Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota governor Tim Walz to be her running mate, choosing a plain speaker from the US heartland in a bid to help win over rural voters.
Harris announced the selection in a text message to supporters.
“I’m pleased to share that I’ve made my decision: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will join our campaign as my running mate,” she said.
“Tim is a battle-tested leader who has an incredible track record of getting things done for Minnesota families. I know that he will bring that same principled leadership to our campaign, and to the office of the vice president.”
Walz, a 60-year-old US army National Guard veteran and former teacher, said he was honoured to join Harris on the ticket.
“I’m all in,” 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.”
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.Now let’s get to work. Join us: Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 6, 2024
Walz was elected to a Republican-leaning district in the US House of Representatives in 2006 and served 12 years before being elected governor of Minnesota in 2018.
As governor, Walz has pushed a progressive agenda that includes free school meals, goals for tackling climate change, tax cuts for the middle class and expanded paid leave for Minnesota workers.
He has long advocated for women’s reproductive rights but also displayed a conservative bent while representing a rural district in the US House, defending agricultural interests and backing gun rights.
Harris, the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, is adding a popular midwestern politician whose home state votes reliably for Democrats in presidential elections but is close to Wisconsin and Michigan, two crucial battlegrounds.
Such states are seen as critical in deciding the November 5 election and Walz is widely seen as skilled at connecting with white, rural voters who in recent years have voted broadly for Republican Donald Trump, Harris’ rival for the White House.
Harris chose Walz over Josh Shapiro, the popular governor of Pennsylvania, who had been seen as helpful to delivering his crucial battleground state.
Harris, 59, became the Democratic Party’s standard bearer after President Joe Biden, 81, ended his re-election campaign under party pressure last month.
Since then, she has raised hundreds of millions of dollars and recast the race against Trump with a boost of energy from her party’s base.
Harris was expected to appear with Walz at an event in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening.
They will face Trump and his running mate JD Vance, also a military veteran from the midwest, in the November election.
Trump campaign officials and surrogates quickly went to work trying to define Walz as a hardcore progressive whose values are out of touch with most people.
“It’s no surprise that San Francisco Liberal Kamala Harris wants West Coast wannabe Tim Walz as her running-mate – Walz has spent his governorship trying to reshape Minnesota in the image of the Golden State,” the Trump campaign said in a statement, referring to California, Harris’ home state.
Walz has attacked Trump and Vance as “weird,” an insult that has been picked up by the Harris campaign, social media and Democratic activists.
Walz has also assailed claims by Trump and Vance of having middle class credentials.
“They keep talking about the middle class. A robber baron real estate guy and a venture capitalist trying to tell us they understand who we are? They don’t know who we are,” Walz said in an MSNBC interview.
The Harris campaign hopes Walz’s extensive National Guard career, coupled with a successful run as a high school football coach and his Dad joke videos will attract rural voters who are not yet dedicated to a second Trump term in the White House.
Walz was a relative unknown across the country until the Harris “veepstakes” heated up but his profile has since surged.
In the 2016 election, Trump won 59 per cent of rural voters; in 2020 that number rose to 65 per cent even though Trump lost the election, according to Pew Research.
Source Agencies
