Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate, betting that the former football coach and National Guardsman can appeal to working-class voters in swing states to deliver a Democratic victory in November’s US election.
“One of the things that stood out to me about Tim is how his convictions on fighting for middle-class families run deep,” Ms Harris said on Tuesday. “As a governor, a coach, a teacher and a veteran he’s delivered for working families like his. We start out as underdogs but I believe together we can win this election.”
Mr Walz (60) was selected ahead of other top contenders, including senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, Kentucky governor Andy Beshear and transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Hailed as a “labour champion” by the AFL-CIO, the biggest US labour union federation, Mr Walz is seen as having the potential to appeal to moderate, working-class and rural voters who could put Ms Harris over the top in battleground states. But he was also many progressive Democrats’ favourite among Ms Harris’s choices.
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His selection was hailed by voices from the party’s left and right, ranging from progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to centrist West Virginia senator Joe Manchin.
“I’m all in,” Mr Walz said on X. “Vice-president Harris is showing us the politics of what’s possible. It reminds me a bit of the first day of school.”
Ms Harris and Mr Walz were due to appear at a campaign rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening, before going to Las Vegas, Phoenix, Detroit, Raleigh and western Wisconsin. The revamped Democratic ticket comes after US president Joe Biden shook up the 2024 race by dropping out and anointing his vice-president to succeed him.
Mr Walz is serving his second gubernatorial term after being first elected to the office in 2018. Born in rural Nebraska, he taught social studies and coached American football at a high school, marrying a fellow teacher before entering politics. He also served in the National Guard.
In recent weeks Mr Walz has emerged as a more prominent national figure, especially in his attacks against Donald Trump’s vice-presidential nominee JD Vance.
After a clip from 2021 went viral, in which Mr Vance warned the US was being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies”, citing Ms Harris as an example, Mr Walz became the face of the Democratic effort to paint Trump and Vance as “weird”.
“My God, they went after cat people – good luck with that. Turn on the internet and see what cat people do when you go after ‘em. It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad,” Mr Walz said in one MSNBC appearance.
Following Ms Harris’s announcement the Trump campaign described Mr Walz as a “radical leftist”, saying the “San Francisco liberal” vice-president had picked someone “obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and wide”.
Nancy Pelosi, the former Democratic Speaker of the House, rejected that charge, telling MSNBC: “To characterise him as left is so unreal...He’s right down the middle. He’s a heartland of America Democrat.”
Mr Walz’s rivals for the running mate role swung behind him, with Mr Shapiro describing Mr Walz as “an exceptionally strong addition to the ticket who will help Kamala move our country forward”.
Many Wall Street donors who had preferred Mr Shapiro said they were broadly pleased with Ms Harris’s choice. One said Mr Walz was less progressive than people thought and would be better placed than Mr Shapiro to win swing states in the midwest. Another donor said Mr Shapiro’s political ambitions could have raised tensions with Ms Harris. A financier close to the Harris campaign said another “sad truth” was that Mr Shapiro’s support for Israel and fight against anti-Semitism had worked against him.
LinkedIn co-founder and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman praised Mr Walz on X for fostering a “pro-business” climate in Minnesota, and said he would “continue to protect America’s innovation power and fuel economic growth”.
Before becoming governor of Minnesota Mr Walz served in the US House of Representatives, representing a largely rural district. His connection with rural voters in the midwest could help peel them away from Mr Trump in November.
The governor could also help defend Ms Harris – who was raised by academics in the San Francisco Bay Area – against Republican accusations that she is a member of the coastal elite.
Ms Harris was formally nominated in a virtual roll call on August 2nd, ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 19th. The party avoided a messy process to replace Mr Biden by coalescing quickly around her in the days following the president’s exit. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024