Connecticut Democrats rallied in support Tuesday after Vice President Kamala Harris picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
“Connecticut is 100 percent lined up between the team Harris-Walz,” Gov. Ned Lamont, (D) Connecticut, said while wearing a freshly made “Harris-Walz” t-shirt.
Democrats held a press conference on Market Street in Hartford in front of a mural depicting Harris, former Gov. Ella Grasso, former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor and former First Lady Michelle Obama.
The noon press conference came just hours after Harris announced Walz as her pick.
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The tandem now faces the Republican ticket of former President Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance, (R) Ohio.
Rep. Joe Courtney, (D) 2nd, served with Walz in the U.S. House of Representatives and endorsed him over the weekend.
Courtney said Walz can connect with working class voters in swing states.
Politics
“He talks their language, and he understand what issues they’ve dealt with, particularly with small town and rural America,” Courtney said.
Republicans criticized the pick. Connecticut Republican Chairman Ben Proto said he’d be more concerned if Harris picked Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Pennsylvania is considered a key battleground state in the presidential race.
“This is a guy who is a self-admitted big government liberal,” Proto said.
He was especially critical of Walz’s stances on abortion access and raising the minimum wage.
He also said Walz waited too long to call in Minnesota National Guard to after protests in 2020 over George Floyd’s death turned into riots.
Democrats defended Walz, including for eventually calling in the National Guard. They said he has a strong record on public safety and hope voters agree with his policies.
“If the metric for being too far left is feeding children and protecting women’s reproductive health, and protecting labor and LGBTQ rights and making sure we have stronger gun safety legislation, then I think that’s just about the right place for me,” Rep. Jahana Hayes, (D) 5th District said.
Harris officially became the Democratic presidential nominee Monday. She was the only candidate to seek the nomination after Biden announced last month that he was backing out of the race.
Democrats held a virtual vote ahead of their convention, which starts Aug. 19 in Chicago.
Initially, the convention would have been too late for the nominee to appear on Ohio’s ballot. Lawmakers in Ohio agreed to move the date, but Democrats continued with the virtual vote.
