Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, three people familiar with the decision said on Tuesday. This decision follows a whirlwind selection process which kicked off two weeks ago when she suddenly became the virtual presidential candidate after Joe Biden’s July 21 decision to withdraw from the race. Harris’s campaign planned to make the formal announcement via a video message before both appeared at an evening rally in Philadelphia.
The selection marks another milestone in the short period since the vice president took the lead on the Democratic ticket. Since then, Harris has been working to develop a campaign and inject new energy into the Democratic contest against Republican Donald Trump. By choosing Walz, 60, Harris turned to a governor from the North-Central region of the United States, a war veteran, and a union supporter who helped enact an ambitious Democratic agenda for his state, including broad protections for abortion rights and generous support for families. Harris hopes this choice will bolster her campaign’s position across the North-Central region, a crucial area in presidential politics that often serves as a buffer for Democrats seeking to reach the White House. The Democratic Party remains haunted by Trump’s victories in Michigan and Wisconsin in 2016, though Trump lost those states in 2020. This year, Trump has refocused his efforts on these states while expanding his focus to Minnesota.
Walz, who grew up in the small town of West Point, Nebraska, served as a high school social studies teacher, football coach, and union member at Mankato West High School in Minnesota before entering politics. He won the first of his six terms in Congress in 2006 in a primarily rural southern Minnesota district where he used his position to advocate for veterans’ issues. Walz was a member of the Army National Guard for 24 years, reaching the rank of command sergeant major, one of the highest ranks in the Army. He ran for governor in 2018 with the theme “One Minnesota” and won by more than 11 points.
The decision to choose Walz, celebrated by most Democrats and criticized by Republicans who called him “the worst vice president in history,” was reached after a rushed selection process initiated following Biden‘s decision not to seek re-election. Harris secured the formal nomination yesterday. Walz will be joining her during one of the most turbulent periods in modern American politics, which promises an unpredictable campaign. Republicans rallied around Trump after his assassination attempt in July, and Biden ended his re-election campaign just a few weeks later, forcing Harris to unify the Democrats and consider potential running mates in a short period.
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Walz has been a strong public defender of Harris in her campaign against Trump and Vance, describing the Republicans as “simply weird” in an interview with MSNBC last month. This comment, made during one of his many media appearances, in support of Harris’s campaign, gained unexpected traction on social media, spawning countless memes featuring images of Trump and JD Vance. The term “weirdos,” adopted by Walz, has since been used by both Harris (in her campaign’s official communication) and her Democratic allies. At a fundraising event for Harris held Monday in Minneapolis, Walz said, “Calling those guys weird wasn’t defamation. It was an observation.”
The selection of Walz as Harris’s running mate, less than four months before the presidential election, initiated a fast-paced process to find the ideal partner to rebuild the campaign in record time. Harris initially considered about a dozen candidates before focusing on a handful of serious contenders, all of whom were white men. Although betting pools favored Democratic profiles like Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro; Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg; or Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, it was Walz who was ultimately chosen by Harris. A series of detailed reports on potential candidates and a round of interviews that took place in Washington last weekend led to the final decision.
The Harris-Walz ticket will make its first public appearance this Tuesday afternoon in Philadelphia, at the start of a tour that includes rallies in Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada. The idea is for this enthusiasm to be linked to the excitement generated by the Democratic Party convention in Chicago, which begins on the 19th, and to boost the campaign in the final stretch, the months of September and October.
