Steve Cortes, former senior spokesman and strategist for the 2016 and 2020 Trump campaigns and current head of the League of American Workers, said it is critical that Republicans expose Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’ “radical” records while in public office leading up to the November 5 general election.
Harris, after officially becoming the Democratic Party’s 2024 presidential nominee this week after incumbent President Joe Biden exited the race, announced Walz as her running mate on Tuesday.
Since being thrown into the spotlight as Harris’ running mate, Walz’s records as governor – including his handling of the 2020 George Floyd riots, his excessive lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, his “radical” policies, his friendly relationship with China, and more – have been heavily discussed and criticized among Republicans.
Cortes said that while the criticism of Walz’s record since he became Harris’ running mate is “warranted,” all observations should be “immediately channeled back to Kamala” as “most people don’t pay that much attention to the number two pick when they vote.”
“Look, this is the most radical ticket that any major party has ever presented in American history. And I also think, by the way, as bad as Walz is, I think we have to remember that most people don’t pay that much attention to the number two pick when they vote. It’s mostly about the top candidate. In that regard, I think every time we’re criticizing Walz – and it’s very warranted criticism – it should be immediately channeled back to Kamala,” Cortes explained on Wednesday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Cortes pointed out the example of how Walz allowed Minneapolis to be burned and ransacked during the 2020 riots while Harris actively “solicited money” at the time to bail rioters out of prison.
“For example, [Walz] allowed Minneapolis to be burned to the ground, a police station to be ransacked and burned – something unprecedented in American history. Kamala then literally solicited money to get those very thugs who committed the crimes out of jail. So let’s take it right back to Kamala. Remember that it’s important to take our shots that are, again, reasonable and correct at Walz, but let’s always, also, connect them back to Kamala, in my view,” Cortes said.
Regarding the November 5 election, Cortes, who oversees polling, warned that the race would be “very close” as Harris’ candidacy “reset the race” after Biden dropped out.
“I believe we’re going to win in a very close race. I know that might irk some of the listeners out there because they might think that this can’t possibly be close, but look, it’s close. The polling that I helped direct, so I know it’s done correctly, shows that it’s essentially tied in the battleground states right now. So as angry as that makes us – and that is a righteous anger that they were able to simply dump their candidate and through a selection rather than election, they were able to install a candidate they think is going to do better – at least for now, it has reset the race,” Cortes said.
With that in mind, Cortes again stressed the importance of Republicans continuing to expose Harris and Walz’s “radical policies”, which are unpopular with a majority of American voters.
“The more we expose who Kamala Harris is, how radical she is, how untalented she is, the fact that she is a DEI hire and we should not run away from that designation. That’s exactly what she is. By the way, Walz is also a DEI hire in an interesting way because since she was hired for being a woman of color, she then had to pick a white man. She had to. This is the absurdity of the world of the leftists and DEI. But once we expose all of that, I do believe we’re going to win. I’m confident, not complacent. Far from it,” Cortes said.
When pushing back on the regime media’s glorification and modernization of the Harris-Walz ticket, Cortes further stressed the importance of countering such talking points with facts about the pair’s policy records.
“Just show the record. Show their actual works in office, and when it comes to as far as my polling and also just my analysis of the situation, it’s BRGG: Borders, reparations, groceries, and guns. If we focus on those four issues – that’s where Kamala is most vulnerable, where she has the worst record, worst agenda – we can diffuse that media myth that there’s something moderate about her,” Cortes said.
“I’m confident we’re going to win, but this is going to be a really close race. So all the patriots out there, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work because we have to sprint to the finish,” Cortes added.
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Kamala Harris” by Kamala Harris. Photo “Tim Walz” by Tim Walz.
