Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. This move sets the stage for her contest against former President Trump in the 2024 election.
The choice of the 60-year-old Walz was anticipated, as his name had been a prominent contender since Harris became the party’s standard-bearer following President Biden’s departure from the race.
Walz, a former congressman currently serving his second term as governor of Minnesota, represents a state that has consistently voted Democratic in presidential elections but is a target for the Trump campaign this cycle.
Having Walz, known for his straightforward style, on the national ticket is expected to strengthen Harris’s appeal not only in Minnesota but also in the key Midwestern battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan.
As the chair of the Democratic Governors Association, Walz is likely to bolster Harris’s fundraising efforts, having already helped the DGA achieve record-breaking fundraising this year.
Walz can also highlight numerous progressive policy achievements in Minnesota, including protecting abortion rights, legalizing recreational marijuana, and implementing gun control measures.
Raised in rural Nebraska, Walz joined the Army National Guard in 1981 shortly after high school. He attended Chadron State College, graduating in 1989 with a degree in social science education. He taught English and American History in China for a year through a Harvard University program before becoming a high school teacher and coach in Nebraska in 1990. In 1996, he moved to Mankato, Minnesota, to teach geography at Mankato West High.
Walz was deployed to Italy to support Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003, retiring two years later from the National Guard as a command sergeant major.
Elected to the House in 2006, Walz was re-elected five times, representing Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District. During his final two years in Congress, he served as ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Walz won the governor’s office in 2018 and was re-elected in 2022.
Walz’s selection follows the Democratic National Committee’s virtual roll call, which formally nominated Harris as the party’s presidential nominee. The DNC announced on Friday that Harris had officially clinched the 2024 nomination after securing a majority of pledged delegates.
The DNC’s electronic voting for their 2024 nominee commenced shortly after Biden’s announcement ending his re-election campaign and endorsing Harris as his successor. Biden’s poor performance in a late June debate against Trump raised doubts about his ability to serve another term, leading to increased calls within his party for him to step aside.
Biden’s swift endorsement of Harris triggered a wave of support from Democratic leaders, and within 36 hours, Harris secured the nomination by garnering the backing of a majority of the nearly 4,700 convention delegates.
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