Tim Walz is Kamala Harris' VP pick: Minnesota governor named 2024 running mate

Kamala Harris picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her vice presidential running mate on Tuesday, Reuters reported citing CNN, thrusting the outspoken Midwestern statesman into the national spotlight while adding a key ally to her fast-moving campaign for the presidency.

Walz, 60, brings political mastery, suburban-and-rural appeal and progressive patriotism to a competition where all three criteria are seen as helpful for Democrats to clinch a 2024 win against the Republican ticket of former President Donald Trump and and Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio.

A military veteran, former public school teacher and six-term congressman, Walz is now serving the sixth year of his eight-year stint as governor of the North Star State.

He has been an ardent supporter of President Joe Biden and was a surrogate for his reelection campaign. After the president’s disastrous debate performance in June, Walz often took to the airwaves to defend Biden and boast about the administration’s accomplishments, even in the face of Democratic doubts.

After Biden dropped out of the race on July 21 amid rising concerns about his age, Walz took to X, formerly Twitter, calling him “an American hero” and saying that history “will look fondly on his legacy.”

Biden endorsed Harris as his successor shortly after announcing his decision.

In naming Walz as her running mate, Harris selected a pro-union Democrat who can speak to the concerns of blue-collar workers in Midwestern states – and beyond.

The big question: As President Joe Biden steps aside, is America ready for President Kamala Harris?

Born and raised in Nebraska

Born and raised in rural Nebraska by a public school administrator and a community activist, Walz spent summers working on his family farm before enlisting in the Army National Guard at 17.

He spent the next quarter century serving his country while holding down a series of positions as a school teacher – first at a Native American reservation in South Dakota, then overseas in China, then back home in Nebraska and finally in Minnesota, where he and his family relocated in 1996.

Walz decided to run for office a decade later, in 2006, seeking to represent a staunchly Republican-held district in the southern part of the state.

His win against the six-term incumbent came as somewhat of a surprise to political observers, but Walz proved a popular candidate who styled himself as a plain-spoken moderate able to connect with the district’s mostly rural voters.

Walz’s ability to bridge the tricky divide between progressive policies and conservative values resonated with his constituents, who elected him to serve five additional terms in Congress. It’s also a talent the Harris campaign will seek to wield as it crisscrosses the nation in an effort to sway voters of all stripes – especially those with conservative leanings in swing states.

During his tenure, Walz sat on the House Agriculture Committee, Committee on Veterans' Affairs and the Armed Services Committee, and proved a solid supporter of key Democratic issues – voting, for example, to raise the federal minimum wage, protect abortion rights and advance the Affordable Care Act.

His affable personality and penchant for public service propelled Walz’s political rise from Congress to the governor’s mansion.

Walz entered the gubernatorial race in 2018 after then-Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton chose not to seek reelection, and he defeated his Republican challenger by a wide margin. He easily won re-election four years later, alongside Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Nation of Ojibwe.

Walz raised $11.6 million in his 2022 reelection campaign and $5.3 million in his first gubernatorial campaign in 2018, campaign finance records show.

George Floyd's murder puts spotlight on Minnesota

With a slim Democratic majority in Minnesota’s House and Senate, Walz during his two terms has been able to usher into law several progressive measures sure to appeal to liberal voters nationwide.

In the 2023 legislative session alone, he and his Democratic allies accomplished major policy goals, including restoring voting rights to people convicted of felonies post-incarceration, expanding paid family and medical leave for Minnesota workers and providing universal free meals for public school students.

The school meal bill Walz signed ensures that every student can receive breakfast and lunch for no cost, part of an effort to reduce childhood food insecurity. Its cost – estimated at $400 million over the first few years and increasing over time – sparked opposition from some Republican lawmakers.

“The haves and the have-nots in the school lunchroom is not a necessary thing,” Walz said during a press conference at the time defending the measure. “Just feed our children.”

His tenure has not been without controversy, though.

Walz received intense local and national backlash for his failure to control the unrest sparked by the police murder of George Floyd and the destructive riots that ensued.

