Kamala Harris picks Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as running mate

Yashwant Raj

Washington, Aug 6 (IANS) US Vice-President Kamala Harris has picked Tim Walz, the Democratic Governor of Minnesota, as her running mate. 

"I am proud to announce that I've asked @Tim_Walz to be my running mate," Harris wrote in a post on X. 

"As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he's delivered for working families like his. It's great to have him on the team." 

Walz also posted on X. "It is the honor of a lifetime to join @kamalaharris in this campaign. I’m all in. Vice President Harris is showing us the politics of what’s possible. It reminds me a bit of the first day of school. So, let’s get this done, folks! Join us".

Walz, 60 is a former schoolteacher, a military veteran, a member of the House of Representatives, a two-term Governor and, in recent days, the man who coined the word "weird" to describe the Republican nominee for President, former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, and their campaign and their views that was quickly adopted by the Harris campaign and her allies.

Walz is scheduled to make his first appearance along with Harris, who secured the official nomination of the Democratic party for President on Monday night, at an election rally in Philadelphia later on Tuesday and then go with her on a tour of battleground states.

"The window for delegates to vote in the virtual roll call has concluded, and that 99 per cent of the pledged and automatic delegates who fulfilled their responsibility by voting in the roll call cast their votes in support of Vice President Kamala Harris," the Democratic party said.

Harris had narrowed down her search to Walz and Josh Shapiro, the popular Governor of Philadelphia in the final days.

Shapiro was seen as a favourite with the expectation that he could bring some of his popularity in the battleground state to help Harris. He had won the Governor's race in 2022 with a 15 percentage point lead and Harris currently trails Trump by 2 percentage points. Additionally, Shapiro was seen as a moderate whose appeal extended beyond the Democratic party’s base. And he had many Republicans, who were not happy with Trump, rooting for him.

Walz, who has been backed by labour unions, is seen as belonging to the progressive wing of the Democratic party, which could help Harris bridge the divide in the party over President Joe Biden’s tight embrace of Israel in its war against Hamas, which alienated the progressives.

He has emerged as a popular choice because of his folksy style and happy demeanour that has made some call him a "joyful warrior".

Walz’s bio on his website as Minnesota Governor said he was born in a small town in rural Nebraska and his parents "instilled in him the values of public service, generosity toward your neighbors, and working for the common good that guide his commitment to Minnesota today".

After graduating from high school, Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard. He studied social science at Chadron State College. He spent a year teaching abroad and joined the Army National Guard full time on his return and eventually accepted a high school teaching and coaching position. Walz met his future wife, Gwen Whipple, at the school they both taught at. He won his first election to the House of Representatives in 2006 and was re-elected for another five terms, and then ran for Governor in 2018 and won. He was re-elected in 2022.

Reacting to the pick, Karoline Leavitt, Trump Campaign Press Secretary, said: "It’s no surprise that San Francisco Liberal Kamala Harris wants West Coast wannabe Tim Walz as her running-mate - Walz has spent his governorship trying to reshape Minnesota in the image of the Golden State."

"While Walz pretends to support Americans in the Heartland, when the cameras are off, he believes that rural America is ‘mostly cows and rocks’. From proposing his own carbon-free agenda, to suggesting stricter emission standards for gas-powered cars, and embracing policies to allow convicted felons to vote, Walz is obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and wide. If Walz won’t tell voters the truth, we will: just like Kamala Harris, Tim Walz is a dangerously liberal extremist, and the Harris-Walz California dream is every American’s nightmare."

--IANS

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