Morning Report — Can Walz boost Harris?

Vice President Harris is “bringing the joy back” to politics.

That’s according to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, newly named to the Harris presidential ticket. The two kicked off their joint campaign Tuesday night at a rally in Philadelphia, drawing a boisterous crowd just hours after Harris announced her choice and injecting another push of momentum into her breakneck campaign for the presidency.

Harris and Walz spoke in front of a crowd of roughly 10,000 people, the largest audience this cycle for either Harris or President Biden when he was a candidate. 

Walz, a former Army National Guard reservist and member of the House, has been Minnesota’s governor since 2019. Initially considered a dark horse for the VP slot, Walz saw his profile rise considerably over the past week, especially after a viral cable news interview in which he derided some Republicans as “weird,” a line of attack later adopted by national Democrats. His accomplishments in Minnesota — access to reproductive health, paid leave, child tax credits and gun safety — mirror goals central to Harris’s bid for the presidency. 

In Philadelphia, Harris made clear the stakes of the election.

“We are the underdogs in this race, but we have the momentum and I know exactly what we are up against,” Harris said.

The governor used the rally to introduce himself to the country, but he also appeared to relish the role of taking on Trump. 

“That’s what this election is about. What direction will this country go in? Donald Trump would damn sure take us backwards, let’s be clear about that,” Walz said.

“Make no mistake. Violent crime was up under Donald Trump. And that’s not even counting the crimes he committed,” he added, a swipe at the former president’s 34 felony convictions and other charges. “You know it, you feel it. These guys are creepy and yes, just weird as hell.”

Walz is scheduled to appear with Harris in coming days in each of the seven most competitive states — Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada. The extent to which Walz will help her is up in the air, but there’s no question the vice president has been riding an upward swing in the polls since Biden ended his reelection bid late last month and endorsed her. 

HARRIS HAS BUILT a 51-48 percent lead over Trump, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll. Harris maintains a 3-point lead (48-45 percent) when third-party choices are offered, too.

In the national polling average tracked by The Hill/Decision Desk HQ, Harris and Trump are nearly tied, with Trump winning 47.1 percent support and Harris at 47 percent. Trump initially was up by more than 6 points when Harris declared her candidacy.

Now, Walz adds another variable to the Democrats’ calculus.

Who’s happy about Walz? A broad swath of Democrats and stakeholders — and Republicans. He’s received praise from progressives and leaders of the nation’s two largest teachers unions. Congressional Democrats from both ends of the party’s spectrum have speedily coalesced around Walz, from members of the “squad,” including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.), to more moderate figures like Sen. Michael Bennet (Colo.). Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who was instrumental in convincing Biden to step aside, spoke fondly of her former colleague.

“Tim Walz I know very well,” Pelosi said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “To characterize him as left is so unreal … He’s right down the middle. He’s a heartland of America Democrat.”

That’s just what Republicans are aiming to do. They’re already targeting his progressive record and doubting he will be much help in appealing to swing voters in battleground states. “Tim Walz? What a relief,” Kellyanne Conway, a former senior counselor to Trump, posted on the social platform X.

The GOP is also criticizing his handling four years ago of the protests that followed the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) posted on X that Walz “let rioters burn Minneapolis to the ground in 2020.”

So now what? Harris’s polling is on the upswing, but she has to capture a handful of tough swing states to win in November, not an easy feat. She and Walz must craft a message that crosses over to independents and Republicans, one that can galvanize the broadest possible coalition. She will face pressure to do interviews with news media soon to clearly spell out her policies. 

And then there are the vibes. Her campaign has ushered in a rush of political energy, a comparatively sunny and go-getter outlook fueled by a deluge of memes and pop-culture mashups. The question is whether it — and the joy Walz said she brings to politics — can last.

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CONGRESS

NEW YORK — Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) sat for a wide-ranging interview with The Hill Tuesday, minutes after news broke that Harris chose Walz to be her running mate. Johnson — who is criss-crossing the country campaigning with House candidates this month — talked about the Democratic presidential ticket and discussed his quest to expand the GOP’s majority and retain the gavel next year.

He also commented on Trump’s performance at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) convention, detailed his thoughts on the upcoming government funding deadline and spoke about how he spends his rare off-time with family.

“We were on trajectory, prior to all of the developments of the last few weeks, to have a decisive victory in both the House and the Senate for the Republican Party,” Johnson said. “I believe that we still are on that trajectory.”

