In Tim Walz, Black women see the ‘right white man’ for VP

CHICAGO — When Tim Walz addresses the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night, Kamala Harris’ new running mate will mark a milestone: Never has America seen a white man serve as cheerleader and chief promoter of a Black woman at this level of politics before.

And as delegates gathered here before his speech, one significant part of the Democratic Party’s base — Black women — said it was about time.

“He is the right white man for the job,” said Brenda Coles, a Richmond, Virginia-based activist who has been working 40 years to help elect Democrats.

Coles, donning a “Win With Black Women” pen on the collar of her dress, said she appreciates that Walz, the Minnesota governor, does not appear intimidated by being a subordinate to “a Black woman with the caliber” of Harris.

“I am such a proud Black woman to support our great Kamala Harris,” Coles said Wednesday just outside a conference room where the Virginia delegation held its daily breakfast meeting, adding that she's now “claiming” Walz as her own vice president, too.

Harris only seriously considered white men as running mates — others in contention included Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly — a move many said was a means of balancing the ticket and appealing to some white voters.

To many Democrats here — and especially to Black women — the pairing represents a significant step forward in a country still struggling with fraught issues of race. In nearly two dozen interviews, Black women who serve as Democratic strategists, activists and elected officials and convention attendees, said they became Walz fans when he spoke at a rally with Harris in Philadelphia earlier this month. Though many acknowledged they knew little about him at the time, many found themselves gravitating to the Midwestern governor for the same reasons other Democrats say they do.

They said they admire his working-class background, but also his signing of legislation that spoke to Black communities, including establishing a statewide Office of Missing and Murdered Black Women and Girls. Some said they were moved by his retelling of the personal struggles he and his wife Gwen endured years ago trying to conceive.

But they were also moved by what his selection said progress on matters of race.

“It's a natural fit and a natural partnership for a man who has dedicated his life to serving others,” said Rep. Jennifer McClellan , a Democrat and a Harris surrogate who was sworn in as the first Black woman elected to Congress from Virginia last year. She said this role is the “next logical step” in Walz's career.

A 21-year-old delegate from Tennessee, Dottie Ferreira, got to hear Walz speak when he headlined the Black Caucus meeting at the DNC on Monday. She said he “had the crowd going, especially Black women.”

It was a moment, she said, that made clear to her that Walz was capable of seeing beyond race.

“Racism … plays an important part in the United States,” Ferreira said, but seeing “a white man supporting a Black woman become one of the most important people in the world, that’s so that's very amazing.”

In some ways, Walz is serving a role not so different than Biden did back when he was Barack Obama's running mate — and that Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) did for Hillary Clinton. They were both playing second to a historic first candidacy. Democratic women here said they see Walz's role in part to smooth over the nerves of voters who may have reservations about a woman of color behind America's wheel — without overshadowing the top of the ticket.

Melinda Perez, a lawyer in New York, is attending her second convention, and her first since 2004 in Boston, when the nation first got a glimpse at Obama years before he became the nation’s first Black president.

Standing in the foyer of the Grand Regency Hotel, she said she does not see race as a prominent theme in this election, even though Harris is the first Black woman and South Asian American person to lead a major party ticket. But in Walz — and his partnership with Harris — she saw a reflection of her own experience working in white collar America.

“A lot of corporate women feel like there's no stronger duo than having a white guy backing,” Perez said. “Because they're just in a different position in society, and it feels almost like they don't see you as a threat. They see you as an ally, as an equal.”

Belenda Anderson of Memphis, who attended her first Democratic convention in 1984, said that without Walz to bolster support in Rust Belt states Harris may not win in November. And if Harris loses, she isn't sure if another Black woman will get shot at the presidency.

“If it's not now,” she said, pausing for several seconds, “it’ll never happen again.”

The sentiment was common among Black women who often do the party's core organizing work. Jotaka Eaddy, founder of Win With Black Women, the Zoom-based group largely credited with supercharging Harris' early candidacy, described Walz as a walking coalition builder.

“It speaks volumes to his ability to govern and lead in a way that is about what Kamala Harris is really setting forth: a table where everyone has a seat,” said Eaddy, whose group raised $1.5 million for Harris and kicked off the Zoom fundraisers that drove much of the early energy for the reshuffled Democratic ticket.

Some white men in the party acknowledge it’s a moment that should be celebrated, too. Having Walz on the ticket to help a heavily-credentialed Black woman make history is something former Alabama Sen. Doug Jones is especially attuned to. In 2017 he flipped a Senate seat that hadn't voted for a Democrat in 25 years, and he did it largely off the support of Black women.

“Hell, they got me across the finish line,” Jones said about Black women supporting his candidacy.

Since leaving the Senate, he served as Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s “sherpa” during her confirmation process, introducing her to the members of the Senate who ultimately confirmed her to the Supreme Court.

“The karma is just right for this time and this moment and this place and so much in this country has changed over the years,” Jones said.

He suggested that Walz in his address on Wednesday night could help change the minds of some who still harbor racist or misogynistic feelings about Harris.

“I've never met Tim Walz,” he said. “But everything I know about him says that he is a great compliment for her, and a recognition that this is historic."