Vice President of the United States and the country’s Democratic Party candidate, Kamala Harris has picked Tim Walz as her running mate for the presidential election, US media has reported.
Tim Walz is the governor of and a former high school teacher who will become vice president if Harris beats Donald Trump in November 2024.
According to reports, Kamala Harris interviewed several top contenders in Washington DC over the weekend and reportedly had not decided until earlier today.
The announcement comes as Harris begins a tour of key battleground states, starting with a rally in Philadelphia later today where Harris will officially introduce Walz as her running mate.
Who is Tim Walz?
Before being elected as Minnesota’s governor in 2018, Walz was known as a battle-tested Democrat who served 12 years in Congress. He has gained national attention for his strategy of calling Donald Trump and JD Vance “weird”. The phrase caught on with a number of Democrats – including Harris.
“He’s just a strange, weird dude,” Walz said of Trump during a fundraising event. His plainspoken and small-town Midwestern persona could appeal to independent and conservative voters reports say.
The 60-year-old led Minnesota through the 2020 protests over George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis. He deployed the National Guard to help quell riots that broke out during the demonstrations.
Walz served more than 20 years in the Army National Guard, taught high school and also worked as an assistant football coach. Minnesota is arguably less of a swing state, but would be a valuable asset for Kamala Harris.
Walz’s Strategic Value
Tim Walz is said to have strategic value because Democratic governors like him (that helps with money and campaigning), he comes from the Midwest, and his army background helps with white, rural voters.
But this appears as much a pick about personality as politics. He is known for being cheerful and optimistic and, in the end, politics is as much about people as anything.
If the two candidates get on well, that will matter – especially when times get tough on the campaign trail.
Kamal Harris yet to make an official announcement
While many US outlets have reported Harris’ selection of Walz, Harris has not made the announcement official. The Harris campaign has been insisting that she hasn’t made the call to her vice-presidential pick yet.
The official statement is expected soon. At which point, it is expected that an avalanche of reaction from party leaders and former presidents.
Reactions pour in
Kamala Harris’ selection of Tim Walz as her running mate as started receiving reactions though it appears many Democrats are waiting for the campaign’s official announcement.
One of the first we’ve received was from Elianne Farhat, the executive director of Take Action Minnesota and a senior advisor to the “Uncommitted” movement – which discouraged voters from casting ballots for Biden in protest of his support for Israel.
In a statement, Farhat said that Walz has “demonstrated a remarkable ability to evolve as a public leader” uniting a diverse coalition of Democrats “to achieve significant milestones” for Minnesota.
“Whilst his past positions as a Congressman may have conflicted with anti-war voters, we hope he can evolve on this issue as he has on others,” Farhat added.
“As Harris’ vice presidential pick, it’s crucial he continues this evolution by supporting an arms embargo on Israel’s war and occupation against Palestinians in an effort to unite our party to defeat authoritarianism in the fall,” she added.
SOURCE: BBC
