Kamala Harris chooses Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as running mate
Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walzas her 2024 running mate Tuesday after replacing President Biden as the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate.
Harris and Walz are set to appear for the first time together at a campaign event in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening.
“I am proud to announce that I’ve asked Tim Walz to be my running mate. As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he’s delivered for working families like his,” Harris posted on X.
She notified Walz of her selection in a video call Tuesday morning after taking the night to sleep on her decision, CNN reported. Members of Harris’ team were dispatched to the Minnesota governor’s mansion to congratulate him and fly with him to Philadelphia for the rally.
Walz called it the “honor of a lifetime” to join the Harris campaign — declaring, “I’m all in.”
“Vice President Harris is showing us the politics of what’s possible. It reminds me a bit of the first day of school. So, let’s get this done, folks!” Walz said in a statement.
Harris became increasingly comfortable with Walz during the final days of the vetting process — and was particularly impressed by his “happy-go-lucky” attitude, sources told CNN.
Walz spent 24 years in the Army National Guard and then a decade in the US House of Representatives, serving a largely rural district in southern Minnesota, before running for governor in 2018.
After news of the choice broke, conservatives accused the Democrats of putting the most radical, far-left ticket yet in front of American voters.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called Walz’s selection the “most left-wing ticket in American history” and accused his Minnesota counterpart of not doing enough to stem violence during the 2020 protests in his state over the killing of George Floyd.
“Walz sat by and let Minneapolis burn,” DeSantis said.
Walz caught flak at the time from the left after Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the governor was too slow in deploying the National Guard to quell widespread riots in the city, which suffered $500 million in property damage and looting after the death of Floyd.
Critics also point out that Walz’s first official move as Minnesota’s governor was launching a statewide diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) commission, which he renewed after being re-elected in 2022.
He also has been slammed for his botched response during the COVID-19 pandemic, which included wasting more than $5 million in state funds to purchase a refrigerated warehouse for a potential morgue that remained vacant — and permitting a $250 million scheme that defrauded the federal government of COVID stimulus dollars and exploited poor children.
As a Harris campaign surrogate, he has played the loyal foot soldier by attacking Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance as out of touch with middle America and far too socially conservative.
Democrats, however, hope that Walz will bring a more centrist image to the 2024 ticket after having won his gubernatorial election by double digits, with even more votes and more counties than Hillary Clinton did in the state during the 2016 presidential election.
Walz, however, has little name recognition outside of his state. A poll from NPR, PBS and Marist released Tuesday found that 71% of US adults had never heard of him or were unsure of how to rate him
Harris had to choose her No. 2 quickly after the Democratic National Committee adopted rules enforcing a virtual roll call vote to appoint both the presidential and vice presidential nominee in the first week of August.
She was reported to have fired off vetting materials just days after Biden suspended his presidential campaign last month.
In the days leading up to her announcement, Harris had zeroed in on a trio of potential finalists — including Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who acknowledged he’d been in the running in a statement made after the Democratic candidate’s decision Monday.
“Nearly two weeks ago, Vice President Harris asked me to work with her team to complete the vetting process to be considered as her running mate — and following those conversations, on Sunday, I was grateful to have the opportunity to speak with the Vice President directly about her vision for the role and the campaign ahead,” Shapiro said.
“As I’ve said repeatedly over the past several weeks, the running mate decision was a deeply personal decision for the Vice President — and it was also a deeply personal decision for me. Pennsylvanians elected me to a four-year term as their Governor, and my work here is far from finished — there is a lot more stuff I want to get done for the good people of this Commonwealth.”
Others believed to be on her early vetting list had included North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
Other reports indicated that Harris had also weighed Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who hailed Harris’ final choice Monday.
“Tim Walz is an exceptionally effective governor — and also great to work with. I’m excited for what his Midwestern voice, military experience, and common-sense values will bring to our winning ticket, and for everything the Harris-Walz administration will deliver for Americans,” Buttigieg wrote on X.
All the potential candidates had come out in support of Harris, but Whitmer was the first to say she was not interested in the job, noting she did not want to leave her post in Michigan or to run for office this year.
On Sunday, Kelly added confusion to the Democratic Party’s veepstakes when he posted — then quickly deleted — a message to X in which he said his focus was on “serving Arizonans,” suggesting he was not the VP pick.
The Democratic Party mostly coalesced around Harris within days of her accepting Biden’s endorsement to replace him at the top of the ticket. The reported vetted candidates had been strong supporters of the Biden-Harris ticket and quickly pivoted to throw their weight behind Harris when Biden dropped his bid.
One strong Biden-Harris proponent was California Gov. Gavin Newsom, but he could not be considered because he hails from the same state as Harris — something prohibited under the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution.
A vice presidential candidate from a swing state could give Harris an extra boost from voters in her fight against former President Donald Trump.
Harris’ campaign is banking on being more successful with minority voters compared to Trump’s reach, and is continuing to focus on the battleground states Biden was hoping to reach.
The potential list of VPs mostly came from the targeted swing states.
“We continue to focus on the Blue Wall states of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania — and the Sun Belt states of North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada,” Harris for President chair Jen O’Malley Dillon had said in a statement in the first week of the campaign shift.
It comes after Harris officially secured the Democratic presidential nomination Monday night after receiving votes from 99% of the DNC delegates during a five-day round of online voting.
Harris was the only candidate who qualified for the virtual roll call electronic ballot — getting more than the required 300 delegates to back her.
After Tuesday’s day trip to Pennsylvania, Harris and her running mate are set to spend the next few days flying thousands of miles around the country as they tour critical battleground states.
They will be tailed in some locations by Trump’s veep candidate, Vance.
Harris’ No. 2 may have to face off in a debate against Vance, though the dates and logistics have yet to be set.
