Vice President Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz be her companion on Tuesday.
About an hour later Related Press and other media outlets reported that Harris made the official announcement. The decision marks another milestone in the short time since the vice president transitioned to the Democratic leadership after Joe Biden’s July 21 Decision to step aside. She officially clinched the nomination on Monday night.
Editor’s note: This article was updated less than an hour after publication to include new developments, including Harris’ official announcement and the response from the Donald Trump campaign and the Obama family to Walz.
Here’s What Kamala Harris Said About Choosing Walz as Her Running Mate
According to AP, Kamala Harris met with three finalists on Sunday (August 4) and made her final choice on Tuesday morning after discussing with senior aides on Monday.
Harris initially considered nearly a dozen candidates before zeroing in on a handful of serious contenders. All of her potential candidates were white men. In landing on Tim Walz, she sided with a low-key partner who had proven himself a champion of Democratic causes.
On Tuesday, Harris also took to social media to support her choice of running mate. In addition to sharing details about Walz’s professional and personal background, she expressed confidence that she and Walz would “defeat Donald Trump” together.
“We will build a great partnership; we will build a great team. We will win this election,” Harris wrote on Instagram.
Swipe below to see her full statement.
Who is Tim Walz?
In choosing Tim Walz, 60, Harris is turning to a Midwestern governor and veteran. The governor is also a union supporter who helped enact the Democratic agenda in his state, including comprehensive protections for abortion rights and generous support for families.
Walz grew up in the small town of West Point, Nebraska. Before entering politics, he worked as a social studies teacher, football coach and union member at Mankato West High School in Minnesota.
In 2006, he won his first of six terms in Congress from a largely rural district in southern Minnesota. He used the office to champion veterans’ issues. To put that in perspective, Tim Walz served 24 years in the Army National Guard, rising to the rank of command sergeant major—one of the highest enlisted ranks in the military.
What did Walz do for Minnesota while in office?
Tim Walz ran for governor in 2018 on a “One Minnesota” theme and won by more than 11 points. As governor, Walz had to navigate his first term with a legislature split between a Democratic-controlled House and a Republican-led Senate. Despite the state’s history of divided government, the arrangement worked surprisingly well in his first year.
But the COVID-19 pandemic hit Minnesota early in his second year, and bipartisan cooperation soon collapsed. Tim Walz relied on emergency powers to lead the state’s response.
Republicans were angry about restrictions that included lockdowns, school closures and business closures, and they retaliated by firing or forcing out several of his agency heads. But Minnesotans stuck at home also got to know Walz better through his frequent afternoon press conferences in the early days of the crisis, which were broadcast and streamed statewide.
Walz won re-election in 2022 by nearly 8 points over his GOP opponent, Dr. Scott Jensen. Not only did Walz win, but Democrats retained control of the House and flipped the Senate. For the first time in eight years, Democrats have full control of both chambers and the governor’s office.
Walz and other Democrats’ proudest accomplishments in the 2023 legislative session include sweeping protections for abortion rights. Those rights include eliminating nearly all of the restrictions Republicans have enacted in previous years. Some of those restrictions include 24-hour waiting periods and parental consent requirements.
Additionally, Minnesota’s governor and Democrats have enacted new protections for transgender rights, including legislation that designates Minnesota as a sanctuary for families traveling from out of state to treat transgender children.
Their other major achievements include a tax credit for families with children and free school breakfasts and lunches for all students, regardless of family income.
They also enacted paid family and medical leave, legalized recreational marijuana for adults and made voting easier.
Donald Trump campaign and Obama family react to Tim Walz pick
To put that in perspective, the Minnesota governor was a vocal supporter of Harris in her campaign against Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance. Walz called the Republican “just weird” in an interview last month.
At a fundraiser for Kamala Harris on Monday (August 5) in Minneapolis, Walz stood by his words. He said, “Calling these guys weird isn’t a slur. It’s an observation.”
So it was no surprise that Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt included Walz as a possible vice presidential candidate in a statement on Tuesday, calling him a “West Coast wannabe” who “pretends to support Americans in the Heartland” only when the cameras are on.
Additionally, Leavitt pointed out that Tim’s alleged policies would “allow convicted felons to vote” — a sarcastic call given Trump’s 2024 Sentence on 34 charges in New York. See the campaign’s full statement below.
Meanwhile, Barack and Michelle Obama issued a statement praising Harris’s selection, calling Walz an “ideal partner.”
“Governor Walz not only has the experience to be vice president, he also has the values and integrity we are proud of,” the joint statement said.
RELATED: Everything you need to know about Trump’s vice presidential nominee JD Vance, who once reportedly called the former president a ‘moron’
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Associated Press staff writers Zeke Miller, Collee Long, Steve Karnowski, Will Weissert and Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
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