Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, looking to strengthen the Democratic ticket in Midwestern states.
After an introduction from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, she and Walz made their joint debut at a rally Tuesday evening in Philadelphia, kicking off their battleground state tour.
Tim Walz had two jump starts, the first largely unnoticed, the second underappreciated.
The first came earlier this year when the governor and the vice president visited a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Paul. That visit underscored shared values between the two, according to people familiar with Harris’ thinking. Key issues that resonated with Harris included Walz’s advocacy for in vitro fertilization and child tax credits — an idea Walz has used in Minnesota.
The next key moment came July 23, two days after Biden’s withdrawal, when Walz went on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and uttered a dig at Trump and Vance that quickly went viral.
“These guys are just weird,” Walz said, in his signature conversational, informal manner.
For years, Democrats, including Biden and Harris, have leveled high-minded attacks on Trump as a threat to democracy. They spotlighted his legal troubles, racist and sexist rhetoric, the hard-right policies found in the “Project 2025” agenda that Trump disavows. The jovial governor of Minnesota encapsulated it all in one word: “weird.” And he smiled while doing it.
Social media did its thing, and the Harris campaign took notice. Within days, the vice president — and other vice-presidential contenders — were using “weird” like an epithet.
On Sunday, Harris welcomed Shapiro, Kelly and Walz for in-person interviews at her Naval Observatory residence.
According to people familiar with the conversations, her 90-minute conversation with Walz stood out.
Kelly seemed to fade first, according to those familiar with the deliberations. And Shapiro’s potential liabilities remained part of the assessment about him.
The interviews and conversations with her team had Harris leaning firmly in Walz’s direction but she wanted to sleep on it and see if she felt the same way on Monday morning.
But she felt the same Tuesday morning that she did on Monday night — she would go with Walz.
“I think Walz just emerged as that person who she grew to trust and admire,” said Bakari Sellers, who co-chaired Harris’ 2020 Democratic primary bid. “She actually is a vice president and knows what is required of her job, and she wanted someone to support her.
