Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate, the Associated Press and CNN reported.
Harris’s announcement comes with a little more than a week to go until the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The two will hold a rally in Philadelphia before they begin a tour through swing states.
Walz, a former history teacher, high school football coach, congressman and two-term governor, has been a favorite of the online left for his passing of popular progressive policies and for starting the trend of calling Republican politicians “weird.”
Similarly, he has shown a willingness to aggressively attack former president Donald Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance.
“How often in 100 days do you get to change the trajectory of the world,” he said during last week’s White Dudes for Harris. “And how often in the world do you make that b*****d wake up afterwards and know that a Black woman kicked his ass and sent him on the road?”
Her selection came on a condensed timeline after President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election last month, and then swiftly endorsed her.
“Thrilled about the possibility,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said. “Gov Walz is a team player, a listener, and I’ve been very pleased with how his office engaged with the AG’s office over the years.”
With less than 91 days until the November election, the veepstakes turned into a mini-primary with candidates representing various factions of the Democratic Party. The final list included Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona.
“A prosecutor and a teacher? There’s never been a better ticket!” Erin Maye Quade, a state senator in Minnesota, told The Independent via text message.
“But more seriously: this pick just shows how serious VP Harris is about building coalitions for our bright future,” Quade added. “Our successes in Minnesota are because of coalitions of working people, labor unions, parents, farmers, seniors, black, white, brown and Asian, and young people. And Govenor Walz is the perfect person to join this ticket and show America what it looks like when we care for one another.”
On Monday evening, Dan Green, a Minneapolis communications consultant posted a photo of a series of Black Chevy Suburbans in front of Walz’s residence, signaling he might be Harris’s choice.
A retired schoolteacher and veteran of the Army National Guard, Walz first won a seat in Congress in 2006 as a conservative Blue Dog Democrat who represented a rural part of Minnesota. In 2016, he narrowly won re-election in a district Trump won. In 2018, he ran for governor, but ran more as a progressive, giving away money he previously received from the National Rifle Association.
As governor, Walz passed numerous progressive priorities, including free school meals for children regardless of income, background checks on guns and protections for transgender and LGBTQ+ people.
The process was not without intense speculation, driven higher this past weekend when Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker posted a video calling for Pennsylvanians to support “Josh Shapiro for vice president.” But The Independent learned that Parker’s video was simply meant to express support for her longtime political ally Shapiro as one choice to be Harris’ running mate.
Trump for his part slammed the selection by painting Walz as a radical.
“From proposing his own carbon-free agenda, to suggesting stricter emission standards for gas-powered cars, and embracing policies to allow convicted felons to vote, Walz is obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and wide,” campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “If Walz won’t tell voters the truth, we will: just like Kamala Harris, Tim Walz is a dangerously liberal extremist, and the Harris-Walz California dream is every American’s nightmare.”
Trump and other Republicans have also criticized him for waiting to call the National Guard in 2020 during riots after police in Minneapolis killed George Floyd, though Trump falsely said that he sent in the guard.
Harris and Walz will make a swing through battleground states across the country this week, starting in Pennsylvania before heading to Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada.
In addition, Vance will hold a campaign event in Philadelphia before following the duo around other swing states.
But even before he Harris selected him, Walz has gone on offense against the Ohio freshman senator, specifically hitting for missing a vote to expand the Child Tax Credit last week.
“In Minnesota, we’re cutting poverty and strengthening families with our Child Tax Credit. You’d think JD Vance would be eager to do the same nationally. Except he skipped a vote to pass the federal Child Tax Credit expansion yesterday,” he said. “Give me a break with that pro-family talk.”
