New Delhi: On Tuesday, US Vice President Kamala Harris announced Army veteran and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate for the 2024 presidential elections, in a move that appeared to be geared towards consolidating the White vote.
Born in a small town in rural Nebraska, the 60-year-old Walz joined the Army National Guard after graduation. He retired as a command sergeant major in 2005 and was elected to the US House of Representatives from a Republican-leaning district. After 12 years in Congress, he won the election to become the governor of Minnesota for the first time in 2018. He was re-elected in 2022 with 52 percent of the vote, and is currently serving his second term.
An “accidental politician”, Walz was introduced to politics when he was driven out of a rally for former US president George Bush for defending someone who was sporting Bush’s rival John Kerry’s campaign sticker. He then joined the campaign for Democratic nominee Kerry, giving impetus to his political career. He never planned to “run for Congress”, but believed he was prepared for it, The Hill reported. A high school football coach and teacher at the Mankato West High School, Walz spent a year teaching abroad in China through a programme at Harvard University.
During Walz’s time as Minnesota governor, there was a strong focus on welfare in the state with the expansion of paid leave for workers, tax cuts for the middle class and free meals for students. He worked to protect reproductive freedoms and voting rights and pushed for cleaner electricity in the state. Walz, in his first term as governor, dealt with a Democratic-controlled House and a Republican-led Senate in a historically divided state. However, during his second term, the democrats were able to take control of both chambers, allowing them to push for abortion rights, trans rights, the legalisation of marijuana, paid family leave and medical leave programmes.
Walz’s tenures have not been without controversies. He was criticised for his response to the protests over police brutality that followed the killing of George Floyd. His tenure was also tainted by the Feeding Our Future scandal, when 70 people were charged with defrauding federal food programmes funding meals for children during the pandemic.
A ‘unicorn’ campaigner
Walz has shown an ability to balance issues where, as a campaigner, he has expressed opposition to bans on same-sex marriages and abortion, while still being able to secure endorsement by the National Rifle Association (NRA) for his support of gun rights.
He is seen as a “unicorn” – a Midwestern politician who can connect with the largely White, rural voters, and, at the same time, advance the Democratic progressive agenda. Walz’s Minnesota also neighbours Wisconsin and Michigan, two states Democrats believe are crucial to their victory in the elections on 5 November.
Walz has often been a “surrogate” for Biden-Harris, appearing on their behalf on national television. He is also the chair of the Democratic Governors Association and could help bring in funds for the Harris campaign.
Relatively unknown on the national stage, Walz became a contender for the VP position after he called Republicans “weird” on a group chat with former and current members of Congress last month, NBC News reported. In interviews, he has claimed that Republican candidate Donald Trump and his VP candidate J.D. Vance would “take books away” and “be in your exam room”, referring to the Republicans’ approach to education and reproductive rights. Walz has also attacked them on their references to the middle class. “They keep talking about the middle class. A robber baron real estate guy and a venture capitalist trying to tell us they understand who we are? They don’t know who we are,” Walz said in an MSNBC interview.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
Also read: Trump escalates race attack on Kamala Harris, shares photo of her in sari in fresh potshot