what the people in this room have already been doing and know. Let’s build community. Let’s reinforce community.
You all, as volunteers, what you know — and we’re going to spread the word — is how you can look at the face of a perfect stranger and see in their face a neighbor; that we see in each other our connection, our interdependence — what we see in each other — which fortifies and reinforces that the vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us. That’s what this campaign is about.
Yes, it is about winning, and we will win — and we will win — and we will win — (applause) — God willing.
And through these next 79 days, we will continue to build community, build coalitions, and remind each other we are all in this together.
So, I thank you all so very much for what you are doing. (Applause.)
Now, let’s get back to work, shall we? (Laughs.) (Applause.)
END 3:12 P.M. EDT
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