‘He’s got the Midwest grit, the Midwest sensibility’: Why Tim Walz is suddenly in the hunt for VP

For some rural Democrats in Congress, the elevation of a presidential nominee from deep-blue, coastal California might hurt more than it helps. To balance the ticket, they’re arguing Kamala Harris needs to tap a running mate who can speak to voters in “fly-over” country.

At the top of their wish list: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Although Harris outperforms President Joe Biden across key voting blocs, Democrats running in rural, competitive districts this fall fear the former California senator and attorney general is poised to do even worse there than the president — especially in battleground states in the upper Midwest. The 60-year-old Walz, who served 12 years in Congress representing a red, mostly rural southern Minnesota district, could bring the “ guy you would meet at a backyard barbecue in the Midwest ” vibes to the ticket, they argue, which could help hold off another Democratic free fall in rural regions.

Walz has “had to run in tough races, and I think that’s a great balance because Kamala Harris has a very impressive background, but she’s also been in California, which is pretty blue, so it helps to have someone who has had to fight in close races,” said Iowa state Rep. J.D. Scholten, who narrowly lost a conservative, rural western Iowa congressional seat in 2018 and has argued that Democrats need to re-focus on rural voters.

Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) echoed that point in backing her home state governor. Craig, who faces a tight reelection race this fall, recently said the party needs “a battle-tested leader on the ticket.”

That’s something Harris, who ran statewide in California and then in the 2020 Democratic primary, dropping out before the Iowa caucuses, has yet to experience on the national stage. While Democrats are excited about her chances in the Sun Belt states, they’re more anxious about the Midwest, where Harris doesn’t have as much of a relationship with voters. Walz, a former high school teacher and football coach who served in the National Guard, has demonstrated in the past few weeks that he has a knack for communicating in the plain-spoken way those voters have historically prized.

In a recent CNN appearance, Walz swatted down criticism of the ambitious progressive agenda he has enacted in Minnesota, including tuition-free college and universal school meals.

"What a monster! Kids are eating and having full bellies so they can go learn and women are making their own healthcare decisions,” Walz said, feigning outrage in response to a charge that he’s too far-left for the ticket.

“He helps quell some of the fears of the ‘San Francisco liberal’ that Republicans have by showing that the middle of the country believes that it’s not a radical San Francisco idea to believe in affordable health care,” said Travis Helwig, who leads Won’t PAC Down, a Gen Z-focused super PAC .

The group isn’t endorsing any vice presidential candidates, but it did just cut a new digital ad that leans into Walz’s favorite, no-frills phrase that he’s deployed to sum up Trump and GOP policy positions as just being “weird .” Helwig noted they filmed the ad before Walz’s comments caught fire, but they wouldn’t have released it as the group’s first ad “if ‘weird’ wasn’t in the zeitgeist right now,” he said.

On the running mate speculation, a Harris campaign spokesperson said in a statement that the vice president “has directed her team to begin the process of vetting potential running mates,” but “we do not expect to have additional updates until the Vice President announces who will be serving as her running mate and as the next Vice President of the United States.”

“In terms of auditioning, [Walz is] doing an exceptional job,” said a person familiar with the Harris campaign’s VP conversations. “He’s got the Midwest grit, the Midwest sensibility and that appeal goes beyond the Midwest.”

“He’s aggressive in a way that Mark Kelly is not, in terms of boxing in Republicans, and saying it in a way that a lot of people are already thinking,” the person familiar with the running mate conversations added, referring to the Arizona senator, who is another leading VP contender .

On the flip side, Harris’ circle is weighing how well she could meld with Walz, pointing out his penchant for gruffness during his congressional years, said the person, who was granted anonymity to discuss the private conversations. That quality seems to have “tempered” during Walz’s gubernatorial tenure, but it’s part of the current conversations, they noted.

And Walz would also bring his strong relationships with moderate voters and coalitions to the ticket — something that Harris herself lacks, people close to her acknowledge.

The “San Francisco liberal” attack against Harris, who was born in Oakland and cut her teeth in San Francisco politics, is top of mind for battleground Democrats right now. Some also raise Harris’ past embraces of stalwart liberal positions in her failed 2020 presidential primary bid, including banning fracking (which she’s since flipped on ). Most are quietly watching to see where she lands on some of the most difficult issues — like cost of living concerns, crime and immigration — in the coming weeks. Democrats fear that once the initial jolt of excitement for Harris wears off, she will confront all the same issues that plagued Biden in battleground states.

Democratic Rep. Jared Golden , one of the party’s most vulnerable members this fall, who represents a heavily rural, blue-collar district in Maine, recently said he was “look[ing] forward to learning more about what kind of leader she would be.” And Golden hasn’t been shy about raising some of Harris’ biggest vulnerabilities in districts like his, which are also part of the emerging GOP attacks against her. “My hope is that she leans into her record as an attorney general and prosecutor and affirms her commitment to public safety and the rule of law,” Golden said.

“We’re waiting to see where Harris takes her campaign on issues that the party tends to struggle with,” said a Democratic Hill aide.

Democrats have been hemorrhaging support in rural districts for decades now, which has increasingly limited their pathways to winning control of Congress and the White House. Local Democrats, including those in Walz’s former district , are already worried about a new wave of losses across competitive districts if their party appears out of touch with everyday voters’ concerns in the fallout from Biden’s campaign crisis.

Walz or other possible running mate picks, like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, can help avoid that, at-risk Democrats argue. The Minnesota governor understands “what life is like for people in the middle of the country who live in small towns and rural places and often feel like nobody is really noticing them or paying that much attention to them,” said Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.).

Walz “lived a whole life” before getting into politics, said another Democrat in a battleground district, who was granted anonymity to candidly discuss the matter. “He’s not a career politician,” the Democrat added. “That’s pretty helpful right now.” If not a vice presidential pick, Walz has certainly raised his profile for a possible cabinet secretary post, other Democrats note.

Democrats do have further to fall in rural America. Biden outperformed Hillary Clinton in small towns and rural regions of the upper Midwest in 2020, cutting into Trump’s deep rural margins by leaning into his Scranton Joe persona and ties to former industrial states and workers. Amid Biden’s struggles this summer, the Trump campaign began expanding its ambitions in the Rust Belt and Midwest, targeting not just traditional swing states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, but Walz’s state of Minnesota, as well.

Harris’ campaign, aware of the challenges ahead, is pushing to drum up support and volunteers across rural and rural-adjacent regions of battleground states. This past weekend, second gentleman Doug Emhoff visited the small college town of Stevens Point in central Wisconsin to rally supporters. Before that, Emhoff stopped by a Hmong festival just to the north in Wausau, a city surrounded by vast, rural stretches.

Republicans are now trying to head off any Democratic gains in the region after Biden dropped out of the race, sharpening their attacks against Harris — and Walz.

And there is fodder for attacks. For one thing, Walz has shifted his position on key issues considerably from his days in Congress, including on guns. His former “A” rating from the NRA during his congressional tenure turned into an “F” rating after he came out in support of an assault weapons ban and other gun control measures during his 2018 gubernatorial bid. He has attributed his 180 degree policy move to that year’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people.

At a weekend Trump rally in Minnesota, the No. 3 House Republican Tom Emmer (Minn.) called Walz an “empty suit” who has “tried to turn Minnesota into Kamala Harris’ home state of California for the past six years.” He “should not be allowed anywhere near the White House,” added Emmer.