DETROIT, MI — Vice President Kamala Harris and her new running mate spent time together last week at a popular Detroit café, where the Democratic nominee in the race for the White House recalled her family’s love of Motown Records music and her hopes for the country.
The conversation took place when Harris and Tim Walz spent two days in southeast Michigan last week, beginning with a Wednesday, Aug. 7, rally at Detroit Metropolitan Airport and extending to a meet-up with United Auto Workers laborers the following day. In the video, Harris and Walz are wearing the same clothes they wore to the UAW gathering Thursday, Aug. 8.
The Harris campaign filmed the sit-down at Aretha’s Jazz Café, a Detroit restaurant-and-bar venue named in honor of Aretha Franklin, the late Motown Records-produced music icon.
The Harris campaign recently released the nearly 10-minute video of the conversation which, at the time, unfolded less than four days after Harris named Walz as her running mate and launched their joint campaign.
The video includes some humorous exchanges, including Harris recalling how Walz did not pick up the phone when she first called to offer him the running mate position. Walz said he did not recognize her number and screened out the call.
Harris talked about how Motown music was part of her family’s record collection when she grew up.
“My mother had every Aretha album,” Harris told Walz. “And, like, our Christmas gift to my mother — her birthday gift — was always like what’s the latest Aretha Franklin record.”
When Walz asked if she owned the musicians’ vinyl records, Harris affirmed, and said that collection included albums from another Motown Records legend: Stevie Wonder.
Harris also told Walz she grew up listening to Prince, a native of Minnesota, where Walz serves as governor.
In the conversation, they also talked about their upbringings, political origins and hopes for the future.
“We’ve got to help people get through a hard time,” Harris told Walz. “We can’t have a country and policies that let people fall through the cracks.”