Walz, Vance campaigns stop in Twin Cities briefly as election draws nearer

[THEME MUSIC] CATHY WURZER: Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and former Republican President Donald Trump are both in Pennsylvania today, as the nominees chase votes in a very tight presidential race. The schedules of their running mates had the two VP candidates minutes apart, at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport today.

Republican Senator JD Vance swung through for a fundraiser, and Democratic Governor Tim Walz departed for a series of events in Wisconsin.

MPR News has dispatched reporters to those campaign events. Both of them are busy right now, but our Politics Editor Brian Bakst has come by to fill us in.

Hey, Brian.

BRIAN BAKST: Hey, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: Gosh, is it, what, three weeks left? So a lot is happening right now.

BRIAN BAKST: Yeah, it's hard to believe we're this close to the finish line. And the main four-- the two presidential and two vice presidential-- nominees, it's going to be a lot of time for them on the move.

Just this morning, as you noted, we had a bit of campaign traffic at MSP. About 45 minutes ago, the Harris-Walz plane, that Governor Walz uses, was taking off. And less than five minutes later, the plane that JD Vance travels on touched down.

Just before that, I spoke with our Clay Masters, who is spending part of his day trailing the Republican vice presidential nominee.

CLAY MASTERS: He's here to attend a fundraiser over the noon hour, a place to get some just face time at a state that was once seen, maybe, a little bit more competitive, before the sitting governor got in for the Democratic ticket. So it's a place to raise money. It's not uncommon for presidential candidates and vice presidential candidates to travel to states that are not competitive or as competitive as Wisconsin or Michigan. But this is a chance to raise some money, especially in a place where Republicans are happy to try to campaign against Governor Walz running on the Democratic ticket.

BRIAN BAKST: And it's a little payback as fair game because Governor Walz was in JD Vance's backyard not long ago.

CLAY MASTERS: It's an opportunity to campaign in his backyard, on his turf. And I wouldn't be surprised if we possibly see Senator Vance make a retail stop and maybe even talk to press. He's one of these candidates who is much more open to just take reporters' questions as he's campaigning.

CATHY WURZER: So Brian, we really haven't seen much of the Republican candidates here lately, have we?

BRIAN BAKST: No. There was a time when the Trump campaign was pretty bullish on Minnesota. He narrowly lost here in 2016, and invested ample time and money in Minnesota during their 2020 re-election campaign. He lost by more.

Trump was here in May, and he and his running mate, JD Vance, dropped in not long after the Republican National Convention wrapped up in July. They held one of those big arena rallies in Saint Cloud.

The campaign does have some offices here, and Republican officials say they're hoping to spur a lot of sporadic voters to the polls, those who need a little bit more nudging.

CATHY WURZER: All right. So Tim Walz had some time close to home the past couple of days here over the weekend. He's back on the campaign trail today, so he's going to Wisconsin and--

BRIAN BAKST: Pennsylvania. Those blue wall states, they're the places that Democrats almost certainly need to win to keep the White House. We sent our Dana Ferguson along with, and here's what she said about the itinerary.

DANA FERGUSON: It's the governor's sixth trip to Pennsylvania, and his fifth to Wisconsin. He's been going around these swing states many times over the last couple of months since he's been tapped to be the vice president's running mate. So somewhat familiar territory, but they are sending him out, once again, trying to make an impact in these states.

They're swing states that could be won by just a small number of votes, and so both campaigns are putting in quite a lot of face time there, trying to connect with voters, and make the case that they're the stronger candidates. So I anticipate that this will not be the last time the governor is dispatched to each of these states. And as you know, both vice presidential candidates here are from the Midwest, so they're viewed as significant ambassadors to both of these states.

BRIAN BAKST: The governor is going to be around some big name neighbors for the next-- at least today's end of the campaign stops.

DANA FERGUSON: Right. He's going to be meeting up with Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. They're launching a bus tour for the campaign. So they'll be out together at a couple of campaign events today in Green Bay area, and then meeting up with some others in Pennsylvania, as he does his swing through that state.

CATHY WURZER: So I have to ask about the sporty nature of the Walz weekend. So he was at a football game, high school football game, and then a pheasant hunting trip. A lot of time for photo ops. What's going on there?

BRIAN BAKST: It's no secret that there's a massive gender gap shaping up in this year's election. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have a huge polling advantage among women. Donald Trump and JD Vance have a big lead among men.

So part of the reason that Harris picked Walz is because she'd hoped that he'd connect to men, especially those living in less populated areas. They've been calling him coach because of his years assisting a football team at Mankato West, where he also taught.

He gave a pep talk and did the coin toss at the big rivalry game the Scarlets had against Mankato East on Friday. West won.

A day later, Walz was in blaze orange and holding a shotgun as he led an entourage out on a pheasant hunt in Sleepy Eye. It's all part of a coordinated messaging effort to show a connection with men.

And Trump and Vance, they've been to car races, college football games, and Ultimate Fighting matches, and appeared on podcasts with large male audiences.

Hey, one more thing, Cathy. Walz showed up at a volleyball game for his son, Gus, yesterday, as well. Our colleague Tom Scheck captured that because his son was at the same tournament. That wasn't a campaign-style event. It was just a dad being a dad.

