Vice President Kamala Harris picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate in the 2024 White House race on Tuesday.
Walz, 60, is in his second term as a governor. He served in the Army National Guard and was a public school teacher and a football coach before his election to Congress in 2006.
“He’s good at articulating the argument for the Democratic Party’s agenda and he himself can say, 'Look, I’m an example. My state is an example of what happens when you elect Democrats,'” explains David Schultz, a political science professor at Hamline University.
Praised as “down to earth and an excellent communicator”, Walz is also known for his digs at former president Donald Trump.
“Gov. Walz has caught fire, not because of one vial interview, but because he talks to voters like they’re his neighbors,” said Dem. Strategist Tim Hogan.
“With a slim majority in Minnesota, he lowered costs for families and improved health care,”
“It’s a Prairie Populist agenda that has worked in the Midwest, and he’s now bringing it to the national stage.”
During a CNN interview on Sunday, Walz defended Harris and her record from Trump’s attacks, describing her as “ultra-liberal.”
“He’s going to roll it out, mispronounce names, you know, to try and make the case,” Walz said.
“The fact of the matter is where you see the policies that VP Harris was a part of making, Democratic governors across the country executed those policies, and quality of life is higher, the economies are better, all of those things, educational attainment is better.”
