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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, speaks to a crowd of union members at the Labor Festival in Milwaukee on Monday. (Eric Gunn | Wisconsin Examiner)
MILWAUKEE — In a high-energy campaign speech at this city’s annual labor festival, Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Walz pledged Monday that he and Vice President Kamala Harris would lead an administration that puts workers first, contrasting their policies with those of the Republican Party led by former President Donald Trump.
“As you know, labor unions and labor organizations are more popular today than they have ever been in our lifetimes. At any time,” Walz said. “And you know why? Because union halls are where the purest form of democracy is practiced.”
Wisconsin Democrats and union members greeted Walz with a raucous cheer when he jumped on stage, and Walz responded with an equally energetic speech that ended with an exhortation to union members and their allies to get out and work for the Harris-Walz Democratic ticket between now and Election Day on Nov. 5.
On the way from the Milwaukee airport to the event, the trucks in the back of the convoy were involved in a collision, The Associated Press reportedThe cause of the accident was not immediately clear, but Harris' campaign said some passengers in the vehicles suffered minor injuries, according to the Associated Press.
At the beginning of his speech, Walz, whose car was not involved in the crash and who was not injured, mentioned the incident. “We spoke with the staff. I'm happy to say that with some minor injuries, everyone is going to be okay,” he said, thanking the Secret Service and rescue workers at the scene.
The Labor Festival is an annual Labor Day event held on the Milwaukee Summer Festival Grounds on Lake Milwaukee and sponsored by the Milwaukee County Labor Council. The event is a traditional Wisconsin venue for politics during election years. President Joe Biden was the keynote speaker in 2022.
The Harris campaign said more than 4,000 people attended Monday.
The introductory speakers, including New Jersey Gov. Tony Evers, U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee) and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is running for reelection, worked to build enthusiasm for the Democratic nomination — a task that the loud cheers from the crowd suggested would not require much effort.
Walz was introduced by Rich Kangas, vice president of the Iron Workers Union Local 8, who has been quick not only to support Harris’ record as part of President Joe Biden’s administration but also to attack Trump.
“Trump promised an infrastructure week long ago that never came,” Kangas said. “We didn’t get that infrastructure week until Joe Biden and Kamala Harris delivered on infrastructure for a decade. The Biden-Harris administration has helped create good, well-paying union jobs here in Wisconsin and across the country and any time my brothers and sisters are working, it warms my heart.”
Walz is “someone who will continue the historic efforts to support unions and workers, because he knows that when unions are strong, we are strong,” Kangas said.
Walz’s speech had all the hallmarks of his candidacy since Harris chose him as her running mate: highlighting his years as a public school teacher and teacher union member, and his passage of laws as governor that included creating paid family leave and barring employers from holding mandatory anti-union meetings for workers during union campaigns.
Harris was praised for casting the deciding vote as vice president as the American Rescue Plan passed the evenly divided Senate within three months of Biden taking office.
“And that’s not a boast if it’s true — she was part of the most pro-union administration in American history,” Walz said. “From standing up for workers to voting for fair legislation to walking the picket lines, she was there with workers every step of the way.”
Walz pointed to the idea that Trump has a special appeal to workers.
“He knows something about working people,” Walz said. “Donald Trump knows that. He knows how to exploit them. That’s what he knows. Every chance these guys get, they wage war on working people and the middle class.”
He said the Harris-Walz campaign is not just aiming to issue warnings about the Trump campaign's agenda.
“We have a responsibility to tell people not just what we oppose, but what we support,” Walz said, then proceeded to implement a series of campaign promises: cut taxes “on working families” and force “businesses to pay their fair share”; ensure that Social Security and Medicare benefits are not cut; and fight for a national paid family and medical leave program similar to the one he signed into law in Minnesota. (The current federal family and medical leave law is unpaid.)
“Vice President Harris and I and everyone here believe that you should be free to make your own health care decisions, not politicians,” Walz said.
Walz has cited the need to address the problem of high college loan debt. While noting that he is a military veteran, an avid trapper and a supporter of the Second Amendment, Walz said, “We believe our children should have the freedom to go to school without worrying about being shot in the hallways.”
Walz attacked Project 2025, a nearly 1,000-page document prepared by the Heritage Foundation as a road map for the Republican administration.
“The goals of the 2025 bill are clear. Its subtitle should be how workers are exploited,” Walz said, citing provisions that would weaken overtime pay, remove protections against child labor, and ban public sector unions nationwide.
He dismissed the Trump campaign’s attempts to distance itself from the plan, and spoke of another line he has taken. “I’ve coached football long enough,” Walz said. “No, you take the time to write a playbook, and you’re sure to use it. You’re sure to execute these plays.”
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