Democrat vice presidential nominee Tim Walz is expected to land in Los Angeles on Sunday evening after a day of California campaign and fund-raising stops in San Diego and the Santa Barbara area.
Walz’ itinerary for Monday in L.A. had not been announced as of Sunday morning. He departs from the area Monday evening, according to a campaign statement. The Associated Press, however, reported that Walz will appear on Jimmy Kimmel’s ABC show on Monday.
Kamala Harris’ running mate was scheduled to arrive in San Diego on Sunday afternoon and speak at a campaign reception on behalf of the Harris Victory Fund. After 5 p.m., Walz was scheduled to appear at a campaign event in Montecito, then head for L.A. for the evening.
Walz started his busy Sunday with an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.” He used his debut campaign appearance on a Sunday news show to try to fend off criticism of his stand on abortion rights and “own up” to past misstatements.
The interview reflected a broader media blitz by Harris and her running mate as the Democrats seek to garner public attention in the final 30 days of the campaign against Republicans Donald Trump and JD Vance.
Trump headed to Wisconsin on Sunday, a day after he tried to kickstart some of the momentum he had before President Biden dropped out by returning to the place where he survived an assassination attempt in July.
Harris, meanwhile, has taped an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that will air Monday night. She is booked Tuesday on Howard Stern’s satellite radio show, ABC’s “The View” and “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert on CBS. Her interview on the podcast “Call Her Daddy” is scheduled to be released later Sunday.
Walz’ Fox appearance also touched on the turmoil in the Middle East, with anchor Shannon Bream pressing the Minnesota governor on whether Israel has a right to preemptively attack Iran’s nuclear and oil facilities in response to Tehran’s firing of missiles against Israel. It was a question that Walz did not fully answer during his debate this past week with Vance, an Ohio senator.
Walz said Sunday that “specific operations will be dealt with at the time.” He said Israel has a right to defend itself and that Harris worked with Israel this past week to repel the Iranian attack. President Joe Biden said last week he would not support an Israeli strike on sites related to Tehran’s nuclear program.
Walz defended a law that he signed as governor to ensure abortion protections, saying it “puts this puts the decision with the woman and her health care providers.” He questioned the statement by Trump that he would not sign a national abortion ban into law.
On the economy, Walz said Harris’ proposals would make life more affordable for the middle class by helping with the construction of 3 million new homes and expanding tax credits for parents. He said tariffs floated by Trump could increase costs by an estimated $4,000 a year on a typical family.
Walz also faced questions in the interview about misstatements pertaining to his military service, drunken driving arrest, infertility treatment for his family and claims to have been in Hong Kong before the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in China.
“I will own up when I misspeak,” Walz said.
He said he believes voters are more concerned by the fact that Vance could not acknowledge during their debate that Trump lost the 2020 election to Biden and that there could restrictions on the infertility treatment of intrauterine insemination that his wife, Gwen, received.
“I think they’re probably far more concerned with that than my wife and I used IUI to have our child and that Donald Trump would restrict that,” Walz said. “So I think folks know who I am.”
Bream noted that Trump has come out in support of fertility treatments, even as he has said that abortion questions should be decided by states.
Staff writer Linh Tat, the Associated Press and the New York Times contributed to this report
