WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris selected Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz will be her vice presidential candidate on Tuesday, according to three people who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
In Walz, she is choosing a governor from the Midwest, a military veteran and union supporter who helped push through an ambitious Democratic program for his state that includes comprehensive protections for abortion rights and generous support for families.
Harris hopes to bolster her campaign’s position in the Upper Midwest, a crucial region in presidential politics that often serves as a buffer for Democrats seeking the White House. The party is still smarting from Republican Donald Trump’s victories in Michigan and Wisconsin in 2016. Trump lost those states in 2020 but has them in his sights as he seeks re-election this year and expands his focus to Minnesota.
Walz, 60, joins Harris during one of the most turbulent periods in newfangled American politics, promising an unpredictable campaign. Republicans rallied behind Trump after his assassination attempt in July. Just weeks later, President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign, forcing Harris to unite Democrats and consider possible running mates on an extremely tight timeframe.
The three people spoke on condition of anonymity so as not to prejudge the official announcement later on Tuesday.
Harris, the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to lead a major party’s ticket, initially considered nearly a dozen candidates before narrowing her efforts to a handful of grave contenders, all of whom were white men. In Walz, she chose a low-key partner who has proven to be a champion of Democratic causes.
Walz was a powerful public advocate for Harris in her campaign against Trump and Vance. the Republicans describe as “just weird” in an interview last month. Democrats have picked up the message and have been amplified ever since.
During a fundraiser for Harris in Minneapolis on Monday, Walz said, “Calling these guys weird wasn’t an insult. It was an observation.”
Walz, who grew up in the tiny town of West Point, Nebraska, was a social studies teacher, football coach and union member at Mankato West High School in Minnesota before entering politics.
He won the first of six terms in Congress in 2006 from a predominantly rural district in southern Minnesota and used his office to champion veterans’ issues. Walz served 24 years in the Army National Guard and rose to the rank of Command Sergeant Major, one of the highest ranks in the military.
He ran for governor in 2018 on the topic “One Minnesota” and won by more than 11 points.
As governor, Walz had to find ways to work with a legislature split between a Democratic-controlled House and a Republican-led Senate in his first term. But Minnesota has a history of divided government, and the The arrangement was surprisingly productive in his first year. But the COVID-19 pandemic hit Minnesota at the start of his second year, and bipartisan cooperation soon began to falter.
Walz invoked emergency powers to direct the state’s response. Republicans suffered from restrictions These included lockdowns, school closures and business shutdowns. They responded by firing or sacking some of his agency heads. But Minnesotans stuck at home also got to know Walz better through his constant afternoon briefings in the early days of the crisis, which were broadcast and streamed nationally.
Walz won re-election in 2022 by nearly 8 percentage points over his Republican challenger, Dr. Scott Jensen, a physician and vaccine skeptic. Not only did Walz win, but Democrats retained control of the House and won the Senate, winning the “trifecta” of full control of both chambers and the governorship for the first time in eight years. A large reason for that was the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which found that the Constitution does not contain a right to abortion. That hurt Republicans in Minnesota, especially among suburban women.
“Tim was in the news because the country and the world saw the man we love so much,” U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar Klobuchar said on Monday.
Ken Martin, chairman of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, said the youthful people he spoke to during the campaign were “infested with Walz pills.”
Walz and other Democrats entered the 2023 legislative session with an ambitious agenda—and a whopping $17.6 billion budget surplus to fund it. Among their proudest accomplishments were comprehensive protection for abortion rights, which included the removal of almost all of the restrictions that Republicans had enacted in previous years, including a 24-hour waiting period and the requirement for parental consent. They also enacted novel protective measures for transgender rights, making the state a protected haven for families coming from other states to seek treatment for transgender children.
Their other major achievements included tax breaks for families with children aimed at reducing child poverty, and free school breakfasts and lunches for all students, regardless of family income. They also passed a paid family and medical leave Program, legalized recreational marijuana for adults and made voting easier.
Republicans complained that Walz and his Democrats had squandered a surplus that would have been better spent on lasting tax relief for all. And they criticized the governor and his administration for lax oversight of pandemic programs that cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
Federal prosecutors have charged 70 people with defrauding $250 million in federal food programs that funded meals for children during the pandemic under Walz’s watch. The scandal, known as Feeding Our Future, is one of the largest in the country Cases of pandemic aid fraud. The Office of the Legislative Auditor, a nonpartisan oversight agency, presented a devastating report in June, which said Walz’s Department of Education had “failed to respond to warning signals,” had not exercised its authority effectively, and had been ill-prepared to respond.
Republicans continue to criticize Walz for his response to the sometimes violent unrest following the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis in 2020, which also included the setting of fire at a police station.
During a fundraiser in St. Paul in May, Trump said repeated his false claim that he was responsible for deploying the National Guard to contain the violence. “The whole city burned down. … If I hadn’t been president, Minneapolis wouldn’t be here today,” Trump said.
In fact, it was Walz who gave the order, which he issued in response to requests from the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul. But within Minnesota, Republican lawmakers said both Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey were too snail-paced to respond. And Frey and Walz pointed fingers at each other about who was responsible for not activating the National Guard more quickly.
Walz has often served as a Biden-Harris surrogate and has made increasing appearances on national television, including an interview on Fox News that so angered Trump that he posted on Truth Social: “You’re forcing me to fight battles I shouldn’t be fighting.” Walz is also co-chair of the Rules Committee for the Democratic National Convention. And he chaired a meeting of Democratic governors with Biden at the White House after the president’s disastrous performance in his debate with Trump.
Walz’s nomination could assist Democrats hold on to the state’s 10 electoral votes and strengthen the party more broadly in the Midwest. No Republican has won a statewide election in Minnesota since Tim Pawlenty was re-elected governor in 2006, but Republican candidates for attorney general and state auditor came close in 2022.
Trump was only 1.5 percentage points behind Democrat Hillary Clinton in Minnesota in 2016. While Biden won Minnesota in 2020 by more than 7 percentage points, Trump falsely claimed that he had won the state last time and can do it again.
Minnesota has produced two vice presidents, Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale.