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ZOOM IN

CAMPAIGN POLITICS

Progressive Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, a member of the House “squad,” lost her primary Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, defeated by progressive county prosecutor Wesley Bell, who was backed by more than $12 million in ads from a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other organizations eager to oust a House critic of Israel’s war in Gaza. Bell told voters he would be a more pragmatic choice for the St. Louis district and argued Bush was ineffective in Washington on local issues after achieving her “squad” fame in 2021. He is expected to easily win the general election.

In the Democratic Senate primary in Missouri, Lucas Kunce is projected to win in his second bid, according to the AP. The Marine veteran defeated state Sen. Karla May and December Harmon, a community activist. Kunce advances to November’s general election to take on Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, who ran unopposed in Tuesday’s primary.

In Michigan’s Senate primary, the battle lines are set to replace retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) in a key battleground state. Three-term Rep. Elissa Slotkin is projected to win the Democratic Senate primary, while former congressman Mike Rogers is projected to win on the Republican side, according to the AP. Michigan primary results are HERE.

In one of the most competitive House races in the country, left open by Slotkin’s Senate race, both parties’ candidates ran unopposed Tuesday. Democrat Curtis Hertel Jr. and Republican Tom Barrett will face off in November as the parties battle for control in the House, where Republicans hold a narrow majority.

In Washington State, Bob Ferguson, a longtime attorney general, will face off in November against Republican former Rep. Dave Reichert, in a battle to become the next governor in a Democratic stronghold that hasn’t had an open race for the state’s top job in more than a decade.

A Washington State congressional race in the 4th District between Rep. Dan Newhouse, one of the last remaining House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, and two conservative rivals endorsed by the GOP presidential nominee, was too early to call, according to The Associated Press.

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STATE WATCH

DEBBY, TROPICAL STORM, THEN HURRICANE, THEN FLOOD MENACE: Heavily populated and low-lying counties of South Carolina and Georgia are bracing for deadly floods as Debby lumbers across the Southeast. Though it has been downgraded from hurricane status since it made landfall in Florida Monday — killing four and leaving more than 100,000 households without power — Debby remains a threat. 

In large part, that’s because it’s a colossal swirling sponge squeezing itself out over already flood-prone coastal areas. The National Hurricane Center had warned of “potentially historic heavy rainfall” across the coastal flanks of the two states, which “will likely result in areas of likely catastrophic flooding.” The Hill’s Saul Elbein breaks down what you need to know.

CBS News: Maps show the hurricane moving slowly across the Southeast.

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ELSEWHERE

INTERNATIONAL

MIDDLE EAST TENSIONS: Biden spoke with leaders of Qatar and Egypt Tuesday as he continued frantic diplomatic efforts to avert a wider war in the Middle East. All three leaders agreed on the urgency of bringing the negotiations between Israel and Hamas “to closure as soon as possible,” according to statements (Reuters).

Iran has vowed to strike Israel in retaliation for the killing of a Hamas commander in Tehran, while tensions between Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel continue to simmer. Meanwhile, Hezbollah launched a stream of attack drones into northern Israel Tuesday in response to an Israeli strike a day earlier that Israel said killed a Hezbollah field commander. The tit-for-tat attacks ratcheted up anxiety in a region as it braces for a spillover (The New York Times).

Hamas named Yahya Sinwar, its top official in Gaza, as the new leader of its political bureau following Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination in Tehran on July 31, the group announced Tuesday. Sinwar is widely believed to be hiding out in tunnels underneath Gaza to avoid Israeli attack (The Times of Israel).

The Washington Post: Most Americans oppose sending U.S. troops to defend Israel, a new poll finds.

A half-dozen masked assailants ransacked the headquarters of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado in the latest escalation against opponents of President Nicolás Maduro following the country’s disputed presidential election. The arrest comes as top officials, including Maduro himself, have threatened to arrest Machado, who has gone into hiding as she seeks to rally Venezuelans to challenge last Sunday’s election results. The Biden administration and other foreign governments are recognizing opposition candidate Edmundo González as the victor, discrediting the official results of the vote proclaiming Maduro the winner (ABC News).

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THE CLOSER

And finally … Let’s hear it for past Olympians who made it look easy. 

On this day in 1948 at the London Olympics, track-and-field star Fanny Blankers-Koen, pregnant with her third child, helped the Dutch team win the 4×100 relay race. At the first competition after World War II, she was best known as the first woman to capture four gold medals during a single Olympic games. Nicknamed the “Flying Housewife” and competing in a short-sleeved white top and homemade orange shorts, she forever changed women’s sports. 

Her gold medal victories, in addition to the relay, included the 100-meter race, the 200-meter contest and the 80-meter hurdles final.

NPR: The Paris Games are being hailed as the “gender-equal” Olympics. Let’s take a closer look.

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