Kamala Harris chooses Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as vice presidential running mate | US News

United States presidential hopeful Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate for the vice presidency in 2024.

The Democratic Party candidate confirmed earlier reports in a post on X, saying: “I am proud to announce that I have asked @Tim_Walz to be my running mate.

“As a governor, coach, teacher and veteran, he has delivered for working families like his.

“It’s great to have him on the team.”

Walz is a former teacher and member of the U.S. Army National Guard, and in choosing him, he is tapping a Midwestern governor, military veteran and union supporter who helped implement an ambitious Democratic agenda for his state.

Read more: Who is Tim Walz?

The most progressive vice president of all time?

Harris, the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to top a major party ticket, initially considered nearly a dozen candidates before zeroing in on a handful of serious contenders, all of them white men.

In choosing Walz, he sided with a low-key partner who has proven himself a champion of Democratic causes.

Walz has been described as having the “most progressive record” of any of Harris’ potential running mates chosen.

Their accomplishments include guaranteeing free meals at participating state universities, enshrining abortion rights in state law, banning conversion therapy, and providing protections for gender-affirming health care.

He also oversaw broad protections for abortion rights and generous aid to families and signed into law the so-called Taylor Swift bill, sparked by one lawmaker’s frustration over not being able to buy tickets to Swift’s 2023 concert in Minneapolis.

When asked last week whether her liberal record could be a potential risk to the candidacy, Walz jokingly responded: “What a monster! Kids eat and have a full stomach so they can go learn. Women are taking their own decisions about their health care.

Although he initially endorsed President Joe Biden to continue his campaign, Walz has been a staunch public defender of Harris in her campaign against Donald Trump and JD Vance, labeling Republicans as “just weird” in an interview last month, an insult that was welcomed by the Harris camp.

Shoring up the Midwest

Her selection indicates that Harris hopes to shore up her campaign’s position in 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 Trump in 2016, and while Biden was able to win back both states in 2020, he did so by a margin of 2.78% and 0.63% respectively.

Read more:
Robert F Kenney Jr abandoned a dead bear in Central Park
Why Harris’ White House campaign is unlike any other

Trump has already indicated that he will focus 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 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 in his first 2006 campaign for the House of Representatives.

From small town Nebraska to the White House

Walz grew up in a small town in Nebraska and was a social studies teacher and football coach before entering politics. He also served 24 years in the U.S. Army National Guard, rising to command sergeant major, one of the highest ranks in the military.

He won his first of six congressional terms from a largely rural district in southern Minnesota and used the office to champion veterans’ issues.

He has often served as a Biden-Harris surrogate and has made increasingly frequent appearances on national television.

They included an interview on Fox News that irritated Trump so much that he posted on Truth Social: “They make me fight battles I shouldn’t have to fight.”