Who is Tim Walz, whom Kamala Harris chose as her vice presidential candidate?

Incumbent Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate for the White House. The 60-year-old Democrat and Army veteran will compete for the post of vice president. Ordinary Americans know little about Walz, but he is known in his state as an ardent liberal. Edition TCN has compiled five facts about the presumptive Democratic vice presidential nominee. It looks like Harris' decision was politically ideal: Walz will attract voters who are difficult for Harris to reach. He also has experience working effectively with a divided parliament.

Photo: Jhansen2/Dreamstime.com

Coming from a rural area

Among politicians it is difficult to find a more prominent representative of the American heartland than Walz. He was born in West Point, Nebraska, a community of about 3500 people. Walz joined the Army National Guard and later became a teacher in Nebraska.

He and his wife moved to Mankato in southern Minnesota in the 1990s. There he taught social studies and was a football coach at Mankato West High School.

Walz served 24 years in the National Guard and retired from a field artillery battalion in 2005 as a staff sergeant, one of the highest ranks in the Guard.

Liberal Walz knows how to connect with conservative voters

In his first race for Congress, Walz defeated Republican Gil Gutknecht, who had won the district six times in a row. It was 6, in a rural county in southern Minnesota. Walz took advantage of voters' anger at then-President George W. Bush and the Iraq War. He linked a Republican president to a Republican candidate and convinced voters they should vote for a freshman Democrat.

On the subject: Harris vs Trump: what voter polls show

During his six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, Walz championed veterans' interests. He has captivated Americans with his simpleton and boyfriend charisma, especially through social media video posts of his daughter Hope. They make videos about their adventures at fairs and street food, go on rides, in general, live the life of an ordinary American family, and do not hide behind the sleek façade of an ideal politician.

My daughter, Hope, tricked me into doing the most extreme ride at the Minnesota State Fair. pic.twitter.com/YeMEocwJRv

- Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) September 4, 2023

Democrats routinely lose to Republicans in rural districts, and a "simple" Walz with rural roots can correct that, at least partially.

Walz (and therefore Harris) will likely be supported by voters in key Midwestern states

Walz is the governor of Minnesota, meaning this state will remain with the Democrats in the upcoming elections. This is important because presidential candidate Donald Trump called Minnesota a swing state this year. It's hard to say what he based this assumption on, since the state hasn't elected a Republican to statewide office since 2006. And a Republican presidential candidate hasn't won Minnesota since President Richard Nixon won in 1972. But Trump conducted polls and met with people, so his assessments most likely have some basis.

Right next to Minnesota are the key states in this presidential election: Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Both sides believe they need to win these regions to win the election.

Walz knows the region, has a point of view and talks a lot about the issues that matter to voters in the Rust Belt. He was a champion of democratic causes, including labor organizing, workers' rights and a $15-an-hour minimum wage.

Walz successfully handled a divided parliament

In his first term as Minnesota governor, Walz faced a split state legislature between the Democratic-led House of Representatives and the Republican-controlled Senate. But he and lawmakers reached compromises that kept the state's divided government functioning productively.

Party rivalries became more intense in Walz's second year as governor. He used the governor's emergency powers during the COVID-19 pandemic to close businesses and schools. Republicans have pushed back, forcing some agency heads to resign and criticizing the mandatory vaccination requirement.

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But voters liked Walz's approach better - in the post-pandemic elections, he defeated Republican Scott Jensen, a doctor known throughout the country for his skepticism about vaccination. Democrats gained control of both state legislative chambers, clearing the way for a more liberal course in state government. Walz and lawmakers repealed nearly all past Republican abortion restrictions, protected gender-affirming care for transgender youth and legalized recreational marijuana use.

Walz has an instinct for how to make a statement scandalous without going overboard.

In an MSNBC interview last month, Walz called Republican nominee Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance "just weird." The down-to-earth eloquence of this phrase appealed to many. The Democratic Governors Association, which Walz heads, echoed the idea in a post on X. Walz later repeated the characterization on CNN, citing Trump's repeated references in public speeches to the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter from the film "The Silence of the Lambs." And now all the media have started making compilations about why Trump talks so often about a serial killer.

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