CATHY WURZER: All right. Brian Bakst, thank you.

BRIAN BAKST: You're welcome, Cathy.

CATHY WURZER: That's MPR Politics Editor Brian Bakst. And of course, you'll be able to hear Clay Masters and Dana Ferguson's reports a bit later on here, on MPR News.

Well, it's 12:12, and Brian mentioned that the governor's recent campaign events that are focused on closing his ticket's polling gap among male voters is something they're focusing on. This morning, I talked with someone who was actually on that pheasant hunting trip in Sleepy Eye with the governor over the weekend.

David Clayton is an advocate for homeless veterans, and has more than 230,000 followers on TikTok, but he started by saying he does not really consider himself an influencer.

DAVID CLAYTON: I-- this influencer thing is all brand new to me. I think I've grown a large community of like-minded individuals from all spectrums of the political game. Not just Democrats, but Republicans, Independents, Americans that just want to take pride in being American again, and find some semblance of sanity and unity again, instead of this polarization, this all or nothing, do or die kind of mentality. I think America is very hungry to come together again in this ever so divisive time.

CATHY WURZER: And why do you see the Walz-Harris ticket as being the connector here?

DAVID CLAYTON: Well, the one thing that really took me aback by Governor Walz is he is not a politician. He's an average, everyday American.

I'm a registered Independent. He had all walks of life on the pheasant hunt with him, all spectrums. Republicans. There was one influencer who said outright that his brand deals would cancel him if he even had a photo op with Governor Walz, because it is so polarized and divisive right now.

But Governor Walz, he was just a normal guy. He was so pleasant, so kind, funny. And it's that kind of unity and compassion we need because I think America is really tired of the legacy politicians, and really wanting some genuine leadership. And I think we're going to have that with Harris-Walz as the ticket.

CATHY WURZER: That Republican-leaning influencer you mentioned, who didn't want to post much because of fear of losing some sponsorships, do you know other men who are quiet about their support for the Harris ticket? And what do you make of that?

DAVID CLAYTON: Absolutely. It's this whole Trump movement thing is, it really is an absolutism. I tell my followers often, I've got all walks of life that follow my account, that I can sit at the same table with a Republican in total disagreement and still have mutual respect for them as Americans.

But this absolutism, this their way or no way MAGA mindset, it's just not what our country was built off of. It's not what makes America so great. And we really need to get back to some kind of sense of unity and pride in our fellow Americans.

There's many, many, MAGA-minded Americans that aren't really so MAGA-minded, they're more so independent, but they can't say it out loud, because the fear of any kind of cancellation, because of this absolutism mindset that if you're not with us, you're against us. And that's really not what our founding is all about. It's more so about lifting each other up and supporting each other.

CATHY WURZER: So how then, should you think the Harris-Walz ticket talk to more independent male voters, who might not be as enthusiastic at this point?

DAVID CLAYTON: Well, when I sat down, we had a little kind of campfire session, minus the campfire, after the pheasant hunt, and Governor Walz gave equal time to everybody, if not even more time to the Republican-based outdoorsmen that were with us, because he wanted to reiterate that his general message, I picked up on, was that we have so much more common ground than is said publicly out loud about our disagreements.

I think he-- I think the Harris-Walz ticket is doing a really, really good job in reaching out to the everyday American in trying to broadcast that mindset. I think it's a party more so focused on unity than it is just winning, because it seems one side of the aisle is only focused on winning. And the Harris-Walz ticket, in my personal opinion, seems to be more so on unifying the country, to be able to make us as great as I personally believe we are.

CATHY WURZER: So final question here for you. I'm curious to know what you think about both campaigns using influencers, social media influencers. Do you think that's a workable solution to reach other folks that might not be paying attention via mainstream media?

DAVID CLAYTON: You know, no0 disrespect to you as a news organization, as a legacy news organization, but I think we're really seeing a turn of the tides here, as far as where people are getting the bulk of their opinion pieces and their news, because, frankly, in the legacy media, so much of it is more op-ed, opinion pieces, than it is just the Walter Cronkite-era, facts, news broadcasting. Everything is opinion generated anymore. And I think a lot of the younger generation really finds the bulk of their news online on social media now.

And there are echo chambers, of course, on either side of the political spectrum or any given topic. But there's also a lot of fact-finding information out there as well, as well as misinformation, disinformation.

That was one of the things that I did discuss with Governor Walz is I'd really like to see not censorship, because we do hold freedom of speech dear, but at least some kind of program that outlines, hey, we're seeing this script repeated and its origins are coming from bad foreign actors. And of course, it's being shared and reshared so much, so maybe not censorship at all, but at least listing it out so that the general public has a better understanding of where information is originating from, to be able to then make up their own minds for themselves.

CATHY WURZER: All right. David Clayton, I appreciate the conversation. Thank you so much.

DAVID CLAYTON: It's absolutely my pleasure. Thanks for having me on.

CATHY WURZER: David Clayton is an advocate for homeless veterans, with more than 230,000 followers on TikTok.