Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was formally introduced as Harris’ VP choose on Tuesday
Democratic Presidential nominee Kamala Harris has introduced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her working mate in her bid for the White Home later this 12 months.
Walz, a former instructor and a military veteran, emerged as a vice-presidential frontrunner in current days, regardless of not being a family title for many Individuals. Following the announcement, the Minnesota governor stated it was the “honor of a lifetime” to be chosen by Harris.
Right here’s a more in-depth take a look at the Democrats’ alternative for vice chairman.
Who’s Tim Walz?
The 60-year-old Nebraska-born governor graduated from Chadron State School in 1989.
He served in Congress between 2007 and 2019, was elected as Minnesota governor in 2019 and re-elected in 2022, giving him each legislative and govt expertise. He presently chairs the Democratic Governors Affiliation.
Whereas in Congress, Walz represented a conservative-leaning rural district that has sometimes been dominated by Republicans.
Walz joined the Military Nationwide Guard on the age of 17 and served for twenty-four years.
Earlier than working for Congress, he labored as a college instructor on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the place he met his spouse Gwen, with whom he has two kids. He then taught for a short while in China and later as a high-school instructor in Minnesota.
Walz has stated he entered politics by becoming a member of Massachusetts Senator John Kerry’s 2004 presidential marketing campaign as a volunteer. In keeping with himself, he joined after initially going to a marketing campaign rally for then-president George W Bush, the place considered one of his buddies was turned away for carrying a Kerry sitcker.
Walz’s political file
The Minnesota governor has been praised by some progressives for with the ability to push for some left-wing priorities in a swing state.
He has lengthy been a supporter of LGBTQ+ rights, in response to the Human Rights Marketing campaign. As early because the Nineties, he was a school adviser to his college’s Homosexual-Straight Alliance. He supported same-sex marriage throughout his marketing campaign for congress in 2006 in a conservative district. He has additionally signed an govt order banning homosexual “conversion remedy” for minors and signed legal guidelines offering protections for gender-affirming healthcare.
In recent times, Walz has supported packages to cowl faculty tuition for low-income college students, in addition to free breakfast and lunch packages at public faculties. He legalized leisure marijuana for adults in Minnesota and expanded employee protections. He’s additionally seen as a robust defender of abortion rights.
On overseas coverage, he supported funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has advocated for funding Ukraine in its battle with Russia.
As soon as an avid hunter and backed by the highly effective Nationwide Rifle Affiliation, Walz over time has modified his stance on gun security, enacting stricter gun violence prevention legal guidelines.
Why Harris picked Walz
Presidential candidates usually go for a working mate from a swing state within the hopes of pulling in as many citizens as attainable. Walz is an interesting alternative for Harris in that regard, along with his historical past of serving a conservative-leaning district and expertise working throughout the aisle with each Democrats and Republicans. A supply near the choice course of informed USA At this time that Harris was drawn to Walz’s govt expertise and progressive file.
Whereas he isn’t from one of many essential swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan or Pennsylvania, he’s nonetheless from neighboring Minnesota, which Democrats might want to preserve blue in November.
The Harris marketing campaign additionally reportedly sees Walz as an efficient communicator, with the flexibility to tackle the Trump marketing campaign, notably after he coined the Democrats’ now-viral assault line that Republicans are “bizarre.”
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