Kamala Harris Chooses Gov. Tim Walz as Her Running Mate

Madison Feller


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Kamala Harris officially has a running mate. Ever since President Joe Biden exited the presidential race and endorsed Vice President Harris, allowing the Democrats to rally around her as the nominee, two questions dominated headlines and water-cooler chats: Who would she choose as her potential vice president, and would that duo be able to beat former president Donald Trump and Senator JD Vance in November?

Now, Harris has chosen Gov. Tim Walz as her vice presidential pick. Per Reuters, the Harris campaign has stated that from Pennsylvania, the two will travel to six other stops.

Walz, who was born in rural Nebraska, according to his website, has been governor of Minnesota since 2019, previously serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. Prior to becoming an elected official, he served in the Army National Guard and taught at a public high school, where he was also the football coach. As governor, The New York Times reports, Walz has supported progressive policies, including codifying the right to abortion into Minnesota law, securing free lunch for public school students, legalizing marijuana, and signing a paid family and medical leave program into law. And in the run-up to Harris’ announcement, he gave the Democratic Party a new, viral way to hit back at Trump and Vance: by simply calling them “weird.”

In a statement about the announcement, Harris wrote: “One of the things that stood out to me about Tim is how his convictions on fighting for middle class families run deep. It’s personal.” She then continued, “But what impressed me most about Tim is his deep commitment to his family: Gwen, Gus, and Hope. Doug and I look forward to working with him and Gwen to build an administration that reflects our shared values.” The pair now has 90 days to campaign together and make their case to America.

In contrast, Trump chose Vance as his running mate back on July 15, before Biden even dropped out of the race. Vance is currently a U.S. senator representing Ohio, but he first rose to fame as the author of Hillbilly Elegy, his 2016 bestselling memoir that recounts his time growing up in Middletown, Ohio, a Rust Belt town. Vance is also a veteran and ended up attending Yale Law School.

In the book, which has garnered some controversy, he “writes about the social isolation, poverty, drug use and the religious and political changes in his family and in greater Appalachia,” according to NPR’s Terry Gross, who interviewed Vance when the book first came out. At the time, Vance told Gross: “I identify with the millions of working-class white Americans of Scots-Irish descent who have no college degree. To these folks, poverty’s the family tradition.”

Notably, Vance has transformed over the years. In 2016, he described himself as a “Never Trump guy” and once compared Trump to Adolf Hitler. Now, Vance is one of Trump’s staunchest defenders; at the Republican National Convention in July, Vance told the crowd: “For the last eight years, President Trump has given everything he has to fight for the people of our country. He didn’t need politics, but the country needed him.”

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