VICE President Kamala Harris had just 16 days to pick someone she could be linked to forever. She ended up going with one of the options that she — and the rest of the world — knew the least.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was a dark horse from the start, left off early lists of potential running mates. But no one used the 16 days since President Joe Biden stepped aside more effectively than Walz, who charmed Harris and national Democrats alike with a Diet Mountain Dew-fueled media tour that labeled the opposition as “weird” and won him a spot in history.
The choice will leave an indelible imprint on the image of Harris that is still forming for many Americans, who know her far less than they do Biden or former President Donald Trump, raising the stakes of a choice that can be difficult in the best of times, let alone under unprecedented time pressure.
In Walz, a gun-owning hunter who enlisted in the Army National Guard at 17, Harris sees a loyal governing partner who complements her background. The governor does not typically use a teleprompter, so had to practice with one Tuesday before his big speech at his debut rally in Philadelphia.
Harris did not know any of the candidates very well just three weeks ago. But after she whittled down her final list to Walz, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., and held in-person interviews with them Sunday, Harris concluded she had the best personal rapport with Walz and was convinced that he would have her back and not let his personal ambitions get in the way.
Harris and Walz had met only a handful of times, most notably when she visited a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Paul in March.
But Harris and her team were watching as the candidates auditioned, in a way, through appearances on TV and the stump, and they were impressed as Walz became an overnight sensation by labeling Republican JD Vance as “weird” the day after Trump chose him.
The word showed up in a campaign news release two days after Walz used it, and then, a few days later, Harris herself used it at a fundraiser in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts, and it became widely used across the party.
“Shapiro looks and talks like the next Obama, which is what a lot of folks were excited about,” said Caitlin Legacki, a veteran strategist who has worked with moderate and Midwest Democrats.“Walz looks and talks like [Sen.] Jon Tester [of Montana], which gives us running room in suburban, exurban and maybe even rural places.”
On Capitol Hill, Minnesota Democrats began pitching him to reporters and colleagues — before realizing that no one had given Walz a heads-up about the effort.
“I had to call Tim, because I hadn’t actually talked to him about whether he might want to be VP or not,” Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., said. “So, kind of got the cart before the horse. … It truly happened organically.”
And for Democrats concerned about Muslim and Arab voters, especially in Michigan, Walz’s history winning a state with a large Muslim community is a relief.
