It’s a Harris/Walz ticket

REGIONAL— The spotlight of the presidential campaign shone on Minnesota this week as Vice President Kamala Harris announced that Gov. Tim Walz would be her running mate. The selection came even as other top contenders for the vice presidential slot, such as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, were seen as providing bigger electoral advantages in key swing states.
But Harris, in making her announcement, cited Walz’s background and his commitment to helping middle class families do better. “He worked with Republicans to pass infrastructure investments,” said Harris in her Tuesday morning post on Instagram. “He cut taxes for working families. He passed a law to provide paid family and medical leave to Minnesota families. He made Minnesota the first state in the country to pass a law providing constitutional abortion protections after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and as an avid hunter, he passed a bill requiring universal background checks for gun purchases.”
Walz had seemingly come from nowhere as a vice-presidential contender, but his stock rose sharply in recent weeks as his frequent appearances on national news programs in support of Harris that highlighted his ability to frame political issues in ways that caught the attention of many political commentators. He attacked GOP policies as “weird,” a word that caught with many Democrats to describe ideas and policies being proposed by Donald Trump and his own running mate, JD Vance. While Republicans often tout their desire for freedom, Walz argues it’s a distorted view of the word. “They mean freedom to be in your bedroom, freedom to be in your exam room, freedom to tell your kids what to read.”
Walz had also attracted a higher profile beginning last year when he took over as chair of the Democratic Governors Association. And Walz benefitted from a bit of national buzz around the historic 2023 legislative session, when Walz and a DFL majority in both the House and Senate pushed through major political initiatives, including expanded education funding, aggressive action on climate change, tax credits for low-income parents with kids, and new investments in affordable housing, including for rental assistance. He also signed bills restoring voting rights for people released from prison, protections for transgender individuals, expanding gun safety measures, and legalizing the adult recreational use of marijuana.
Harris’s selection of Walz came as little surprise to many of Walz’s supporters back in Minnesota, who have grown increasingly impressed with Walz’s ability to connect with average people with his straightforward style.
“The entire country is about to see why their friends from Minnesota can’t stop bragging about Gov. Walz,” said DFL chair Ken Martin in response to the selection. “Under Gov. Walz’s leadership, Minnesota has built a model for how Democrats across the nation can both win elections and improve people’s lives.”
Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bernie Burnham agreed. “As a parent, educator, coach, soldier, congressman, and governor, Tim Walz will be a vice president who knows firsthand the challenges that working Americans and our families face and what we need to improve our lives,” he said. “Over the last two years, Gov. Walz and the DFL majorities in the Legislature partnered with Minnesota’s labor movement to enact one of the most pro-labor legislative agendas in state history.”
In selecting Walz, Harris is making it clear that she hopes to attract support from some traditionally Republican sectors, including rural voters. Walz was elected to Congress five times, representing Minnesota’s First District, which encompassed a broad swath of traditionally GOP farm country in far southern Minnesota. He’s seen as solid, not flashy, with a background that includes years as a popular history teacher in Mankato, a winning high school football coach, and decades of service in the Minnesota National Guard, rising to the rank of command sergeant major before retiring in 2005 to enter politics.
Walz grew up in a small town in Nebraska and joined the Nebraska Army National Guard at 17, reports Stars and Stripes. Walz, who was 19 when his father died, attended college on the GI Bill, earning a teaching degree, which set his initial career path before entering politics.
While Minnesota, which has never voted for Trump, was unlikely to do so this November, the selection of Walz may yet yield electoral benefits to the Harris-Walz ticket. As a plain-spoken, midwestern governor, Walz is likely to spend considerable time on the stump in places like Wisconsin and Michigan over the next three months as Democrats seek to shore up two of the three so-called “blue wall” states that have generally gone Democratic in recent elections.
While Democratic prospects in those states had appeared increasingly troubled with President Biden at the top of the ticket, Harris’s elevation to the top spot has energized Democrats, boosted fundraising, and prompted a significant turnaround in public polling. With greater support from young people and people of color, Harris has closed the polling gap and has taken a modest polling lead nationally over former president Donald Trump in recent days.
The nation’s voters will get a much better look at both Harris and Walz during the Democratic National Convention, set to be held in Chicago, Aug. 19-22.
If elected vice president, Tim Walz would be the third Minnesotan to serve in that office, following in the footsteps of Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale, both of whom later ran unsuccessfully for president.
A Harris/Walz victory would set a number of firsts, including the first female and first female of color to serve as President of the United States as well as Minnesota’s governor. Were Walz to assume the vice-presidency next January it would elevate current Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a Native American, to the state’s top job.