At first glance, Vice President Kamala Harris’s pick of Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota as her running mate seems safe from Vance-like disaster. Walz, a folksy Midwesterner and former high school teacher who served 24 years in the Army National Guard, gained traction by labeling Trump, and then Vance, as “weird.” That adjective went viral and has now been taken up by Harris and her Democratic supporters.
Walz doesn’t bring a swing state as large as Pennsylvania, where Josh Shapiro, another vice presidential contender, is governor. He doesn’t have the national security cred of Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, a Navy pilot and astronaut. But the progressive wing of the party likes him for his leftward shift on issues and for declarations like this one: “Minnesota is showing the country you don’t win elections to bank political capital— you win elections to burn political capital and improve lives.”
Will that be a winning strategy for the Harris-Walz ticket in 2024? Or will that help Trump and Vance turn Walz into the weird one?
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Can Walz’s ‘folksy optimism’ help in small-town America?
By Renée Graham
What a difference a word makes.
Until about a week ago, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota might have been better known as “Tim Who?” He wasn’t a dark horse candidate to be Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate — he was barely on the track. But the man whose biggest contribution so far to the Democrats’ chances of holding on to the White House has been calling Donald Trump and Senator JD Vance of Ohio “weird,” a term that has gained a lot of traction, is now the final piece of the Democratic ticket.
Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, a rising Democratic star, once seemed a shoo-in given his popularity with voters in a state considered necessary for victory in November’s crucial election. But Harris might have sought someone like Walz because he would play better in the nation’s rural areas than a city slicker like Shapiro.
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Walz, a white 60-year-old Nebraska-born gun owner who favors T-shirts and camouflage caps, looks like a central casting Trump voter. But his progressive politics, folksy optimism, and jocular, small-town America demeanor could be a crucial piece for an already history-making — and possibly winning — Democratic race.
Walz doesn’t move the electoral map the way Kelly or Shapiro could
By David Shribman
Josh Shapiro could have given Kamala Harris 19 electoral votes from Pennsylvania, perhaps the most critical swing state. Mark Kelly could have given her 11 from Arizona, another key swing state. And with nine Mexican border crossings, the selection of the former astronaut would have grafted some immigration street cred onto the ticket. But Tim Walz?
In a word: weird.
That in fact is the word Walz, a former House member and the governor of Minnesota, used to catapult himself from near obscurity to, now — or at least for the next few news cycles — a ubiquitous presence in the national conversation. He applied the word to Donald Trump, JD Vance, their movement, and, perhaps dangerously, their supporters.
But the selection of Walz is itself a little weird. He gives Harris something she might already have had: Minnesota’s 10 electoral votes. Democrats have won Minnesota in 14 of the 15 elections since John F. Kennedy ran in 1960.
On the bright side: Minnesota has within living memory provided two superb vice presidents, Hubert Humphrey (1965-1969) and Walter F. Mondale (1977-1981). It is worth noting that in both cases, these two Democrats, while serving as vice president, certified without hesitation the validity of the election of Republican presidential candidates. In the Humphrey case, he did so after a close election in which he was the losing candidate. Mondale did so in which he was the losing vice presidential candidate.
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Also: Walz is despised by Republicans in his own state, which may be an asset. He will be an excellent attack dog. And his political skills led a group of moderate House members who, only a month ago, worked hard to nudge Joe Biden out of the race to consider him one of the best replacements for Biden as the presidential nominee. So maybe not so weird after all.
The missed opportunity of Mark Kelly
By Marcela García
Vice President Kamala Harris missed a huge opportunity in passing over Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona as her running mate.
Kelly checks many of the boxes Democrats need to beat Donald Trump in November. His stellar background — he’s a former Navy pilot and a former NASA astronaut — would have brought celebrity-grade appeal to the ticket. And as the junior senator from a battleground state, he probably would have improved Harris’s chances to win Arizona, where polls say Trump is slightly ahead.
Crucially, Kelly would have given much-needed credibility to Harris and Democrats on what’s probably the most vexing policy issue of our time: the US-Mexico border. His balanced approach to border security and immigration policy — major vulnerabilities for most Democrats — would have surely been a big draw for independent voters.
It’s possible Harris was wary of potentially leaving a Senate seat in play by picking Kelly, which is a fair concern. And Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota is not a bad choice for Harris — he brings a relatable political persona to the race. But overlooking Kelly’s remarkable advantage on the border feels like a misstep, particularly because of the outsized role the migration crisis occupies in the minds of voters.
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Conservatives are convinced he’ll help Trump win
By Carine Hajjar
Conservatives seem united in calling Vice President Kamala Harris’s pick for a running mate, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, a gift to Trump — but often for very different reasons.
Anti-Trump conservative Alyssa Farah Griffin called the pick an “extraordinary missed opportunity.” She was apparently referring to Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, who was also on the short list and seen as having more appeal to moderate voters and the ability to quell concerns about an anti-Israel streak on the left. Rich Lowry, editor of the Trump-critical National Review, posted that Shapiro would have made Republicans “mumble and look at their shoes,” but Walz shows that “[Harris] wanted another left-winger” and has caved to the “influence of pro-Hamas left.”
On the pro-Trump side, Wisconsin GOP chair Brian Schimming released a statement saying the Democrats “have cast aside common sense to placate their extremist wing,” pointing to Walz’s record on immigration and the civil unrest after George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis in 2020. Karoline Leavitt, press secretary for the Trump campaign, wrote that “Tim Walz is a dangerously liberal extremist, and the Harris-Walz California dream is every American’s nightmare.”
From economics to immigration to policing to Israel, it seems that Walz may have given the Trump team more ammunition on their big campaign issues than Shapiro would have.
Vanilla: The taste of disappointment
By Rachelle G. Cohen
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OK, just color me disappointed. Sure, Vice President Kamala Harris was always going to go for a vanilla choice for veep, but Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota gives new meaning to bland — not charismatic, not telegenic, not even close to the youthful vibe of Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania or Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky. And sure it would be nice to grab Minnesota’s 10 electoral votes. But what’s that against the 19 votes that Pennsylvania might have added to Harris’s win column with its popular governor on the ticket?
What Walz, a member of the House from 2007 to 2019 did have was a lot of friends in Congress — many of them, like Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, willing to put in a good word for him. Again, not necessarily the image the Democratic Party needs at a time of national churn and anti-Washington sentiment.
The good news? Well, he is a governor now and governors have to actually get stuff done. There’s nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. That level of executive experience can come in handy — if he can help Harris return to the White House.
Joan Vennochi is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at joan.vennochi@globe.com. Follow her @joan_vennochi. Renée Graham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at renee.graham@globe.com. Follow her @reneeygraham. Rachelle G. Cohen is a Globe opinion writer. She can be reached at rachelle.cohen@globe.com. Marcela García is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at marcela.garcia@globe.com. Follow her on X @marcela_elisa and on Instagram @marcela_elisa. Carine Hajjar is a Globe Opinion writer. She can be reached at carine.hajjar@globe.com. David Shribman is a nationally syndicated columnist. He can be reached at dshribman@post-gazette.com.
