With just a few frantic days left before the hotly contested presidential election, Democratic volunteers in Reading got a special visitor Friday evening.
Gwen Walz, the first lady of Minnesota and wife of Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate Tim Walz, stopped by Berks County Democratic Committee headquarters on North Front Street to greet volunteers, thank them for all of their work so far and encourage them to keep going down the final, critical stretch.
“It’s wonderful to be here with all of you,” she said. “I’m really here to say thank you. We are so very, very grateful for all that you are doing, for your energy, for your tenacity, for your courage and for being in this with us.”
Speaking to a crowd of more than 75 energetic campaign supporters, she said she believes Harris and her husband are on a path toward victory in Tuesday’s election.
“Right now, Kamala and Tim have the momentum and we can win,” she said. “And we will win. And you know why? Because we have you. That’s why we’re going to win.”
And winning, she said, is vitally important.
“We have just four days left until the election of our lifetime,” she said. “And this race has boiled down to a really simple choice: Donald Trump has spent nine long, exhausting years trying to pit us against each other because he sees a world where only a few can get ahead while the rest of us are left behind. And I don’t know about you, but I’m just ready to turn the page on all of that.”
The Harris campaign, on the other hand, has a fresh new vision for America.
“They will build a future where everyone can live with safety, dignity, freedom and opportunity,” she said. “Where everyone has a shot to succeed.”
Walz said a Harris administration would build an opportunity economy that gives everyone a fair shot at the American Dream.
“That means lowering costs from groceries to housing to health care and that means paving more pathways to good-paying jobs through apprenticeship and training programs,” she said. “And that means making more funding available to start or grow small businesses. Because that is the promise of America.”
And, Walz said, the promise will be kept for everyone.
“You know I spent a lot of years as an English teacher, and I know that words matter,” she said. “So, when we say everyone. we mean everyone — and that means the Latino community.”
That’s not the case for a Trump administration, she said.
“When Donald Trump brings a speaker on stage at his rally who refers to Puerto Rico as an ‘island of garbage,’ or when Donald Trump says immigrants are ‘poisoning the blood’ of our country, Trump is telling you exactly what he thinks of our Latino friends, family and neighbors,” she said. “But it’s not just hateful, divisive rhetoric. Trump’s agenda will be a disaster for Latino families.
“But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can choose a new way forward.”
Along with her thanks, Walz also brought something to share with the volunteers. She presented the crowd with a bag of ginger snap cookies — a recipe handed down to her from her great-grandmother.
She said she has delivered a bag of cookies to every place she has stopped across the country, explaining that she mixed and froze enough dough in one weekend to make about 1,500 cookies before she headed out on the campaign trail. Each week new batches are pulled from the freezer, baked and packed to be handed out.
“I wanted to bring something from our family to all of you to let you know just how very grateful we are and how much we appreciate what you do,” she said. “And nothing says that like cookies.”
Walz closed her remarks by urging those gathered to continue the hard, passionate work they’ve been doing, making sure to leave no stone unturned as they approach the finish line.
“Keep on knocking on doors and making calls,” she said. “As a longtime teacher, I think of this election as the ultimate group project. But this one is due in just four days and no late work is allowed. And this group project is pass or fail. And we are only going to pass if we all do our part. It’s crunch time.
“You know, Tim keeps saying that we’ll sleep when we’re dead. Now I’m more moderate. I think we can take a nap — after the election.”
Friday’s visit to Reading was Walz’s fifth visit to Pennsylvania since her husband joined the Harris ticket. Tim Walz stopped by Mofongo Restaurant in Reading on Oct. 3.
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