Beto O’Rourke champions Harris-Walz ticket: ‘Instead of hatred, there is hope’

Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) lavished praise on Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), suggesting the duo will put "hope" back on the ballot in November.

“Instead of hatred, there is hope,” O’Rourke said of the Harris-Walz campaign in an interview Friday with MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on "Deadline: White House."

He added, “Instead of grievance, there is aspiration. And that’s really America at its best.”

O’Rourke, like Harris, ran an unsuccessful primary bid against President Biden in the 2020 Democratic presidential race. He also served alongside Walz during his six years in the House.

“I just can’t tell you how proud I am of Vice President Harris and Governor Walz for finding this moment, and getting kind of past the stuff that gets cooked up in political laboratories, or the corporate side of our politics," the former Texas gubernatorial candidate continued. "And just finding what is fundamental to democracy, which is people being with people, finding connection and joy in that."

Harris’s rise to the top of the Democratic ticket after President Biden withdrew his candidacy has energized and excited those in her party. She has secured massive amounts of fundraising and her campaign has held large rallies in important swing states in the last week. Her team boasted that 14,000 people attended her rally in Philadelphia Tuesday and 15,000 attended another event in Detroit Wednesday night.

Harris is also neck-and-neck with Trump in polling, with the former president garnering 47.4 percent to the vice president’s 47.2 percent in an average of national polls from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ.

Trump gave an exasperated response when asked whether he fears Harris’s crowd sizes at a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida Thursday.

“Oh, give me a break,” Trump said. “Listen, I had 107,000 people in New Jersey, you didn’t report it. I’m so glad you asked. What did she have yesterday, 2,000 people?”