Vice President Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, choosing a popular Midwestern governor who brings an authentic connection with rural white voters.
Mr. Walz is an Army veteran who grew up in Nebraska and moved to Mankato, in southern Minnesota, to teach high school geography and coach football. His teams won two state championships. He was elected to Congress in 2006, winning a populist competitive district.
Mr. Walz was a relatively centrist congressman during his time in the House. He supported the Keystone XL oil pipeline and was once a darling of the National Rifle Association in his early career. But he has shifted to support more restrictions, like an assault weapons ban.
Why We Wrote This
In choosing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, Kamala Harris gains a folksy former soldier, teacher, and football coach who could help her presidential campaign in key Rust Belt states.
The Walz track record: Successes but also baggage
He’s won tough House races in a rural district that leans Republican and two hard-fought gubernatorial elections in the liberal-leaning but competitive state.
He worked across the aisle with Republicans who controlled the legislature in his first term to secure more funding to fight opioid addiction and cut middle-class taxes. And in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by a police officer in Minneapolis, he helped negotiate a bipartisan law putting new restrictions on police use of force in the state.
The protests and riots that broke out in Minneapolis after Mr. Floyd’s death are a vulnerability for him, however: Mr. Walz later admitted that the state’s initial response was an “abject failure.”
He also faces criticism for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. A local nonprofit siphoned off a quarter-billion dollars in federal funds meant to feed children during the pandemic, the largest pandemic fraud case in the nation; a jury found five people guilty of fraud, bribery, and money laundering, and dozens of others face charges.
A recent legislative audit found that his administration’s Department of Education failed to conduct proper oversight to prevent the pandemic fraud.
How Walz came from behind to win veepstakes
He began the rapid veepstakes race as a little-known governor, but quickly gained support from progressives, many of whom wanted to find another Rust Belt candidate to block the more centrist Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro from the ticket. Mr. Walz has earned plaudits from the left for his successful push in recent years for legislation to protect abortion access, create paid family leave, provide free school meals to all Minnesota students, legalize recreational marijuana, tighten background checks on gun sales, and force public utility companies to use green energy. And he has close ties with organized labor.
He also brings to the table the folksy, plainspoken vibe of a Midwestern former schoolteacher, which could help win over voters skeptical of a San Francisco progressive like Ms. Harris.
His description of former President Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance as “weird” in recent interviews quickly caught on with Ms. Harris and other Democrats.
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