Will Tim Walz pay off as Kamala Harris's running mate?

Mike Bebernes

Vice President Kamala Harris announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday, bringing the former teacher, football coach and National Guard veteran onto the revamped Democratic Party ticket to challenge former President Donald Trump in November.

“Coach Walz and I may hail from different corners of our great country, but our values are the same and we both believe in lifting people up, not knocking them down,” Harris said during a rally in Philadelphia hours after her choice became public.

Typically, presidential candidates spend months carefully vetting contenders to be their running mate. But President Biden’s surprise decision to drop out of the 2024 campaign forced Harris, who swiftly became the party’s consensus pick to replace him, to complete that process at unprecedented speed.

At least a half-dozen high-profile Democrats were reportedly given serious consideration for the nod, but by late last week the list apparently had been narrowed down to just two — Walz and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

In purely tactical terms, some political analysts believe Shapiro — a popular governor who might have made a difference in what may prove to be the most important swing state — may have been the more logical choice. But various reports of Harris’s decision-making process suggest that Walz differentiated himself with his affable personality, progressive record and blue-collar charm.

Walz first began to gain steam as a potential running mate after a series of news interviews in which he showcased what his fans describe as his remarkable skill at making a forceful case against Republicans while still coming off as approachable and likable. “Tim’s signature is his ability to talk like a human being and treat everyone with decency and respect,” former President Barack Obama wrote in a statement on Tuesday.

Some political pundits also make the case that Walz’s blue-collar bonafides and Midwest background make him the ideal messenger to reach swing voters in states like Michigan and Wisconsin who Harris, Trump and Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, may struggle to connect with. Walz’s record of progressive successes in Minnesota may also serve to energize voters on the left wing of the Democratic Party, many of whom had soured on Shapiro over some of his positions — particularly on the war in Gaza.

Republicans have widely framed the decision as Harris caving to pressure from her party’s fringe elements and undermining her own chances of winning by not choosing Shapiro out of fear of upsetting them. “The biggest problem with the Tim Walz pick, it's not Tim Walz himself. It's what it says about Kamala Harris, that when given the opportunity she will bend the knee to the most radical elements of her party,” Vance said at a campaign stop on Tuesday. Some conservative pundits also make the case Harris mistook the pro-Walz energy on social media for genuine widespread support, leading her to grossly overestimate his appeal to regular voters.

His 'Minnesota nice' demeanor is the perfect counter to the GOP’s rage and resentment

“Tim Walz is the antidote to the Fox ‘News’ poison that is now so widely imitated across the right-wing media ecosystem, stealing the hearts and minds of millions. He’s America’s everyman, a welcome dose of sanity, and a wake-up call about how badly our country has been damaged by billionaire-funded right-wing hate.” — Thom Hartmann, New Republic

Harris was too scared of the far-left to make the smart choice

“The choice that scared Republicans was popular Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, a swing state crucial to an Electoral College victory. But Mr. Shapiro, who is Jewish, was the target of an extraordinary and nasty campaign against him by the Democratic left. He was too pro-Israel and had upset unions by showing rhetorical support for school vouchers. Ms. Harris appears to have wilted under this pressure.” — Editorial, Wall Street Journal

Walz helps Democrats seem like normal people in contrast to Republicans’ weirdness

“Walz is there to help Harris dominate the messaging of this campaign and help push Trump and Vance into a space that Democrats want them to occupy, which is a space of abnormalcy, a space of something’s off with these guys. You can’t trust them. They’re not going to bring stability. They’re going to bring eccentricity and chaos. And Democrats have become very much the party of normalcy.” — Ezra Klein, New York Times

Harris mistook social media for real life

“Walz’s very selection represented an effort to get right with the loudest elements of the progressive base, whose numbers pale disproportionately to the influence they wield on the internet. Perhaps the Harris campaign is a little ‘too online.’” — Noah Rothman, National Review

Walz simply had more energy behind him than the alternatives

“As a matter of modern politics, I suppose this one shouldn’t have shocked us. In an era where vibes rule everything around us, Walz, by the end, was the guy riding the zeitgeist.” — Andrew Egger, Sam Stein and Marc A. Caputo, Bulwark

Walz keeps the left happy without scaring off moderates

“Ms. Harris’s Tuesday move to elevate Mr. Walz to the No. 2 spot on the Democratic ticket could be a play to widen her party’s polished coastal image — or an attempt to placate her party’s left wing. Most likely, it was both.” — Editorial, Washington Post

He can connect with rural Americans in a way most Democrats can’t

“In Walz, Kamala Harris has given herself a running mate who won’t look out of character campaigning among rural or small-town Americans, or among military veterans, or among people who’ve worked real and relatable jobs instead of managing real-estate fortunes or hanging out with Silicon Valley’s tech bros. His appeal should extend well beyond the Midwest to voters all over the country who share elements of his life trajectory.” — Ed Kilgore, New York

Harris misunderstands what rural swing voters really want

“Despite Walz’s folksy manner and rural background, this same radical record also could repel the remaining group of ‘persuadable,’ or ‘swing,’ voters among blue-collar or farming constituencies, the same way it will repel suburbia. Indeed, most of the persuadable people from those constituencies are more culturally moderate-to-conservative than suburbanites, so Harris’s choice of Walz can be seen as an insult to their values.” — Quin Hillyer, Washington Examiner

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