LAST UPDATE | 6 Aug

KAMALA HARRIS has chosen Tim Walz to be her running mate for the US presidential election.

The 60-year-old Minnesota governor is a retired teacher and non-commissioned US army officer – and now possibly the next Vice President of the United States.

Harris has said she is “proud” to have Walz as her running mate. 

“As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he’s delivered for working families like his. It’s great to have him on the team,” Harris said on X.

I am proud to announce that I've asked @Tim_Walz to be my running mate.

As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he's delivered for working families like his.

It's great to have him on the team.

Now let’s get to work. Join us:https://t.co/W4AE2WlMTj

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 6, 2024

It had been all but certain that Harris would choose a white man as her running mate in order to “balance the ticket” and Walz’s Midwestern background also contrasts with Harris’ coastal hometown of San Francisco.

The Midwest region includes some key battleground states like Michigan and Wisconsin, which the Democrats took back from Donald Trump in 2020. Trump has focussed a lot of his attention on those two states but also on Walz’s Minnesota. 

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, who was the other widely reported contender for the running mate role, is the one to lose out with today’s announcement.

Tonight Harris will make her first public appearance since officially becoming the Democratic party’s nominee.

Walz, a former National Guard officer who exudes folksy charm, would bring a rural Midwestern perspective to the ticket but is seen as being from the liberal wing of the party.

He has recently touted his state’s child tax credit policies and also introduced a popular school meal programme. 

As governor, Walz has also signed bills legalising cannabis, increasing worker protections and rights like paid sick leave, and expanding background checks for gun purchases.

He describes his refusal-to-be-categorised political persona with typically Minnesotan straightforwardness.

“I just am who I am,” he recently told reporters.

In recent weeks, Walz has been making a name for himself as one of the Democrats’ most effective communicators, with his criticism of Trump and running mate JD Vance as “weird” gaining enormous traction.

Gov. Walz on trail stumping for Harris. Posting a few of his remarks that stuck out to me.

"These guys are just weird," he said before calling Trump/Vance "a threat to democracy" who will put people in danger. He said Trump is going to have his "ass handed to him" in Minnesota. pic.twitter.com/BcHYSFKFxX

— Eva McKend (@evamckend) July 28, 2024

At a recent campaign event, Walz labelled Trump and Vance as “fascists” and “bullies”.

“But we’re not afraid of weird people. We’re a little bit creeped out but we’re not afraid,” he said. 

During a fundraiser for Harris on Monday in Minneapolis, Walz said: “It wasn’t a slur to call these guys weird. It was an observation.”

Walz, who grew up in the small town of West Point, Nebraska, was a social studies teacher, football coach and union member at Mankato West High School in Minnesota before he got into politics.

He won the first of six terms in Congress in 2006 from a mostly rural southern Minnesota district, and used the office to champion veterans issues.

Walz served 24 years in the Army National Guard, rising to command sergeant major, one of the highest enlisted ranks in the military.

Reaction

Donald Trump’s campaign has slammed Walz as a left-wing radical since the news broke of his selection as Harris’ running mate. 

“If Walz won’t tell voters the truth, we will: just like Kamala Harris, Tim Walz is a dangerously liberal extremist,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s campaign press secretary said in a statement.

The United Auto Workers union has heaped praise on Walz since the announcement, saying he “doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk”.

Tim Walz doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk. From delivering for working-class Americans to standing with the UAW on our picket line last year, we know which side he’s on. That’s why we’re going to send@KamalaHarris and @Tim_Walz to the White House this November. pic.twitter.com/uALOPL9LOJ

— UAW (@UAW) August 6, 2024

Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has also thrown her support behind “our next Vice President”. As has independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who ran as a candidate for the Democratic nomination in 2016. 

In a post on X, Sander described Walz as “a great asset” to Harris’ campaign.  

With reporting from AFP, Press Association and Mairead Maguire