On August 6, then presumptive, now official Democratic nominee in the 2024 election, Kamala Harris, announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. Despite The New York Times (NYT) describing the selection process as a proxy war between progressive and moderate members of the party, the incumbent vice president's choice was met with praise by people from both groups. The Republicans, including former President and now candidate Donald Trump, ridiculed the choice, claiming Harris and Walz would represent the most "radical left" combination the United States political scene has ever seen. The public reaction was at the beginning somewhat mild due to Walz's relative anonymity on the national stage. So, who is the Democratic candidate for vice president?
Timothy James Walz was born on April 6, 1964, in West Point, Nebraska, to a homemaker mother and a teacher father, who served in the Korean Ware. Raised in the Cornhusker State, he moved to Texas and read East Asian studies at the University of Houston while simultaneously serving in the Texas Army National Guard. Walz was briefly a member of the Arkansas Army National Guard (ARARNG) before returning to Nebraska to graduate from Chadron State College with a bachelor's degree in social science. He worked as a teacher at Foshan No.1 High School in Guangdong, China, on a one-year exchange program, and then in Nebraska and Minnesota. In the meantime, he also became a school football coach and earned a master’s degree in educational leadership from Minnesota State University in Mankato. While working at Mankato West High School, he supervised the school's first gay-straight alliance.
Meanwhile, Walz also served in the National Guard divisions in Nebraska and Minnesota, and was a member of the 125th Field Artillery Regiment, becoming a command sergeant major. He was part of the team behind Operation Enduring Freedom against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban following the 9/11 attacks. Still, the fact that Walz was a non-commissioned officer who did not fight on a battlefield provided an excuse for a smear campaign against him by his opponents, including Trump and his running mate JD Vance, who accused him of “stolen valor.”
Walz officially entered politics when he ran for House Representative from Minnesota's 1st congressional district as an independent whose policies were described as closer to Republican than Democratic. Opposing to the Iraq War, he won the polling and entered the lower congressional chamber in 2007. He retained that position until 2019, when he became governor of Minnesota. During his time in the House, Walz served on the Committees on Agriculture, Veterans' Affairs, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Armed Services. He was also a member of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. In 2019, he became governor of Minnesota, with his tenure marked by events such as the murder of George Floyd, for which he demanded justice be served, and the legalization of cannabis in The North Star State.
When it comes to his policies, Walz supports a right to abortion, tighter rules for bearing firearms, workers' and LGBTQ+ rights, and programs for veteran mental health care. He sided with Israel after it was attacked by Hamas on October 7, 2023, while also criticizing that country for a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and even expressing sympathy and understanding for those protesting the United States' approach to the matter. Walz was also slammed by Trump and his supporters as Minnesota's answer to California Governor Gavin Newsom due to what some perceive as exceedingly liberal politics. On the other hand, the Harris-Walz campaign has been continuously receiving donations and endorsements. November 5 will show if the differences between the two sides are indeed that wide and if so, to which one the public will respond more.
