US presidential hopeful Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her 2024 vice presidential running mate.
The Democratic Party candidate confirmed earlier reports in a post on X, saying: “I am proud to announce that I’ve asked @Tim_Walz to be my running mate.
“As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he’s delivered for working families like his.
“It’s great to have him on the team.”
Read more: Who is Tim Walz?
Mr Walz is a former teacher and member of the US Army National Guard and in choosing him, she is turning to a Midwestern governor, military veteran and union supporter who helped enact an ambitious Democratic agenda for his state.
He said it was the “honour of a lifetime” to join the campaign.
“It reminds me a bit of the first day of school,” he wrote on X.
The news has been praised by former president Barack Obama, who described how “Tim’s signature is his ability to talk like a human being and treat everyone with decency and respect”.
Posting a statement from himself and former first lady Michelle, he wrote: “Like Vice President Harris, Gov. Walz believes that government works to serve us. Not just some of us, but all of us. That is what will make him an even better vice president, ready on day one. Michelle and I couldn’t be happier for Tim and Gwen, their family, and our country.”
The most progressive VP ever?
Ms Harris, the first black woman and person of South Asian descent to lead a major party ticket, initially considered nearly a dozen candidates before zeroing in on a handful of serious contenders – all of whom were white men.
In landing on Mr Walz, she sided with a low-key partner who has proven himself as a champion for Democratic causes.
Mr Walz has been described as having the “most progressive record” of any of Ms Harris’s potential running mate picks.
Among his accomplishments are ensuring tuition-free meals at participating state universities, enshrining abortion rights into state law, banning conversion therapy and providing protections for gender-affirming healthcare.
Tim Walz beams while holding up the so-called Taylor Swift bill he signed into law. Pic: AP
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Kamala Harris reportedly chose Tim Walz over Josh Shapiro, the Governor of Pennsylvania.
He also oversaw sweeping protections for abortion rights and generous aid to families and signed into law the so-called Taylor Swift bill, prompted by the frustration a legislator felt at not being able to buy tickets to Swift’s 2023 concert in Minneapolis.
When asked last week if his liberal record could be a potential risk for the ticket, Mr Walz jokingly replied: “What a monster! Kids are eating and having full bellies so they can go learn. Women are making their own healthcare decisions.”
Although he initially backed President Joe Biden to continue his campaign, Mr Walz has been a strong public advocate for Ms Harris in her campaign against Donald Trump and JD Vance, labelling the Republicans as “just weird” in an interview last month – an insult that was embraced by the Harris camp.
Tim Walz addresses media members in July. Pic: AP
Shoring up the Midwest
His selection indicates Ms Harris hopes to shore up her campaign’s standing across the upper Midwest – a critical region in presidential politics that often serves as a buffer for Democratic Party candidates seeking the White House.
Both Michigan and Wisconsin voted for Mr Trump in 2016, and while Mr Biden was able to reclaim both states in 2020 – it was with a margin of 2.78% and 0.63% respectively.
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Mr Trump has already indicated he will zero in on this region as he aims to return to the presidency in November.
President Biden won Minnesota by more than seven points in 2020, despite Mr Trump’s false claims that he won the state and can do it again.
The state has already produced two vice presidents – Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale, the latter of whom supported Walz on his first 2006 campaign for the House of Representatives.
Vice president Walter Mondale (left) and Tim Walz (right) during his 2006 campaign for the House of Representatives – the first of six terms. Pic: AP
From small-town Nebraska to the White House
Walz grew up in small-town Nebraska and was a social studies teacher and football coach before he got into politics. He also served 24 years in the US Army National Guard, rising to command sergeant major – one of the highest enlisted ranks in the military.
He won the first of six terms in Congress from a mostly rural southern Minnesota district, and used the office to champion veterans issues.
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He has often served as a Biden-Harris surrogate, and has made increasingly frequent appearances on national television.
They have included an interview on Fox News that irritated Mr Trump so much that he posted on Truth Social: “They make me fight battles I shouldn’t have to fight.”
