VP nominee Tim Walz says “people are hungry to come back together” in campaign final push

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, said Wednesday that Americans are “hungry to find a unifying message” as he and Vice President Kamala Harris make their final appeal to voters less than a week before Election Day. 

“People are hungry to come back together,” Walz said on “CBS Mornings.” “They’re hungry for us to find solutions.”

Harris delivered her closing argument in the campaign Tuesday night from the same site that her opponent, former President Donald Trump, spoke to his supporters before they marched to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to try to stop the counting of the electoral votes. 

Walz said Harris’ speech, which sought to contrast her vision for the country with Trump’s in the final stretch of the campaign, represented “the best of America.”

“One that’s talking about unifying us, one that’s talking about bringing folks to the table,” Walz said about the speech that, in part, targeted undecided voters. “The American tradition of disagreeing and debating but still doing it in a respectful manner.”

The unifying moment was short lived as President Biden, speaking with Latino activists in a video call Tuesday evening, appeared to call former President Donald Trump’s supporters “garbage” in response to a joke made at a Trump rally days earlier by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, in which Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” 

The president clarified that he was referring to “the hateful rhetoric” of the comedian as Republicans seized on the video footage. But Walz said Mr. Biden’s comments do not undercut the closing message of unity from the campaign, adding that the president was “very clear that he’s speaking about the rhetoric we heard.”

The vice presidential nominee also addressed a number of issues that are among the most prominent on the campaign trail this cycle, like abortion. Walz wouldn’t outline support for specific restrictions on abortion, citing a return to the standards under Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a right to abortion until fetal viability. 

“Restoration of Roe — that’s what we’re looking for,” Walz said.

The Minnesota governor also addressed the Arab American voters in Michigan who may not support Harris due to their position on the war in Gaza, saying his message to them is that “there’s one ticket here that is going to find the pathway to stabilization in the Middle East, but also one that is going to respect their human rights here — push back against Islamophobia — make sure that they have the right to fully engage in our system here.”

A recent CBS News poll showed a widening gender gap among voters, with women supporting Harris by a 10-point margin. The poll found that men are more likely to say efforts in the U.S. to promote gender equality have gone too far of late, and if they think this, they’re voting overwhelmingly for Trump.

For his pitch to men, Walz outlined how the Harris-Walz administration would continue bringing manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. and address gun violence in schools. And he delivered a stark warning to men, saying “for the women in their lives that they love, their wives, their daughters, their partners, whoever it may be this election, really — their lives are at stake,” citing reproductive healthcare. 

“At the end of the day, as the Vice President said last night, we’re there for policies that help everyone — she wants to be the president for all America,” Walz said. “Men are hearing that message, and over the next six days, that will start to solidify.”