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Vice President Kamala Harris has decided on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her vice presidential pick, according to multiple reports, tapping a Midwestern mainstay who has deep roots in rural America to balance out the Democratic presidential ticket.
Harris’ selection effectively ends a whirlwind process for the Democratic Party after President Joe Biden decided to exit the 2024 race. Harris became the presumptive nominee, buoyed by Biden’s endorsement, after clearing the field of any major challengers.
Walz, 60, has served both in Congress and as Minnesota governor, boasting an expansive resume that set him a part from the other two reported finalists, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania.
A Republican presidential nominee has not won Minnesota since Richard Nixon in 1972, but the Trump campaign is optimistic that they can make the state competitive. The former president held a rally in Minnesota not long before Walz’s selection was announced.
Like others who wanted to join the ticket, Walz made sure to complete a media blitz in recent days. During his quasi audition, the Minnesotan showed that he was more than willing to embrace the “attack dog” role often adopted by running mates. Walz blasted Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, the GOP vice presidential nominee, as someone who didn’t understand what small town America was really about.
“What I know is that people like JD Vance know nothing about small town America,” Walz recently told MSNBC. “My town had 400 people in it, 2,400 kids in my graduating class, 12 were cousins, and he gets it all wrong. It’s not about hate. It’s not about collapsing in. The golden rule is mind your own damn business. Their policies are what have destroyed rural America.”
As governor, Walz has signed a raft of liberal priorities into law, including a guarantee for paid family and medical leave, protection of abortion rights, universal background checks on firearms, and recreational marijuana. He also led the state through the response to unrest and riots after George Floyd’s murder in 2020. Voters handed Democrats narrow control of the state Senate in 2022, giving Walz a trifecta to kick off his second term and paving the wave for many of his achievements in St. Paul.
Virtually unknown on the national stage, Walz has expanded his profile since being elected chair of the powerful Democratic Governors Association. Two former chairs, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, went on to become US presidents. Walz is also the co-chair of the Democratic National Convention’s Rules Committee, which has put him in the middle of the fight over holding a virtual vote before the actual convention kicks off in Chicago on August 19.
Walz’s life has been shaped by rural America
Harris’ campaign is likely to tout Walz’s biography as one that’s similar to that of many Americans, especially in the Midwest.
Walz grew up in rural Nebraska. At 17, he enlisted in the Army National Guard and spent 24 years in the Guard. He attended Chadron State College, a public university, before following in his father’s footsteps and becoming a teacher. According to the Omaha World Herald, Walz’s first teaching job was on the Pine Ridge Reservation, home to the Oglala Lakota tribe.
Walz met his wife, Gwen, while teaching in Nebraska. The couple later moved to Minnesota. Walz has been open about how he and his wife needed in vitro fertilization in order to have children.
When Walz launched his first run for Congress in 2005, he was still teaching high school. In 2006, he ousted Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht during a banner year for Democrats, who retook both houses in Congress as the nation turned against the war in Iraq.
Walz represented his mostly rural district, which bordered Iowa, for six terms.
According to GovTrack, Walz crafted a centrist record over his 12 years in Congress, likely a testament to a district that has conservative leanings. In 2018, Republicans won back the House seat.
During Walz’s five reelection campaigns, he boasted an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association, according to MinnPost. But when Walz ran for governor, he said his perspective on the issue had changed.
Walz’s selection gives the party a credible Midwestern voice at the highest level of Democratic politics, a major asset as the campaign sees victories in Michigan and Wisconsin as a core part of its electoral calculus in November.
While Republicans are poised to win most rural locales across the Midwest, Democrats aren’t giving up on those areas. If the Harris-Walz ticket can dominate in urban areas while also winning smaller cities and tamping down the GOP’s rural margins, they have a chance to perform at levels not seen since President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012.
