The Minnesota governor’s selection is a somewhat surprising end to a whirlwind process for choosing the Democratic vice-presidential candidate. Though Walz has been a well-respected member of the party and head of the Democratic Governors Association, he had little national profile until recently. But in the past few weeks, Walz broke out with buzzy television appearances in which he memorably labeled J. D. Vance and the Republican Party overall “ weird .” That created a moment for the Democrats, vaulting Walz into the spotlight and now onto the presidential ticket.
For Harris, the choice is a somewhat daring move against conventional wisdom, which had named Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro the most obvious pick. Walz’s selection will draw excitement from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. He has quietly produced a long list of left-leaning accomplishments in Minnesota. But he is also a former National Guardsman and represented a rural district in the U.S. House, where he had a pro-gun record. As a longtime public-school teacher before entering politics, he brings regular-guy cred. (Though he and Harris are roughly the same age, Walz cracked that he looks much older thanks to two decades supervising school lunchrooms.) His midwestern plainspokenness and bluntness, as demonstrated in the weird offensive, may be an asset to a party that has become negatively associated with technocratic coastal elites.
Less clear is what direct electoral heft Walz can bring to the ticket. He may help Democrats in a series of crucial states in the upper Midwest, including Michigan and Wisconsin, but his home state is a consistent stronghold for the party. And though political observers expected that Harris would pick a white man to provide some demographic balance to the ticket, naysayers worried that Walz was just a little too bland—a replay of the solid but uninspiring choice of Senator Tim Kaine to run with Hillary Clinton in 2016.
But Walz’s Minnesota record is anything but boring, especially for progressives. In 2023, with a Democratic trifecta in place, Walz launched a massive legislative campaign . The state codified abortion rights, implemented free lunch in schools, mandated universal background checks for guns, legalized cannabis, and required paid leave for workers, among other moves.
Donald Trump, in a fundraising appeal to supporters, said that Walz “would be the worst VP in history” and “unleash hell on earth.”
Walz was widely reported to be one of the finalists for the VP slot, though Shapiro appeared to have the inside track—in part because his home state of Pennsylvania is a must-win for Democrats. Shapiro is younger and more obviously dynamic, has a moderate record, and is popular at home, but his potential selection had drawn grumbles from several swaths of the party. Progressives found him too centrist. Organized labor complained that he had not been pro-union enough and boosted Walz . And Shapiro’s strong support for Israel (notwithstanding harsh critiques of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) threatened to raise the salience of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which had been an albatross for President Joe Biden and which Harris would just as soon rather sidestep.
Harris was also considering Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Governors Roy Cooper of North Carolina and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan removed themselves from consideration.
Walz’s pick sets the Democratic ticket with two weeks to go before the party’s convention. And it wraps up one of the more eventful summers in presidential history, as Democrats nudged Biden to end his reelection campaign and then coalesced around Harris as the nominee. Her rise has brought new excitement to a deflated party, now hoping that Walz can help carry the ticket to victory in November—and take over Harris’s current job.
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