Aug. 6, 2024, 10:42 a.m.
Vice President Kamala Harris finalized a historic ticket by selecting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, beating out Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona in the race to become the vice-presidential nominee.
“One of the things that stood out to me about Tim is how his convictions on fighting for middle class families run deep. It’s personal,” Harris wrote on her Instagram page.
Harris’s selection of Walz completes one of the most remarkable transformations of a ticket in history. Barely two weeks ago, Harris was running to be President Biden’s vice for another four years. Now, she’s aiming to be the commander-in-chief herself, with the Minnesota governor as her running mate.
Harris hopes that her new wingman can shore up support among working-class and independent voters who might be skeptical of her past positions.
Walz will now fulfill the other half of a historic ticket. Harris is the first Black woman to be the presidential nominee for a major party and the first Asian American to appear on a presidential ticket.
The Minnesota governor’s ascent is a shock. Democratic strategists told National Journal last week that Shapiro and Kelly were the favorites to be Harris’s pick. Since then, Walz has been on a media blitz, punctuated by him frequently describing Republicans as “weird.”
He did receive the backing of one prominent voice in Democratic circles: UAW President Shawn Fain.
“Tim Walz has been a great labor guy,” Fain told WXYZ last week. The union leader also backed Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who was another outside bet.
Like many candidates, Walz served in the military before entering politics. He was a member of the Army National Guard for 24 years, while also teaching social studies in high school. Unlike some of the other candidates to be Harris’s running mate, Walz is no stranger to federal politics, having served in the House for 12 years before winning the governor’s race in 2018. He represented a rural district during his time in Congress, which explains part of his appeal—Democrats have struggled to lure voters from outside urban areas in recent elections.
Yet Walz, who once earned the endorsement from the National Rifle Association, is no longer considered a moderate. Since becoming Minnesota’s chief executive, he has backed universal school meals, championed gun-control measures, and legalized marijuana.
Harris’s choice, much like former President Trump’s decision to pick Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, suggests that she is leaning into her efforts to court the base of her party and voters across the Rust Belt, who will likely determine the outcome of the election. There remains some doubt about how much influence Walz can have in this regard, though.
“I’m generally pretty skeptical about the significance of a vice-presidential pick,” said Democratic political strategist Ruy Teixeira.
Vance’s sputtering start to life as Trump’s wingman—and the subsequent scrutiny he has faced—shows that Walz will nonetheless have an important role to play as Harris’s right-hand man. Last week, Trump downplayed the role of a vice president, yet Vance’s selection has created a headache for the former president’s campaign team.
Walz, who chairs the Democratic Governors Association, will soon face a similar level of scrutiny now that he’s running for national office—and not just for some of his progressive positions. When he was a teacher, Walz was arrested in 1995 on DUI charges. The governor says he no longer drinks.
In response to Walz’s ascent to the role, the Trump campaign described him as a “West Coast wannabe.” Before the report emerged of Walz’s selection, Vance suggested that Harris would be caving to the Far Left of her party by not picking Shapiro.
"They will have not picked Shapiro frankly because of antisemitism in their own caucus,” Vance told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.
As for his current position, Walz doesn’t have to resign to run for national office. If the Harris-Walz ticket wins, Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a Democrat, would fill out the remainder of Walz’s four-year term.
Harris and her new running mate will have no shortage of money as they enter what has become a sprint finish to this election. The Harris campaign, which adopted the Biden campaign’s infrastructure, said it raised $317 million in July in conjunction with its affiliated committees, making Trump’s $138.7-million July haul appear paltry.
The Democratic ticket isn’t just riding the crest of a wave in fundraising. Harris has eviscerated Trump’s polling lead, with most national surveys showing her neck-and-neck with the GOP nominee. Biden had trailed Trump by six points in a New York Times-Siena College poll taken after the disastrous debate that eventually fueled his demise as a candidate. A CBS News-YouGov survey released on Sunday showed Harris ahead, albeit within the margin of error.
Harris will formally introduce Walz as her running mate Tuesday night in Philadelphia, before the pair embark on a five-day tour through seven swing states. There are just two weeks to go until the Democratic National Convention begins in Chicago and three months to go until the election.
