Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz made his debut as Kamala Harris’ VP pick at a rally at Temple University

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz made his debut as the Democratic candidate for vice president Tuesday night at Temple University’s Liacouras Center, receiving a raucous reception with thousands of attendees wearing light-up bracelets as if they were at a Taylor Swift concert.

“Minnesota’s strength comes from our values — our commitment to working together, to seeing past our differences, to always being willing to lend a helping hand,” said Walz, a former teacher. “Those are the same values I learned on the family farm and tried to instill in my students. I took it to Congress and to the State Capitol, and now, Vice President Harris and I are running to take those very values to the White House.”

» READ MORE: Kamala Harris picks Tim Walz as running mate, passing over Josh Shapiro

Vice President Kamala Harris announced earlier Tuesday that she had selected Walz to be her running mate in the race against former President Donald Trump, the GOP candidate.

It was her first appearance in Pennsylvania, a crucial swing state, since she became the presumptive Democratic nominee following President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the race. And it was her first rally since she secured the support of a majority of Democratic delegates Monday.

The previously scheduled event — the first stop in a tour of swing states — happened to be on the home turf of another top contender to be Harris’ No. 2, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

At the rally, Shapiro introduced the White House hopefuls and called Walz a “dear friend.”

» READ MORE: Gov. Josh Shapiro gives a rousing speech in his home turf after getting passed over for VP

“Tim Walz is a great man,” Shapiro said. “Tim Walz is an outstanding governor. Tim Walz is a teacher. Tim Walz is a guardsman. Tim Walz is a great patriot.”

Harris also profusely thanked Shapiro, without directly discussing his bid to become her running mate.

“I am so, so invested in our friendship in doing this together, because together with Josh Shapiro, we will win Pennsylvania,” Harris said.

» READ MORE: Inside Harris’ decision to pass over Josh Shapiro as her VP pick

Harris then praised Walz for his record as a teacher who coached a winning high school football team while leading his school’s Gay-Straight Alliance club, as a member of the National Guard, and as an elected official who fought to raise the minimum wage, protected unions, and voted in favor of the Affordable Care Act, better known as “Obamacare.”

“We agree about many things, including that when our middle class is strong, America is strong,” Harris said, “and strengthening the middle class will be my defining goal.”

Walz was welcomed warmly by the crowd as he harked back to his middle-class background and rural roots. But his biggest applause lines came when he went after Trump and the GOP’s vice presidential candidate, Sen. JD Vance, repeating trademark burns that have become well-known among Harris supporters during his VP bid.

He called Vance “weird,” with a Midwestern lilt, and said he couldn’t wait to debate him.

”Make no mistake, violent crime was up under Donald Trump,” Walz said. “That’s not even including the crimes he committed.”

» READ MORE: Who is Tim Walz? A look at the VP nominee who beat out Shapiro

Other leading Democrats from the area also spoke before Harris and Walz. U.S. Sen. John Fetterman initially drew boos for telling the Philly audience that he was a Steelers fan and a “Sheetz guy” before pivoting to saying all Pennsylvanians needed to unite behind the Democratic ticket.

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, who very publicly backed Shapiro for VP, encouraged Democrats not to air dirty laundry about the vice presidential selection process, recalling her grandmother’s advice to never speak about “what happens in this house.”

» READ MORE: Mayor Parker supported Josh Shapiro for VP. Now she’s urging Democrats to get behind Walz

“Our Democratic nominee has spoken and that’s it,” Parker said. “Period. End of story.”

The Harris campaign said 12,000 people filled the Liacouras Center and overflow space, and several hundred more were turned away. The crowd gave Harris and Walz an enthusiastic launch to their swing-state tour, at times drowning out the speakers.

Bracelets handed out to the crowd flashed red, white, and blue in unison, creating a sea of changing colors.

Outside the arena, Brian Randolph, a T-shirt vendor, hawked his “Make America Laugh Again” merchandise, which he drove from Pittsburgh and set up across from the venue at 8 a.m. He said business had been booming.

“When the rain doesn’t chase people away, you know people are excited,” he said.

Randolph was initially not that optimistic about this year’s election, so he planned to skip the rallies altogether. But after Harris became the presumptive nominee, Randolph and his partner believed that they had to support the history-making candidate with such items as hand towels with a gavel on them in reference to Harris’ experience as a prosecutor, handcuffs that read “The Prosecutor vs. The Convict,” and T-shirts bearing Harris’ face.

“I’m a defender of democracy,” he said. “I’d love for this 250-year experiment to continue.”

For Pennsylvanians who had hoped their home state governor would be Harris’ vice presidential nominee, Tuesday morning’s announcement was bittersweet.

But for Minnesotans such as Gretchen Grosch, who traveled from her native St. Paul to North Philadelphia to support Harris at the rally, the news that her governor could soon hold the nation’s second-highest office was a pleasant surprise.

”Of course there are people who say he’s too liberal, but he really brought our state together,” Grosch said of Walz. “It’s been such a warm feeling.”

Many were turned away outside the arena. Mount Airy resident Louise Flaig, 46, was waiting in line outside shortly before the event started, unsure whether she’d make it in.

”It’s worth it,” she said of the gamble. “We could see our future president. How often does that happen?”

Jocelyn Marrow, a Democratic committeeperson who lives near the arena, couldn’t get a ticket. She stood on her doorstep in a pink Harris T-shirt and marveled at the crowd’s newfound enthusiasm.

She was at a Biden rally at Girard College earlier this year and she said people were excited — but not like this.

”Now this,” she said, “is energizing.”

Staff writer Nathaniel Rosenberg contributed to this article.