Floyd’s murder by Derek Chauvin catapulted Minneapolis into the national spotlight, acting as a microcosm of racial justice reform in the 21st century and public pressure to address police brutality.

Some protests turned violent as demonstrators vandalized and destroyed public property, including burning down the Minneapolis Police Department’s 3rd precinct. Estimates total over half a billion dollars in damages. Walz activated the National Guard.

Chauvin was later convicted of Floyd’s murder, among other charges related to his death, as were three other officers.

Walz also faced criticism for a massive $250 million post-pandemic-relief fraud scheme by a Minnesota-based nonprofit, Feeding Our Future and Partners in Nutrition, that was meant to feed children in need.

Over 70 defendants have been charged in connection to what prosecutors have called the biggest pandemic-fraud scheme in the nation, with seven people already tried and five found guilty.

Walz accepted responsibility for the lack of fraud protection and proper oversight at the state's Department of Education under his administration after a scathing legislative audit was released.

These things could come back to haunt Walz on the campaign trail as he and Harris seek to tout their public safety and government spending bona fides.

Reproductive rights – and a personal struggle

Perhaps Walz’s biggest advantage to the campaign is his track record as a bulwark of women’s rights. Through the years, Walz has used his position to protect access to reproductive care in Minnesota and beyond.

After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Minnesota became the first state to codify abortion rights via the state legislature.

The Protection of Reproductive Options Act, which Walz signed in January 2023, enshrines women’s rights to reproductive freedom without interference from politicians.

One year later, during a roundtable event with members of Planned Parenthood, Walz called Minnesota an “island of decency” that welcomes women from other states seeking abortions.

Since the bill’s passage, Minnesota has seen an influx of out-of-state patients seeking care.

And during his 2024 State of the State address, Walz briefly disclosed his own family’s painful struggle to conceive and their use of in vitro fertilization, a procedure that has come under attack in the conservative movement to restrict reproductive freedom.

“Your personal decisions about your family are no one’s business but your own,” he said at the time. “You have my pledge as long as I am governor, IVF will continue to offer a lifeline of hope for Minnesota families.”

National experience

Walz gained national exposure when he was named co-chair of the president’s Council of Governors in 2021. In 2023, he was elected chair of the Democratic Governors Association, where he was a part of critical talks concerning Biden’s fitness for office just weeks before the octogenarian ended his campaign.

And this spring he was elected as co-chair of the Democratic National Convention rules committee.

Walz joined the Biden-Harris campaign in Milwaukee in mid-July during the Republican National Convention. While there, he criticized his now-vice presidential opponent, Vance, the Ohio senator, on his abortion stance and small-town roots.

Vance said in a January 2022 podcast while he was running for the U.S. Senate that he “certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally,” a comment he has since tried to walk back by aligning with Trump's recent statement that abortion should be a state issue.

Walz reiterated his criticism of Vance on social media the same week.

“I grew up in a small town. JD Vance is dead wrong about what makes small-town America tick. Small towns don’t work because everyone is closed-minded and prejudiced,” he wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “They work because people mind their own damn business. JD Vance seems to have a real problem minding his.”

Details of his personal life

Walz holds a bachelor’s degree in social science education from Chadron State College in Nebraska and a master’s of science degree in educational leadership from Minnesota State University Mankato.

In addition to being a veteran and a school teacher, Walz served as a high school football coach and led his team to win its first state championship.

He is married to Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz, also a former educator, and has two children, Hope and Gus.

Walz’s current term ends in 2026. If Harris and Walz win this November, the governor would have to resign from his current office and Flanagan would serve out the remainder of his term.

In being picked for the ticket by Harris, Walz beat out several other high-profile politicians considered by the campaign. Among them were Generation X governors Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan; swing state allies like U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania; seasoned pros like Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina; billionaire businessman and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker; as well as rising political star U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Sam Woodward is an election reporting fellow for USA TODAY. You can reach her at swoodward@gannett.com or on X @woodyreports.

Contributing: Suhail Bhat and Chris Quintana, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tim Walz is Harris' VP pick: Minn. governor named 2024 running mate