Vice President Kamala Harris announced Tuesday that she has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, tapping a Midwestern pillar with deep roots in rural America to balance the Democratic presidential ticket.
“Tim is a relentless advocate for working families and a battle-tested leader who has cut taxes for working families, protected basic rights and passed paid family and medical leave,” Harris said in an appeal. for fundraising to supporters.
Harris’ selection effectively ends a whirlwind process for the Democratic Party since President Joe Biden decided to drop out of the 2024 race. Harris became the presumptive nominee, buoyed by Biden’s endorsement, after clearing the field of any challengers main. Walz’s selection was first reported by CNN.
Walz, 60, has served in Congress and as governor of Minnesota, boasting an extensive resume that set him apart from the other two reported finalists, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania.
A Republican presidential candidate hasn’t won Minnesota since President Richard Nixon in 1972, but the Trump campaign is optimistic it can make the state competitive. The former president held a rally in Minnesota shortly before Walz’s selection was announced.
Like others who wanted to join the ticket, Walz made sure to fill the last few days with a media blitz. During his quasi-audition, the Minnesotan showed he was more than willing to embrace the “attack dog” role often adopted by candidates. Walz criticized Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the GOP vice presidential nominee, as someone who didn’t understand what small-town America was really about.
“What I do know is that people like JD Vance know nothing about small-town America,” Walz recently told MSNBC. “My town had 400 people in it, 24 kids in my graduating class, 12 were cousins, and he gets it all wrong. It’s not about hate. It’s not about tearing down. The golden rule is to think about your damn business. It’s their policies that have destroyed rural America.”
As governor, Walz has signed a number of liberal priorities into law, including a guarantee for paid family and medical leave, protecting abortion rights, universal background checks for firearms and recreational marijuana. He also led the state through its response to the riots and unrest following the killing of George Floyd in 2020. Voters gave Democrats narrow control of the state Senate in 2022, giving Walz a trifecta to begin his second term and paving the way for many of his accomplishments at St. Paul.
Virtually unknown on the national stage, Walz has expanded his profile since being elected chairman of the powerful Democratic Governors Association. Two former chairs, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, went on to become US presidents. Walz is also a co-chairman of the Democratic National Convention Rules Committee, which has put him in the middle of the fight to hold a virtual vote before the actual convention begins in Chicago on August 19.
Walz’s life was shaped by rural America
The Harris campaign is likely to promote Walz’s biography as one that is relatable to that of many Americans, especially in the Midwest.
Walz grew up in rural Nebraska. At age 17, he enlisted in the Army National Guard and spent 24 years in it. He attended Chadron State College, a public university, before following in his father’s footsteps and becoming a teacher. According to the Omaha World-Herald, Walz’s first teaching job was on the Pine Ridge Reservation, home of the Oglala Lakota tribe.
Walz met his wife, Gwen, while teaching in Nebraska. The couple later moved to Minnesota. Walz has been open about how he and his wife needed IVF to have children.
Walz celebrating his Democratic-Farmer-Labor primary victory in August 2018. Stephen Mature/Getty Images
When Walz launched his first run for Congress in 2005, he was still teaching high school. In 2006, he unseated Republican Gil Gutknecht during a banner year for Democrats, who retook both houses of Congress as the nation turned against the Iraq war.
Walz represented his largely rural district, which borders Iowa, for six terms.
According to GovTrack, Walz built a centrist record during his 12 years in Congress, likely a testament to a conservative-leaning district. In 2018, Republicans won back the House seat.
During Walz’s five re-election campaigns, he boasted an A rating from the National Rifle Association, according to MinnPost. But when Walz ran for governor, he said his perspective on the issue changed.
Walz’s selection gives the party a credible Midwestern voice at the highest level of Democratic politics, a major asset as the campaign sees wins in Michigan and Wisconsin as a key part of its electoral calculus in November.
While Republicans are poised to win most rural areas across the Midwest, Democrats are not giving up those areas. If the Harris-Walz ticket can dominate in urban areas while also winning smaller towns and reducing the GOP’s rural margins, they have a chance to perform at levels not seen since President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign in 2012.
Correction: August 6, 2024 – An earlier version of this story misstated Gov. Tim Walz. He said there were 24 kids in his graduating class, not 2,400.