Harris selects Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her vice presidential running mate
Vice President Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her vice presidential running mate.
Vice President Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her vice presidential running mate, adding a popular Midwestern state executive to the Democratic ticket as the party gears up to hold onto key northern battleground states this fall.
Harris' campaign texted supporters Tuesday morning, calling Walz "a battle-tested leader who has an incredible track record of getting things done for Minnesota families" and asking for donations to support the new ticket.
In picking Walz, who's in his second term and also served 12 years in Congress, Harris will have as her No. 2 someone with a proven record of winning over white working-class voters in Rust Belt states while also boasting a robustly progressive record.
Democrats will hope that mix of attributes helps a Harris-Walz ticket shore up support in the onetime “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan — longtime Democratic strongholds at the presidential level that Donald Trump flipped in 2016 and Joe Biden flipped back in 2020. This year, they’ve been seen as Biden’s, and now Harris’, most viable path to victory.
Walz, 60, had initially been viewed as a long shot in a field of vice presidential contenders. That list included rising party stars, some of whom have been mentioned as future presidential candidates, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who praised Walz in a statement and said he's "fully committed to electing the Harris-Walz ticket."
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