The vice presidential campaign has gone to the dogs as both veep candidates are bringing their pets into the campaign spotlight.
Republican JD Vance brought his German shepherd named Atlas on the campaign trail with him Friday, joking to a room of law enforcement in Milwaukee that he looks like a police dog — after Democrat Tim Walz’s lab mix Scout was featured in fashion magazine Vogue.
“For the first time, Usha and I decided to bring our 9-month-old German shepherd on the road with us. And if you know what a German shepherd looks like, you know that he looks like a police dog,” the Ohio senator said.
“So we’re about to hit the road, but nobody kidnap my dog because we want him back.”
Atlas was recorded by pool reporters walking up the steps to Vance’s campaign plane in the rain after some encouragement from Vance, who held a leash in one hand and an umbrella in the other.
Walz, the Minnesota governor, enjoyed a more glamorous rollout for his pet from the glitzy magazine that often boosts Democratic Party figures and snubs Republicans.
“Thanks @VogueMagazine for making our dog Scout a cover model. Let’s hope this fame doesn’t go to his head,” Walz tweeted, along with the “Dogue” cover of the magazine.
Scout, 5, would be voiced in a movie by Tom Hanks, the Walz family told Vogue.
The lab “can’t stand when Honey the cat is getting more attention than he is,” the Walz family said, and enjoys “stealing and eating Tim’s glasses.”
Although separated in age by two decades, Vance, 40, and Walz, 60, were selected for the running mate slot for their Midwestern appeal — as narrow margins in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania have decided the outcome of the past two presidential elections.
Both men also enjoy Diet Mountain Dew and have made anti-elitist sentiment an important aspect of their political personas.
Neither Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, nor Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, have pets.
Owning dogs can humanize politicians, but it also carries risks — with retiring President Biden having to re-home two German shepherds after they repeatedly attacked Secret Service members, causing significant wounds and contributing to tension with presidential protection agency.
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