Harris and Walz 'bring the joy' - can the Democrat bounce last?

When Kamala Harris and the Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, stepped onstage together for the first time last Tuesday, Philadelphia's Liacouras Center glittered red, white and blue as Beyoncé's Freedom blared and the crowd pulsed.

- Lauren Gambino

Walz, plucked from relative obscurity when he accepted the vicepresident's offer to join the Democratic presidential ticket, placed his hand over his heart. He waved. He bowed.

He pointed to the crowd, and back to Harris. He grinned and laughed and bowed again.

When it was his turn to speak, Walz turned to Harris: "Thank you, Madam Vice-President, for the trust you put in me but, maybe more so, thank you for bringing back the joy."

It was a remarkable moment in a remarkable election cycle that would have been unimaginable a few weeks ago. But then Joe Biden abandoned his bid for re-election, and Democrats, with unusual speed and certainty, embraced his vice-president as their standard-bearer. Harris's ascendance - and her choice of Walz as a partner have transformed the party.

"All of a sudden, an election that felt like it was slipping away from us, we are now in command," said Simon Rosenberg, a Democratic strategist.

The Philadelphia debut was the first stop of a multi-day, battleground state tour through the Rust belt - Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan - and the Sun belt - Arizona and Nevada designed to introduce "Coach Walz" and energise Americans for the threemonth sprint to election day.

Along the way, Harris and Walz cast themselves as "joyful warriors".

Unlike Biden's campaign, which had framed the contest as an existential choice between a president who would defend US democracy and a former president who would destroy it, Harris has sought to present the race as a choice between her vision for a "brighter future" and Trump's "backward agenda". At events, crowds chant the campaign's rallying cry: "We're not going back!" "Do we want to live in a country of freedom, of compassion, of rule of law?" Harris said in the rural Wisconsin city of Eau Claire last Wednesday.