Tim Walz Tapped to be VP Kamala Harris Running Mate

Photo by Office of Governor Tim Walz & Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Vice President Kamala Harris will be looking to win the 2024 presidential election with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate.

Washington Post:

Vice President Harris has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate, opting for a former high school teacher and Midwestern Democrat to complete a newly assembled presidential ticket following, according to three people familiar with the pick, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a decision that is not yet public.

The choice of Walz, 60, brings a degree of balance to the ticket that many Democrats have felt would be politically beneficial. Harris, 59, who is Black and Indian American and spent much of her career in deep-blue California, chose from a list of finalists populated by White men, including Walz, who have represented more competitive swaths of the country.

The selection culminates an increasingly intensive process in recent days, as the Harris team narrowed down the prospects and various factions of the Democratic Party lobbied for their favorites. On the weekend, Harris interviewed three finalists: Walz, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly.

Compared with some of the other prospects who Harris considered as potential running mates, Walz is less well-known and has faced less scrutiny on the national stage.

A second-term governor and chair of the Democratic Governors Association, Walz does not hail from a traditional battleground state — Minnesota has supported a Republican presidential candidate only once since 1960. But Walz’s credentials as a military veteran and gun owner who previously represented a Republican-leaning, rural part of Minnesota in Congress could help Harris appeal to working-class White voters who have turned away from Democrats and helped fuel Donald Trump’s political rise.

Walz, who is not well-known across the country, catapulted onto the national radar as it became clear that Harris was considering him for the ticket after Biden ended his reelection bid on July 21. He repeatedly criticized Trump and other Republicans as “weird” in cable news appearances, an unusual formulation that attracted attention. Other Democrats followed with the same line of attack, which appeared to strike a nerve in some Republicans, who have felt compelled to push back.

Walz now faces the urgent task of introducing himself to the country with about three months left before an election that has already been rocked by historic turmoil. The political tests ahead include a potential debate against Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), whom Trump tapped as his running mate in July.

Harris will hold her first rally with Walz on Tuesday in Philadelphia, the first stop in a four-day tour of battleground states that includes visits to Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and elsewhere.

Harris’s choice for a running mate was among the most closely watched decisions of her fledgling campaign, as she sought to bolster the ticket’s prospects for victory in November and rapidly find someone who could be a governing partner. In picking Walz, she has selected a seasoned politician with executive governing experience and signaled the importance of Midwestern battleground states such as Wisconsin and Michigan.

The comparisons with Hillary Clinton picking Tim Kaine for the 2016 campaign will be immediate, but do not fit other than just on surface appearance. Walz, while not nationally known yet, is much more verbose and engaging in media that Kaine was and can talk to folks in an engaging way that sticks out. While VP Harris came up through the Democratic machine that is California, Walz represented a rural, contested area before rising to executive leadership of the state. He is the current chair of the Democratic Governors Association, so he plays well with others in the party.

The amount of help a VP pick brings is arguable, but historically proven to be negligible. The first rule of a VP pick therefore is, “first, do not harm.” Tim Walz is that, perfectly safe, and he will be good on tv and a contrast when set against MAGA Tech Bro Senator JD Vance in the vice president’s debate. Being able to attack the GOP ticket in a vocal cadence that is more Prairie Home Companion than the brash Trumpism everyone is accustomed to in year nine of Trump dominating GOP will have an appeal. But the race will still be decided on Kamala Harris vs Donald Trump, and the VPs are a small side show to that main event.

In a 2024 race that spent most of its lifestyle being boring and predictable before turning into historically chaotic over the last month or so, Tim Walz represents a very traditional “balance the ticket” type of safe pick. Now we go to the Democratic National Convention, with all the players now on the board. As soon as that is done, the real 2024 race can begin.