It was a strange moment between a couple who have been married for 30 years.
After Kamala Harris delivers the biggest speech of his political life, Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s new running mate, greets his wife, Gwen, onstage before an adoring audience … and welcomes her with a firm handshake.
He barely manages to recover his composure and leans in for an awkward man-hug that you might see more often when two fraternities meet again years later, and not at the end of a rousing speech in which you try to convince the nation to vote for you.
It was a feast for the eyes of Walz’s counterpart on the Trump ticket.
“It’s funny because they’re trying to portray him as a regular guy from the Midwest,” Senator JD Vance told DailyMail.com with a laugh during an exclusive interview on Wednesday.
Kamala Harris’s newly named running mate Tim Walz greets his wife Gwen onstage before an adoring audience… and welcomes her with a firm handshake
‘And I know that when I see my wife after an important speech, I really want to give her a firm handshake.
“It’s just a completely bizarre reaction.”
As Harris kissed her husband onstage, the Walzs seemed to be still adjusting to what was and wasn’t expected of them in their new, high-profile roles.
Vance spoke to DailyMail.com aboard his campaign plane en route to Michigan, a day after Walz was unveiled as Kamala Harris’ vice presidential nominee.
In a wide-ranging interview, he described his job as staying “totally focused” on Harris, analyzing her policies on immigration, energy and the economy.
But it also gave him a chance to go head-to-head with Walz, whose Midwestern, down-home vibes are combined with Vance’s blue-collar Ohio roots.
He criticized reports that Walz abandoned his National Guard comrades before they were deployed to Iraq in 2005.
And he enjoyed the awkward handshake Walz had with his wife.
The moment stands in stark contrast to the big moment Vance had last month, when he addressed the Republican Party convention, two days after becoming Trump’s running mate.
Mrs. Walz takes the initiative by reaching for her husband as Harris and her husband kiss
He and his 39-year-old wife Usha showed how it should be done: at the end of his speech, they embraced each other on stage in a natural hug.
“I gave my wife a big kiss,” he said, laughing out loud again at the thought of them kissing on stage in front of thousands of party delegates.
Walz’s behavior was completely bizarre, he added.
He landed at Detroit Airport on Wednesday morning and then traveled to Shelby Township, where he was briefed by police officers and spoke to local media.
“It is a policy choice to open the U.S. southern border and allow migrant criminals into this community, making it less safe,” he said.
“I gave my wife a nice kiss,” Vance said of the moment he hugged Usha after his speech at the Republican National Convention
Vance mocked Walz by sarcastically saying that when he saw his wife after his RNC speech, “I actually want to give her a big handshake.”
“It’s a policy choice not to deport people, to suspend deportations, which is what Kamala Harris did. I also just heard about a criminal who was deported from this community, who came back and raped an 11-year-old girl, just a few months ago.”
Then he was on his way to Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
Staff say it’s part of a “bracketing” strategy, visiting cities just ahead of Harris. Harris visits both places later in the day.
He was also in Philadelphia on Tuesday, preparing for the first Harris-Walz event.