Vulnerable Senate Democrats hop on Harris-Walz wave

• Democratic candidates like Sens. Jacky Rosen in Nevada and Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin appeared beside Vice President Harris at events across the country last week.
• Rosen, Baldwin and others had taken steps over the last few months to avoid the Biden campaign and its lagging numbers in key swing states.

The big picture: The change ends an awkward standoff between the Senate campaigns and the Biden team, and shows a renewed Democratic confidence in the top of the ticket.

• There is now optimism in the Senate campaigns that Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz won't be a drag on their chances of winning.
• Instead, senior Democratic strategists told Axios that Democratic Senate candidates are riding the wave of energy and momentum that Harris has generated.

Between the lines: Baldwin (D-Wisc.) spoke on stage at a Harris-Walz rally in Wisconsin last week, after not appearing with Biden in the state last month.

• Rosen (D-Nevada) also joined Harris and Walz on stage at their Las Vegas event last week. Rosen, like Baldwin, was part of a group of Senate Democrats who spurned a Biden White House invite announcing border executive orders in June.
• Reps. Ruben Gallego (D-Az.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), running for Senate in those states, also joined Harris and Walz at events. Slotkin did not join Biden for his trip to Michigan last month.

• Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), a top Biden ally who continued to embrace the president despite his struggling campaign, also joined Harris and Walz in Pennsylvania.

Yes, but: There are some Senate Democrats who are keeping Harris at arms length.

• Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), running perhaps the most difficult race of all incumbents, has not endorsed the vice president. He will need to significantly outperform the top of the ticket if he wants to win in November.
• Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has endorsed Harris, but the presidential campaign did not make a stop in increasingly-red Ohio. And Brown is in a similar bucket as Tester, faced with having to outperform Harris and Walz to keep his seat.