U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has named Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate for the 2024 presidential election.
The announcement comes ahead of a five-day, seven-city tour of battleground states likely to decide the November 5 election.
Opting for Walz, Harris has picked a progressive policy champion and at the same time a plain speaker from America’s heartland to help win over rural, white voters.
Harris announced the selection in a text message to her supporters.
She said: “I’m pleased to share that I’ve made my decision: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will join our campaign as my running mate.”
“Tim is a battle-tested leader who has an incredible track record of getting things done for Minnesota families. I know that he will bring that same principled leadership to our campaign, and to the office of the vice president,” she added.
Walz, a 60-year-old U.S. Army National Guard veteran and former teacher, was elected to a Republican-leaning district in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006 and served 12 years before being elected governor of Minnesota in 2018.
As governor, Walz has pushed a progressive agenda that includes free school meals, goals for tackling climate change, tax cuts for the middle class and expanded paid leave for Minnesota workers.
He has long advocated for women’s reproductive rights but also displayed a conservative bent while representing a rural district in the U.S. House, defending agricultural interests and backing gun rights.
Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, is selecting a popular Midwestern politician whose home state votes reliably for Democrats in presidential elections but is close to Wisconsin and Michigan, two crucial battlegrounds.
Such states are regarded as crucial in deciding this year’s election, and Walz is widely seen as skilled at connecting with white, rural voters who in recent years have voted broadly for Republican Donald Trump, Harris’ rival for the White House.
The Harris campaign hopes Walz’s extensive National Guard career, coupled with a successful run as a high school football coach and his ‘dad joke’ videos, will attract voters who are not yet dedicated to a second Trump term.
Harris, 59, has revived the Democratic Party’s hopes of an election victory since becoming its candidate after President Joe Biden, 81, ended his failing reelection bid under party pressure on July 21.
Walz was a relative unknown nationally until the Harris ‘veepstakes’ heated up, but his profile has since surged. A popular member of Congress, he reportedly had the backing of powerful former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was instrumental in persuading Biden to leave the race.
Harris and Walz will face Trump and his running mate JD Vance, also a military veteran from the Midwest, in the November election.
Walz has attacked Trump and Vance as “weird,” an insult that has been picked up by the Harris campaign, social media and Democratic activists.
A ‘Unicorn’
Ryan Dawkins, a political science professor at Carleton College in Minnesota, described Walz as “somewhat of a unicorn” in an interview with Reuters. He said that Walz, who comes from a small town in rural Nebraska, has a unique ability to communicate Harris’ message to both core Democratic voters and those the party has struggled to reach in recent years.
Dawkins commended Walz for his skill in connecting with rural voters – a demographic the Biden administration has attempted to engage through infrastructure spending and other pragmatic policies, but with limited success.
In the 2016 election, Trump won 59% of rural voters; in 2020 that number rose to 65% even though Trump lost the election, according to Pew Research.
In his 2022 governor’s race, Walz won with 52.27% to his Republican opponent’s 44.61%, although swaths of rural Minnesota voted for his rival, Scott Jensen.
While Walz has supported Democratic Party orthodoxy on issues ranging from legalized abortion and same-sex marriage to the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, he also racked up a centrist voting record during his congressional career.
He was a staunch defender of government support for farmers and military veterans, as well as gun-owner rights that won praise from the National Rifle Association, according to The Almanac of American Politics.
Walz’s shift from a centrist representing a single rural district in Congress to a more progressive politician as governor may have been in response to the demands of voters in major cities like Minneapolis-St. Paul. But it leaves him open to Republican attacks, Dawkins said.
“He runs the risk of reinforcing some of the worst fears people have of Kamala Harris being a San Francisco liberal,” Dawkins added.
As the state’s top executive, Walz mandated the use of face coverings during the COVID-19 pandemic and signed a law making marital rape illegal. He presided over several years of budget surpluses in Minnesota on the road to his 2022 reelection.
His tenure was marked by the May 2020 killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murder. Walz assigned the state’s attorney general to lead the prosecution in the case, saying people “don’t believe justice can be served.”
Harris is expected to appear with her running mate at an event in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening.
On Monday, it was reported that Harris had narrowed her vice presidential choices to Walz and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
Opting for Walz, Harris has picked a progressive policy champion and at the same time a plain speaker from America’s heartland to help win over rural, white voters.
