On Aug. 6 (Tuesday), Democratic presidential candidate and sitting U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate for the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
A progressive policy champion, Walz will try to help Harris, who took over the Democratic candidacy from incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden in July, win over white voters in America’s rural heartland.
The 60-year-old is a veteran of the U.S. Army National Guard and former teacher. He served as a U.S Congressman representing Minnesota for 12 years from 2006 to 2018, when he was elected the state’s governor.
Walz is known for his staunch support of abortion rights, while also defending gun rights and the interests of agricultural constituents. He has pushed for free school meals, tax cuts for the middle class, and greater paid leave for Minnesota workers.
The governor also favors policies to combat climate change. Walz has supported Democratic party orthodoxy on issues ranging from abortion and same-sex marriage to the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, but has also racked up a centrist voting record during his congressional career.
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In choosing Walz, a popular Midwestern politician, as her vice presidential pick, Harris is seen as targeting the demographic that can be expected to otherwise favor Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Harris and Walz will face Trump and his running mate JD Vance, also a military veteran from the Midwest.
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The Midwestern states of Wisconsin and Michigan, two important battlegrounds in the upcoming election on Nov. 5, are regarded as crucial for determining the winner.
In addition, Walz’s home state reliably votes Democrat.
In the 2016 election, Trump won 59 percent of rural voters; in 2020 that number rose to 65 percent.
In the 2022 governor’s race, Walz won with 52.27 percent to his Republican opponent’s 44.61 percent, although the latter number included swaths of rural Minnesota.
Harris, 59, became the new Democratic presidential nominee and then candidate after Biden ended his own reelection bid. Many in the Democratic party saw the president’s prospects of defeating Trump jeopardized following his poor performance in the June 27 debate hosted by CNN, which amplified perceptions that the 81-year-old was not up for the task of leading the U.S.
Walz was a relative unknown nationally until the Harris “veepstakes” heated up, but his profile has since surged. He reportedly had the backing of powerful former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi is considered one of the prominent figures in the Democratic party that was instrumental in persuading Biden to leave the race.
With reporting by Reuters.
