Vice President Kamala HarrisThe Democratic presidential nominee on Tuesday named Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her vice-presidential running mate as she faces off against former President Trump in the 2024 election, according to the Associated Press.
The nomination of Walz, 60, was not a surprise, as Harris had been under immediate consideration over the past two weeks since she replaced President Biden as the party’s flag-bearer.
Walz, 60, is a former congressman serving his second term. Governor of MinnesotaIt’s a state where Democrats have won reliable presidential elections for decades, but the Trump campaign is aiming to reverse the cycle.
Putting the outspoken Walz on the national ticket would not only help Harris in Minnesota, it would also benefit the vice president in two neighboring Midwestern battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan.
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Vice President Kamala Harris has named Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her vice presidential running mate on the Democratic Party’s 2024 ticket. (Getty Images)
Walz, Chairman Democratic Governors AssociationHe could also help Harris with campaign cash, as he helped the DGA raise record-breaking funds this year.
The governor will also be able to tout progressive policy wins in Minnesota, including protecting abortion rights, legalizing marijuana for recreational use and restricting gun access to curb shootings.
Raised in rural Nebraska, Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1981, shortly after graduating from high school.
Walz returned to Nebraska to study at Chadron State College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in social science education in 1989.
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He taught English and American history in China for a year as part of a program at Harvard University, then was hired as a high school teacher and football and basketball coach in Nebraska in 1990. Six years later, he moved to Mankato, Minnesota, where he taught geography at Mankato West High School.
Waltz deployed to Italy in 2003 to support Operation Enduring Freedom, and retired from the National Guard two years later as a command sergeant major.
He was elected to the House in 2006 and re-elected five times, representing Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, a mostly rural district covering the southern part of the state that includes several medium-sized cities. During his last two years on Capitol Hill, he served as ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee.
Walz won the governor’s election in 2018 and won reelection four years later.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks at a news conference for the Biden-Harris campaign during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Joe Lamberti)
Walz’s name was announced following a virtual roll call by the Democratic National Committee to formally nominate Harris as the party’s presidential nominee.
The DNC announced Friday that Harris has officially clinched the 2024 presidential nomination after winning a majority of delegate votes at the Democrats’ upcoming national convention.
The DNC’s electronic voting for their party’s 2024 flagbearer begins in less than two weeks Biden makes a blockbuster announcementended his re-election campaign and endorsed his vice president to be his successor at the top of the ticket.
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Biden’s disappointing performance against Trump in a debate held in Atlanta in late June raised questions about his physical and mental abilities to serve four more years in the White House.
This led to calls even from within his own party that the 81-year-old president should end his bid for a second term in the White House.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign rally in Atlanta on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Biden’s immediate endorsement of Harris sparked a surge of support for the vice president from Democratic governors, senators, House members and other party leaders and bigwigs. Within 36 hours, Harris announced she had secured her party’s nomination by garnering the verbal support of a majority of the nearly 4,700 convention delegates.
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Harris is expected to be formally declared the party’s nominee after the virtual nomination process ends at 6 p.m. on Monday.
According to DNC rules, the vice president will be allowed to submit the name of his or her running mate for nomination. According to the DNC, the convention chairman will declare that candidate the party’s vice presidential nominee.
Harris and Walz will launch their campaign in all seven crucial battleground states with an event in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
