He is 60 years old and is the governor of Minnesota: the two Democrats will challenge the Republicans Donald Trump and JD Vance in the presidential elections on November 5th.
Kamala Harris has chosen Tim Walz as her vice-presidential candidate for the presidential elections of next November 5 the news was announced in the early afternoon by the US media, and was then confirmed by Harris. Walz is 60 years old, he is the current governor of Minnesota and one of the main Democratic politicians in the Midwest area , which includes important swing states including Michigan and Wisconsin. Harris and Walz will challenge the Republican candidates, therefore the former president Donald Trump and his vice president
JD Vance .
Walz confirmed that he had accepted the nomination, writing on social media “Kamala Harris is showing us the politics of what is possible. It reminds me a little of the first day of school.” Harris and Walz will hold a rally in Pennsylvania this afternoon at 5:30 p.m. While the two will visit other swing states in the coming days, including Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada. Immediately after the announcement, many Democratic Party figures began to congratulate Walz, including Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (who had briefly been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate before Joe Biden publicly endorsed Harris), former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama .
Walz is currently in his second term as governor of Minnesota. Before governing the state, he served for 24 years in the United States National Guard , the main military force of reservists of the Army, was a high school teacher, a football coach and a member of Congress for more than a decade, between 2007 and 2019.
He is highly regarded both for his experience and for his way of presenting himself he has a cheerful and easy-going attitude, but also pragmatic and common sense, along with an extremely effective communication style. It had been known for weeks that Walz was among the people that Harris was evaluating as a possible candidate, along with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who until the last minute had seemed to be the favorite.
Walz is known for his progressive positions: among other things, he is a supporter of abortion rights, the legalization of recreational marijuana and greater controls on gun ownership. At the same time, he has long represented in Congress a rural part of Minnesota, with a strong agricultural vocation, where in recent years the Republican Party has often won some state elections: therefore, he could attract consensus also among the moderate electorate.
In this election campaign he was also the first to use the expression “weird ” to refer to Trump, Vance and more generally to the most conservative component of the Republican Party, starting a communication trend that was soon adopted by much of the Democratic Party and even by Harris herself.
Until recently Walz was not a particularly well-known politician outside of Minnesota things have changed in the last two weeks, during which he participated in various television interviews in which he always appeared jovial, but also convinced in criticizing Trump and Vance.
Minnesota is a solidly Democratic state the last time citizens voted overwhelmingly Republican in a presidential election was 1972 , and the Democrats are expected to win again this year. Walz could help boost support in the Midwest, but his state’s votes won’t make a difference. In contrast, many expected Harris to choose Shapiro precisely because Pennsylvania is a swing state, where Democrats need to win in November
But Shapiro has some weaknesses among other things, after the start of the war in the Gaza Strip he has strongly supported Israel, a decision that has made him less popular among the more left-wing segment of the Democratic Party (Shapiro is Jewish).
Republicans may now start to portray him as some kind of left-wing extremist, as they have already begun to do with Harris. They may also criticize him for his handling of the widespread protests that began in the summer of 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, following the killing of George Floyd.
