PHILADELPHIA − With her surprise choice of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris made a direct play to the Democratic base − not the electoral map − while betting that his plainspoken style will appeal to working-class voters in the Midwest.
In a rapid-fire search for vice president, Harris picked Walz, a folksy, often jovial 60-year-old former schoolteacher and congressman who emerged as the top choice among progressives and union allies.
Walz and his common-man persona got the nod over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, 51, whose popularly in his home state made him a strong option to help deliver what is widely seen as the most important battleground state of the election.
Throughout the 16-day vice presidential selection process, Shapiro was seen as the betting favorite and the stage was literally set for a hometown pick, with Harris holding a rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday night to debut her selection. But momentum for Walz built in recent days from the left while progressive activists raised concerns about Shapiro's stance on Israel. Shapiro's defenders argued he was unfairly singled out because he is Jewish.
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Taking her decision to the buzzer Tuesday, Harris opted for a governor who has pushed through liberal policies in Minnesota such as strengthening gun control, expanding paid family and medical leave for Minnesota workers and providing universal free meals for public school students.
A source close to the selection process said Harris was drawn to Walz's executive experience and record, her strong personal rapport with Walz and his Midwest roots and biography − a former high school football coach, hunter and gun owner, a veteran who served in the National Guard for 24 years and his connection with rural voters. As a congressman, Walz won in a district that Donald Trump, the former president and current Republican presidential nominee, carried.
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Perhaps most significant, according to allies with firsthand knowledge of Harris' thinking, the campaign sees Walz as an effective communicator to take on Trump. Walz, chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, coined the newfound attack line that Trump and Republicans are "weird" − a message that Harris quickly adopted − in a shift from President Joe Biden's framing of Trump as a threat to democracy.
"He is incredibly dynamic. He is a fierce but happy warrior," said Maria Cardona, a Democratic strategist and Democratic National Committee member, arguing he's a messenger for working-class voters who have drifted from the Democratic column.
"He has something about him that really speaks to a lot of the voters, frankly, that the Democratic Party lost to Trump in 2016 − a lot of the same voters that Joe Biden was able to reach out to. But I think Governor Walz will be able to do that and more," Cardona said.
Shapiro's criticism from Democrats made for a riskier pick
Harris was officially named the Democratic nominee for president late Monday after a virtual roll-call DNC vote. Walz is expected to be a frequent Harris campaigner in his neighboring Wisconsin and Michigan, as well as Pennsylvania, which together make up the "blue wall" in Democrats' path for 270 electoral votes.
Others in the hunt for vice president were Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Harris, whose campaign kept deliberations close to the vest until the end, announced Walz's selection by text message to supporters Tuesday morning, calling him a "a battle-tested leader who has an incredible track record of getting things done for Minnesota families."
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The public jostling to be Harris' running mate exposed a struggle within the Democratic Party between the left wing that wanted Walz and others who argued the party should make an appeal to moderates and the crucial state of Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes by choosing Shapiro, a second-year governor and former state attorney general.
Shapiro attracted criticism from some Democrats because of concerns about how he would approach the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Like most Democratic officeholders, Shapiro has criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but supported the war against Hamas. Drawing additional pushback from the left was Shapiro's support for school vouchers that allow public money to go toward private schools.
A source familiar with the vetting process said the final decision didn't reflect shortcomings with Shapiro but rather Walz's strengths.
Yet also working against Shapiro was lobbying from fellow Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who according to reporting from Politico raised concerns with the Harris campaign that Shapiro is excessively focused on his own personal ambition.
In the end, Walz became the choice more likely to excite, not agitate, the Democratic base, even if he doesn't hail from a swing state like Shapiro.
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"There's more considerations than just electoral ones," said William Howell, a University of Chicago political scientist, adding it was striking that Shapiro "made it this far" given his diverging viewpoints with Democrats in several areas.
Howell said the folksy optimism and progressive credentials of Walz contrasts starkly "with what's going on in the Republican Party, where there's a lot of alarmism and a lot of talk about how the bottom is falling out of the country, a lot of grievance, a lot of anger."
Yet Harris' calculus also opened attacks for Trump and Republicans.
Brad Todd, a Republican campaign strategist, said he expects the Trump campaign and Republicans to seize on "the fact that the far-left pro-Hamas wing of the Democrat Party commandeered this VP selection."
"Harris needs to win Pennsylvania more than she needs to win any other state, and she chose to not pick the most popular Democrat in that state because she's scared of offending campus protesters who support Hamas," Todd said. "That's a pretty big lesson in her fortitude. Even with her own political survival at stake, she couldn't stand up to the most extreme wing of the Democratic Party."
Republicans sharpen attacks on Walz's progressive record
As governor, Walz also signed into law protections for abortion access and legalizing marijuana. Republicans quickly pounced on Walz's liberal record as governor and his response to the protests in Minneapolis after the killing of George Floyd in 2020.
"By choosing Walz, Harris has doubled down on her radical vision to skyrocket prices, open the southern border to criminal aliens and drug cartels, and release murderers and rapists into our communities," said Brian Hughes, a senior adviser for the Trump campaign.
But Cardona pushed back on the notion that a Harris-Walz ticket will isolate more moderate voters or independents because it will be too progressive a ticket.
“They absolutely will try to paint him as a liberal, but it's not going to fly. It's going to land flat,” she said. “It's going to have no credibility, because the policies that he was able to pass in Minnesota, that he passed it by one-seat majority there, were incredibly popular in Minnesota.”
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Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO of the liberal advoacy group Reproductive Freedom for All, praised Walz in an interview with USA TODAY as “a different kind of elected official.” When she was a chief of staff for a freshman congressional member, Timmaraju said, she worked closely with Walz, when he was a congressman, and his team.
“I don't know anyone who has a bad story about Tim Walz, which is saying something for the length of his political career,” she said.
Timmaraju said Walz will contrast with Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, in terms of reproductive freedoms and what it looks like to have a family in the United States. She criticized Vance’s remarks about some Democrats being “childless cat ladies” as “derogatory and negative about different types of families.”
Walz “wants to make sure all families are respected,” she said. “And he's kind. It's really stark difference between parties and characters as well. JD Vance thinks there's one way to have a family, and Tim Walz understands that that's just not the case of this country anymore."
Overall, top Democrats believe Walz can help elevate Harris' message to voters.
Kiki McLean, a veteran Democratic political strategist who worked on campaigns for Bill and Hillary Clinton, said vice presidential picks are there to amplify the presidential nominee’s message and be their partner in winning.
"You have to trust the judgment of the person who's going to be your closest counsel," McLean said. "You have to have looked at their record and recognized and learned about them, and she clearly has done that."
Contributing: Riley Beggin. Reach Joey Garrison on X, formerly Twitter, @joeygarrison.
