Vice President Kamala Harris chose Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) as her running mate Tuesday, completing both the Democratic and Republican presidential tickets.
Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) was also a finalist for the job, and many speculated he would be an asset in consolidating his state’s support. Walz is a bit different than Shapiro.
Here’s what he brings to the table for Harris.
Midwestern appeal
Walz is governor of Minnesota, a Democratic-leaning state among the midwestern “blue wall” consisting of his home state, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Illinois, that Democrats will cling to this November.
Walz’s approval rating in the state is 56%, solid for a state in which Trump received 45.28% support in 2020 and 44.93% in 2016. The New York Times called him a “midwestern dad” who once coached football and appears as a nicely mannered figure in the area’s politics.
If he does sway midwestern voters who believe Walz represents them, he will have a large effect on Harris’s campaign. That is especially true if he can help Democrats keep the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan, which have tightened even more since Harris became the Democratic nominee.
Progressive darling
Walz is considered no centrist. He championed LGBT rights in the late ’90s before most of his party did. The Minnesota governor passed universal free school meals, enshrined abortion rights into the state’s constitution, banned conversion therapy, and provided protections for gender-affirming healthcare.
While he formerly backed gun rights as a House member, even receiving an endorsement from a National Rifle Association PAC, he has since denounced the organization and regrouped around gun regulation.
Walz generally moved to the left when he became Minnesota’s governor, after being a more centrist member of the House. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) disagrees with those who say Walz is a leftist.
“Tim Walz is wonderful,” Pelosi said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Harris “had many good choices. Tim Walz, I know very well. He served in the House. To characterize him as left is so unreal. It’s just not — he’s right down the middle. He’s a heartland of America Democrat.”
Likability
A common sentiment among Democrats is that Walz appears to be likable and relatable. He coached football, is the father of two children, and, as one social media user posted, has a “regular guy aura.”
The Washington Post called Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), who ran with Hillary Clinton in 2016, a “nice guy,” an image not unlike what Walz has cultivated.
“He’s not the most charismatic guy, but he’s a steady hand,” Democratic strategist Raghu Devaguptapu told CNN. “He’s really thoughtful, very likeable. He’s done a really nice job of building a broad coalition of support. … That’s the center of strength around Tim Walz.”
Walz is also not afraid of being open with his personal struggles. He detailed his wife’s fertility struggles to the Star Tribune earlier this year as Democrats have used IVF as a central campaign issue.
Veteran
Walz has a unique place among military veterans running for the highest political office. At one point during his 24-year military career with the Army National Guard, he achieved the rank of command sergeant major, the highest rank an enlisted member of the Army can achieve. Very few enlisted members ever achieve the rank.
While he never saw real combat, Walz’s military accomplishments could appeal to military-minded Republicans who recognize the rarity of his rank. It is a significantly superior rank to Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), the Republican vice presidential nominee, who served in the Marine Corps and reached the rank of corporal.
However, Walz retired as a master sergeant for failing to complete coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy. He could face political attacks for that.
Contrast to Trump’s running mate
When Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump chose Vance, he did it with the fact that he could motivate voters in Appalachia and in small towns with his Hillbilly Elegy, rags-to-riches life story. But Walz, not long after the selection of the Ohio senator, immediately disputed that Vance could relate to rural voters, saying, “JD Vance might be from small town America. But he isn’t for small town America.”
“That angst that J.D. Vance talks about in Hillbilly Elegy, none of my hillbilly cousins went to Yale, and none of them went on to be venture capitalists or whatever,” Walz said. “It’s not who people really are.”
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Vance has proven more and more unpopular among voters since Trump selected him, and Harris’s choice of Walz ensures he will face a strong contrast if or when the two debate. The governor has embraced the role of Vance’s foil, calling him “weird” in a viral moment that Democrats have embraced as a common attack against Trump’s running mate.
If nothing else, Walz will be the politically experienced, progressive alternative to Vance, and voters will take that into account in November.
