The enthusiastic crowd cheered loudly upon learning of Harris’s new status as the party’s nominee as her newly announced running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, stood at her side. Later during the event, he blasted former President Donald Trump, saying the GOP nominee for president “sows chaos and division.”

Before Walz spoke for the first time as Harris’ Democratic vice president running mate, though, the current vice president laid out the stakes ahead for her campaign for the White House.

“Now, we have some work to do,” Harris said. “We are the underdogs in this race, but we have the momentum and I know exactly what we are up against.”

In what has become a common refrain on her recent campaign stops, Harris referenced her prior positions as a prosecutor, district attorney and attorney general for California and the types of criminals she prosecuted.

“I know Donald Trump’s type,” she said to loud applause.

Harris said her campaign is a “fight for the future” and said she will work to ensure affordable housing, affordable health care, affordable child care and paid leave.

“Strengthening the middle class will be my defining goal,” Harris announced. “Ours is a fight for the middle class and a fight for freedom.”

She promised to “bring down prices that are still too high and lower the cost of living for America’s families.

Freedoms and the threat of Trump

When it comes to the aspect of freedom in her campaign, Harris said, they include the “freedom to vote, be safe from gun violence, love who you love openly and with pride, and the freedom of a woman to make decisions for her own body and not have a government tell her what to do.”

“If Donald Trump gets a chance, he will end the Affordable Care Act and take us back to a time when insurance companies could deny coverage for people with pre-existing conditions,” she said. “Gov. Walz and I will not let that happen.”

“Health care should be a right and not just a privilege for those who can afford it,” she said.

If Democrats win majorities in the House and Senate, Harris said she will make sure Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom and sign it into law.

She said Congress also would pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, expand background checks for firearms purchases and increase penalties for illegal gun sales.

Harris also promised to ban military-style rifles commonly referred to as “assault weapons.”

Harris introduces her new running mate

She then spent much of her remaining time introducing Walz, whom she announced as her running mate earlier in the day and likened to the “varsity team” and referred to Trump’s running mate Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as the “JV squad.”

“We each face a question,” Harris told the crowd. “What kind of country do we want to live in?”

The options are a “country of freedom, compassion and the rule of law or a country of chaos, fear and hate,” she said.

“We each have the power to answer that question,” Harris said. “The power is with the people.”

“We are running on behalf of all Americans and when elected will govern on behalf of all Americans,” she said.

Harris then turned the mic over to Walz, who told the audience about how he was raised on a family farm in a small town in Nebraska, joined the National Guard and attended college on the GI Bill.

He recounted his years as a teacher and assistant football coach and his “commitment for the common good.”

Walz said Trump “doesn’t know the first thing about service” because he’s “too busy serving himself” and “sows chaos and division.”

“He froze in the face of the COVID crisis,” Walz said of Trump, and said Republicans want the government to be free to “invade your doctor’s office.”

Walz said he “can’t wait” to debate Vance and claimed Trump and Vance are “creepy” and “weird as hell.”

Trump and Vance have a “dangerous and backward” vision for the nation, Walz said. “We aren’t going back!”

The crowd then chanted “We’re not going back” several times, which has become a campaign slogan for Harris and Walz.