Democratic VP nominee Tim Walz visits Republican-led Newport Beach, seeks common ground with undecided voters

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz called for a restoration of civility, decency and stewardship in politics, hoping to paint himself in contrast to Republican counterpart JD Vance and appeal to undecided voters during a campaign fundraiser in conservative-led Newport Beach on Tuesday.

The meet-and-greet was held at the Balboa Bay Resort exactly one week after his selection by Vice President Kamala Harris as her running mate in the November election. Admission started at $1,000 per person, and well over 100 supporters came to hear him speak. Elsewhere, a small group of Trump supporters were seen waving red flags along Pacific Coast Highway in protest of his appearance in Orange County.

“We feel so lucky this in our backyard, because sometimes these events are so far away,” fundraiser attendee and Newport Beach resident Steve Wise said. “And this is a race we wanted to support in a big way, so we were thrilled.”

The current governor of Minnesota highlighted Harris’ work as California’s former attorney general while touting his own background as a teacher, union member, veteran and congressman.

His folksy humor was on display during his address.

“Someone asked me: ‘Are you surprised that you’re the vice-presidential candidate?’ I said I couldn’t be more surprised if I woke up with my head stapled to the carpet,” Walz chuckled.

As he and Harris are both products of public schools, Walz characterized the Democratic ticket as representative of the middle class and emblematic of the American dream.

Walz also cast the modern Republican party as out of touch with the needs of working families, preoccupied with reactionary social positions and less willing to compromise than it had been in the past.

“This isn’t a condemnation. Look, we need a Republican party that functions like a...,” Walz said, pausing for comedic effect. “...well, like a normal political party.”

Out of Newport Beach’s 59,680 registered voters, Republicans outnumbered Democrats 28,494 to 15,263, according to data from the county updated Aug. 12. All seven members of the City Council are conservatives.

Despite those figures, Newport Beach resident and criminal defense attorney Natalie Bayer said Democrats have had a growing impact locally since the 2018 midterm election, when Katie Porter and Gil Cisneros led a “blue wave” of upsets. Although Republicans clawed back some of those gains in intervening years, she believes the Harris-Walz ticket has a real chance at victory in Orange County.

“I think there is a rising presence of Democrats here and a stronghold that we’re becoming,” Bayer said after listening to Walz’s remarks Tuesday. “Obviously, we have a 7-0 [Republican] council, but I think there’s more of us who are kind of hidden in the shadows who have been feeling more bold since 2018 when we did flip the seats.”

Not everyone at Tuesday’s fundraiser was a Democrat, according to attendee Adriana Diaz Cardenas, a Newport Beach resident and life coach. She said at least one woman she met at the event described herself as a longtime Republican. She took that as evidence that at least some conservatives would like to see their party take a different direction.

“We met some people who were Republicans for Harris,” Cardenas said. “We don’t want to fight with anybody. They don’t want to fight with anybody. They are tired of the craziness, of calling names and negativity.”

Robert Friedman owns Lido Paddle on Via Lido, near Lafayette Avenue. He described himself as an undecided voter who cast his ballot for Barack Obama but is now leaning Republican, during a call with the Daily Pilot a day before Walz’s visit.

The local business owner said former President Trump’s personality and demeanor do not appeal to him on a personal level. But he was also convinced that President Joe Biden is in the pocket of special interests, while the Republican candidate was “too vain” to be controlled.

“Trump, understand, is not my favorite person,” Friedman said. “But at the end of the day, this guy’s ego is so damn big he wants to see statues of himself in 50 states. And he wants to be known as the best president of all time so bad that I kind of believe nobody will work harder in their whole life for his personal vanity. I’m not saying he’s doing it for the country.”

Friedman is also a co-founder of the Veteran’s Relief Foundation, a nonprofit that facilitates therapeutic paddle boarding excursions out of American Legion Post 291 on Balboa Island for those wounded physically or emotionally in combat. Although he himself is not a veteran, he said many locals who have served were deeply offended by what has been characterized as an exaggeration of Walz’s background in the military.

Trump’s pick for a running mate, JD Vance, has criticized the Minnesota governor for retiring from service five months before his unit was mobilized to fight in Afghanistan and then running for a congressional seat. The Republican vice-presidential nominee also scrutinized a 2018 video in which Walz mentioned “weapons of war, that I carried in war,” despite having no active combat experience during his 24 years in the National Guard. In a statement issued Monday, the Republican Party of Orange County called Walz’s visit a “slap in the face to Orange County veterans” and accused him of “stolen valor.”

“I think Republicans are sensationalizing, a little bit, this stolen valor,” Friedman said. “But he did throw it out there, and it wasn’t on accident. It’s like exaggerating how much you bench press. He did serve.”

Friedman said he was not especially concerned about Walz’s military history, but he was put off specifically by his support for gender-affirming care for trans youth and other LGBTQ+-related issues. He also said access to abortion should be left up to each state to regulate and that the federal government should not be in the business of controlling women’s bodies.

“We need to understand, [conservatives] care about the things we care about,” Walz said Tuesday. “Their kids, their future, those things. Let’s message to them right, let’s take it to them. Because those old enough in this room know the Republican party was a functional party, and they had good ideas. Not all the time, but you could work with them.

“I taught fourth grade for a while, and I get it; fear is a wonderful short-term motivator,” he added. “You can motivate people for the short run, but that’s all they’ve got: fear and painting a picture of a failed country.”