A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The road to the Democratic convention in Chicago actually began in Pennsylvania. Vice President Kamala Harris, her running mate, Tim Walz, and both their spouses rolled through the western part of the state on a campaign bus Sunday, trying to rally support from voters in that key battleground state. White House correspondent Asma Khalid was there, and she has this story.
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ASMA KHALID, BYLINE: Harris stepped into the airport hangar in Pittsburgh supporting a pair of Converse Chuck Taylors and a bright blue blazer, ready to hit the road, in a bus emblazoned with the slogan, a new way forward. And as she took selfies, the crowd had a message for her.
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting) We're not going back. We're not going back.
KHALID: Then it was on to a campaign field office in Beaver County, a region Donald Trump won by double digits in the last presidential election. Harris, Walz and their spouses made calls to voters at a phone bank.
VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS: I'm so glad you've been able to take some time this Sunday to have a conversation and...
KHALID: And then they thanked volunteers.
HARRIS: We're back. And we're going to keep coming back.
KHALID: Keep coming back, because Democrats see Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes as key to winning the presidential election. And despite her recent gains in the polls, Harris says they have a lot of work to do.
HARRIS: I feel like we need to earn everyone's vote. And that means being on the road, being in communities where people are, where they live. Doritos.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Doritos?
HARRIS: I've been looking for them.
KHALID: Being in the community meant stopping by a local Sheets gas station, where her husband found her favorite snack. They also visited a local restaurant known for its sandwiches, stuffed with fries and coleslaw. They dropped off almond torts to local firefighters, and they swung by a high school football practice, where the Democratic Vice Presidential pick Tim Walz, himself a former high school football coach, told the players politics isn't all that different than football.
TIM WALZ: It's about something bigger than themselves. It's about setting a future goal and trying to reach it.
KHALID: He spoke from the end zone as the players took a knee and listened. And he added...
WALZ: It's about doing it with humility and when you lose, you walk across the field, and you shake hands with the other team, and know they played hard too. But we're all in it together to try and make it better.
KHALID: It's a lesson of teamwork and optimism that both Walz and Harris were trying to sell to Pennsylvanians. But as the bus rolled by, a Trump supporter protesting the visit sported a shirt that read, mean tweets and cheap gas - a reminder that not everyone wants the message the Democrats are trying to sell.
Asma Khalid, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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