(Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for the Democrats’ presidential ticket against Republican former President Donald Trump.
BREAKING.🚨
Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her VP choice.
Who is Tim Walz? Let's take a quick look:
• Fueled BLM Riots in 2020
• Rioters looted and wrecked Minneapolis, did not deploy National Guard to avoid angering base
• While crime dropped… pic.twitter.com/cHCZPRj8ZY— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) August 6, 2024
Walz came from behind, according to oddsmakers, to become the choice. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was the expected choice as late as Monday morning.
Nonetheless, Walz’s politics may be the most closely aligned with those of Harris, whom many expected might select a more moderate choice to balance her own record.
“One person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness,” Walz said during a recent Zoom rally for Harris.
The move defused some of the concerns over the possible selection of Shapiro, whose Jewish identity threatened to put off Muslim voters.
By contrast, Walsh counts as one of his accomplishments the recent effort to redesign the Minnesota state flag to resemble that of Somalia, where a large portion of the state’s urban population originated.
Critics also slammed Walz for his failures to contain the 2020 race riots, which began in Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd while in police custody.
However, his soft-on-crime record meshes well with Harris’s own past support for the Minnesota Freedom Fund, a collection that was used to bail out rioters and dangerous criminals who participated in the “mostly peaceful” violence leading up to the previous election.
Welcome to the race, Tim Walz!
Let’s make sure America knows who you are.
You helped ignite the George Floyd riots, the worst the country had seen in decades. While Minneapolis burned, you stalled on deploying the National Guard for an entire day, blaming the city for not…
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 6, 2024
Indeed, Walz himself comes complete with his own criminal record for a 1995 drunken-driving incident, in which he was going more than 40 miles over the speed limit.
JUST IN: Media buzz is rising that Kamala Harris is selecting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her VP choice.
Who is Tim Walz? Let's take a quick look:
• Fueled BLM Riots in 2020
• Rioters looted and wrecked Minneapolis
• Change MN state flag to resemble Somalia's
• K*lled old… pic.twitter.com/sVWP5aGI4P— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) August 6, 2024
The announcement comes just weeks ahead of Democrat National Convention in Chicago, although Harris already secured the nomination via virtual roll call.
The decision to announce Walz now may have been linked to campaign finance requirements that set a cut-off for when donors could give if a governor were on the ticket.
The news also comes just 16 days after President Joe Biden was forced out of the race by party elites and endorsed Harris, who immediately acknowledged her candidacy.
No other candidates emerged, and the party by virtual roll call Thursday through Monday awarded her the nomination.
The duo was expected to launch a battleground states tour Tuesday night at Temple University in Philadelphia. Parts of the tour in Georgia and North Carolina are being altered due to Hurricane Debby that hit Florida on Monday and began advancing up the Atlantic Seaboard as a tropical storm.
Speculation from the outset centered on Shapiro, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Arizona U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly. Below that were Walz, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Cooper a week ago removed his name from consideration when, at the time, he and Shapiro were considered the two leaders for the job.
Some Democrats in the establishment, including Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, lashed out over the snub to Shapiro, which bore all the hallmarks of anti-Semitism.
MSNBC – 8/6/2024 – Big Donors / Business Community / CEOs are concerned about Kamala Harris VP pick, @GovTimWalz
"He's a darling of progressives… the left, they were lobbying very hard for a progressive ticket…that's exactly what they get" pic.twitter.com/Aw4a1Y8nfm
— CaseStudyQB – #CeaseFireNOW (@CaseStudyQB) August 6, 2024
As a working-class politician—that includes working as a teacher and serving in the National Guard—with a rural background, Walz can serve as a progressive foil to Trump’s fellow Midwesterner pick, Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance.
The North Star State governor called both Republicans “weird” in a comment that Harris’s campaign and its leftist media allies have since pounced on.
If Walz were to become vice president, he would become the third vice presidents from Minnesota. Hubert Humphrey served under Lyndon B. Johnson, and Walter Mondale under Jimmy Carter.
Both presidents were elected to just a single term, while both running mates were unsuccessful in their own presidential bids, losing to Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, respectively.
Walz has 12 years experience in Congress and has twice been elected governor.
As governor, Walz has supported abortion and sought to erode election-integrity safeguards. He has also been endorsed by more than 25 Minnesota labor unions, including AFL-CIO, MN Teamsters, AFSCME, Education Minnesota and United Food and Commercial Workers.
Walz self-describes his actions an “abject failure” during the Twin Cities riots associated with the death of George Floyd. He called in the National Guard, rejected federal military assistance and videos still circulate showing debris, smoke and inner city scenes many might think are in a foreign country rather than America.
This was Minnesota under Gov Tim Walz: pic.twitter.com/6CCbhyOPca
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 6, 2024
Minnesota, carrying 10 electoral votes, is a historically Democratic stronghold that has become more competitive in recent years. The most recent polls show Harris ahead of Trump in the state.
Trump was nominated last month in Milwaukee, with Vance as his running mate. Independent Robert Kennedy Jr. is the highest polling of other candidates on ballots.
Headline USA’s Ben Sellers contributed to this report.