Harris announced the selection in a text message to her supporters.
She said: “I’m pleased to share that I’ve made my decision: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will join our campaign as my running mate.”
“Tim is a battle-tested leader who has an incredible track record of getting things done for Minnesota families. I know that he will bring that same principled leadership to our campaign, and to the office of the vice president,” she added.
Who is Tim Walz?I am proud to announce that I've asked @Tim_Walz to be my running mate.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 6, 2024
As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he's delivered for working families like his.
It's great to have him on the team.
Now let’s get to work. Join us:https://t.co/W4AE2WlMTj
Walz, a 60-year-old U.S. Army National Guard veteran and former teacher, was elected to a Republican-leaning district in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006 and served 12 years before being elected governor of Minnesota in 2018.
As governor, Walz has pushed a progressive agenda that includes free school meals, goals for tackling climate change, tax cuts for the middle class and expanded paid leave for Minnesota workers.
He has long advocated for women’s reproductive rights but also displayed a conservative bent while representing a rural district in the U.S. House, defending agricultural interests and backing gun rights.
Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, is selecting a popular Midwestern politician whose home state votes reliably for Democrats in presidential elections but is close to Wisconsin and Michigan, two crucial battlegrounds.
Such states are regarded as crucial in deciding this year’s election, and Walz is widely seen as skilled at connecting with white, rural voters who in recent years have voted broadly for Republican Donald Trump, Harris’ rival for the White House.
The Harris campaign hopes Walz’s extensive National Guard career, coupled with a successful run as a high school football coach and his ‘dad joke’ videos, will attract voters who are not yet dedicated to a second Trump term.
Harris, 59, has revived the Democratic Party’s hopes of an election victory since becoming its candidate after President Joe Biden, 81, ended his failing reelection bid under party pressure on July 21.
Walz was a relative unknown nationally until the Harris ‘veepstakes’ heated up, but his profile has since surged. A popular member of Congress, he reportedly had the backing of powerful former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was instrumental in persuading Biden to leave the race.
Harris and Walz will face Trump and his running mate JD Vance, also a military veteran from the Midwest, in the November election.
Walz has attacked Trump and Vance as “weird,” an insult that has been picked up by the Harris campaign, social media and Democratic activists.
A ‘Unicorn’
Ryan Dawkins, a political science professor at Carleton College in Minnesota, described Walz as “somewhat of a unicorn” in an interview with Reuters. He said that Walz, who comes from a small town in rural Nebraska, has a unique ability to communicate Harris’ message to both core Democratic voters and those the party has struggled to reach in recent years.
Dawkins commended Walz for his skill in connecting with rural voters – a demographic the Biden administration has attempted to engage through infrastructure spending and other pragmatic policies, but with limited success.
In the 2016 election, Trump won 59% of rural voters; in 2020 that number rose to 65% even though Trump lost the election, according to Pew Research.
In his 2022 governor’s race, Walz won with 52.27% to his Republican opponent’s 44.61%, although swaths of rural Minnesota voted for his rival, Scott Jensen.
While Walz has supported Democratic Party orthodoxy on issues ranging from legalized abortion and same-sex marriage to the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, he also racked up a centrist voting record during his congressional career.
He was a staunch defender of government support for farmers and military veterans, as well as gun-owner rights that won praise from the National Rifle Association, according to The Almanac of American Politics.
Walz’s shift from a centrist representing a single rural district in Congress to a more progressive politician as governor may have been in response to the demands of voters in major cities like Minneapolis-St. Paul. But it leaves him open to Republican attacks, Dawkins said.
“He runs the risk of reinforcing some of the worst fears people have of Kamala Harris being a San Francisco liberal,” Dawkins added.
As the state’s top executive, Walz mandated the use of face coverings during the COVID-19 pandemic and signed a law making marital rape illegal. He presided over several years of budget surpluses in Minnesota on the road to his 2022 reelection.
His tenure was marked by the May 2020 killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murder. Walz assigned the state’s attorney general to lead the prosecution in the case, saying people “don’t believe justice can be served.”
Harris is expected to appear with her running mate at an event in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening.
On Monday, it was reported that Harris had narrowed her vice presidential choices to Walz and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
Source: Reuters, TVP World
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