For this post, I’m relying on a series of Politico articles on August 6, 2024, linking to each.
It was Harris’s decision, but she had plenty of input from her party. She was lobbied to pick someone who served in the U.S. House, where Walz spent 12 years before becoming Minnesota’s governor.
Rick Larsen (D-WA) explains that Harris, who like Biden never served in the House, won’t have to create relationships in the House because Walz “already has them” (see story here). Walz also is thought able to help Democrats win regain a House majority.
Democratic strategists think Walz is appealing to older Biden white male voters, and his “resume and communication style” can help “buoy support more broadly in the Midwest and Rust Belt,” where there are crucial swing states.
His resume? He’s a veteran, union member, and was a teacher and coach, all of which gives him an “authentic feel.” He was elected to Congress in a red-leaning “significantly rural” district, and is viewed as someone who can “speak directly to voters in flyover country” (see story here).
Walz is a good communicator, and is expected to be an effective messenger for the Harris campaign. He’s also a good fundraiser; daily campaign donations tripled within hours of announcing he’d be on the ticket. He’s a popular guy, and the other V.P. contenders are lining up behind him. (See story here.)
Republicans will try to paint Walz as a “far-left progressive,” but during Walz’s tenure in Congress he was seen as a centrist, and as governor he has “governed as a mainstream Democrat,” although he did sign such “radically progressive” legislation as family leave and free school lunches (see story here) .
They’ll also attack his handling of the George Floyd riots, arguing he was too slow to deploy the National Guard, an inherently weak argument; and they’re lining up an activist involved in the “Swift boat” attacks against John Kerry 20 years ago to go after Walz’s military service, which also is weak sauce, given that Walz spent 24 years in the National Guard, including overseas deployments, and there’s nothing wrong with his military service (last link above).
Their biggest complaint, though, seems to be that Walz is not a rabidly pro-Israel, anti-Palestinian Jew. That would’ve been Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, who was the runner-up behind Walz, but that’s not why Shapiro wasn’t picked, even though Pennsylvania is a key swing state; the Harris camp saw his campaign style as “showboating,” and Shapiro himself wasn’t sure he wanted to give up his current job (see story here).
Photos: (Above) What farmer doesn’t love pigs? (Below) This photo of Minnesota governor Tim Walz wearing a Michigan State tee-shirt and brandishing a plastic bottle of Michigan microbrew beer is the stuff of which attack ads are made. Traitor!
