When you have a blank page in front of you, you can fill it with anything. A poem, a work of art, or a blot. In politics, Vice President Kamala Harris’s new number two on the Democratic ticket in the US elections, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, is a blank page: a complete unknown to 71% of voters. The campaigns of both parties have immediately launched an attack to fill this blank: the Democrats, to present him as a former professor, an ordinary man full of common sense; the Republicans, perceiving an opportunity to, by portraying him as a dangerous radical, regain the initiative lost with Harris’ entry into the race.
Democratic candidates headed out to their first rallies in the Midwest, the rural America from which Walz hails, on Wednesday in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Detroit, Michigan. It was the first test of whether the governor’s traditional roots, veteran record and sarcastic personality will attract voters as his campaign hopes, especially among non-urban white men who are flocking to Republican Donald Trump.
At both meetings, the electoral couple received an enthusiastic response from an audience of more than ten thousand people. Both played up those credentials, as they had done at their introductory rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. Both recalled that Walz had represented as a congressman for 12 years a district in Minnesota that until then had voted staunchly Republican.
As the vice president and her number two began their trip, Republican vice presidential hopeful JD Vance also spoke in Eau Claire, accusing the vice president of “bowing down” to the progressive Democratic wing by choosing Walz on Tuesday in Philadelphia and questioning his rival’s military record on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Trump called his favorite television network, Fox News, to declare himself “delighted” that Harris had chosen the governor and to attack the former high school teacher with the arguments that his campaign repeats. urbi et orbe: that Harris has made a mistake with this “shocking selection” of a radical progressive who is only “a slightly smarter version of herself.” They are, she added on her social network, “the most radical electoral couple in history.”
From the white smoke On Tuesday, Republicans have pounced on what they describe as the Minnesota governor’s fixation with the rights of transgender minors: during his tenure, that state has declared itself a refuge for transgender people. They also criticise him for the state issuing driving licences to illegal immigrants. Or the delay in sending the National Guard during the serious riots in the city of Minneapolis following the death of George Floyd, an African-American citizen, at the hands of white police officers in 2020. Although this last attack seems to have been neutralised with the publication of a recording from that time in which Trump, in a telephone call with governors, praises Walz’s management in that episode.
Unforced error
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In doing so, they are trying to define Walz as the first major unforced error of Harris’ campaign and a preview of what her government program could be. “It’s the Dumb and Dumber team,” the number three Republican in the House of Representatives, Tom Emmet, also from Minnesota, told the political digital NOTUS. “He is totally incompetent. Under his leadership, taxes have skyrocketed, violent crime in Minnesota is breaking records, and resident families are much worse off than before he arrived. This is consistent with Kamala Harris.”
Walz had not been in the early Democratic race for vice president. At 60, he had no ambitions to go any further and considered himself on his way out of politics. But his description of the rival campaign — “they’re weird” — in a televised interview went viral within the party ranks and put him on the radar. A thorough review by the team charged with vetting the candidates placed him on the shortlist last Friday, alongside Arizona senator and former astronaut Mark Kelly and the last finalist, the charismatic 51-year-old Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, one of the biggest rising Democratic stars.
All three, the reports concluded, could help Harris win. Kelly was backed by donors; Shapiro by much of the vote. establishmentDemocrat Walz, the unions and her former colleagues in Congress, including influential former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The final decision was left to the vice president.
Harris spent Saturday reviewing the reports with her advisers in a long series of sessions at her National Observatory residence in northwest Washington. The conclusion remained the same: all three were excellent, each with different strengths and weaknesses. Shapiro could bring votes in Pennsylvania, the key swing state in the race. Kelly had a very compelling personal story and votes in the border states.
Walz perfectly complemented Kamala’s profile: half black, half Indian, daughter of academic parents, raised in progressive California and married to a wealthy Jewish lawyer. Her experience in Congress, where she gained a reputation for building bridges with both sides, made up for Harris’s brief time in the Senate, lasting just two years.
The vice president summoned the three separately on Sunday to her residence. By then, the consensus among the team was that Kelly — criticized by unions for his stances on workers’ rights and lacking the magnetism of his rivals — would only be chosen if none of the other two shone in their interviews.
The presidential candidate reiterated what she had already told her team during her two weeks as Joe Biden’s replacement at the head of the ticket. She wanted a partner who would help her win the elections. But, above all, someone who could be a government partner, contributing ideas and management, but without overshadowing. And that there would be harmony between the two.
Walz, with whom Harris had not had a special relationship until now other than as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, passed the litmus test. His straightforward, humorous way of speaking pleased the vice president. She also appreciated his idea of defending Democratic achievements, rather than Republican failures. And, above all, he won over her from the start with his declaration of his willingness to be a member of the team, with no inclination to one day occupy the Oval Office.
The conversation with Shapiro did not flow so well. Harris, as some of her advisers have explained to the American media on condition of anonymity, wanted a team player. Someone who would stick to the discreet role that she herself played during Biden’s term. Someone who would not overshadow him or become a power that was real, like Dick Cheney in the George W. Bush administration.
Shapiro, who has been compared to “a white Obama” for his brilliant oratory and charisma, is not such a man. He had made his ambition clear throughout the process. And the pressure from his supporters, which led Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker to briefly post a supportive video last Friday before removing it, backfired. Both, according to reports, agreed it was best to leave things as they were. He called the vice president’s team to admit that he was having a hard time leaving the governor’s post.
“After the interviews were over, it was clear that she was leaning toward Walz for a number of reasons. Likely, rapport was chief among them,” a person close to the vice president told NOTUS. “He was authentic. He was genuine. He was willing to participate in any capacity, even if it wasn’t as vice president.”
So far, Walz’s selection has received an avalanche of praise from the Democratic hierarchy, in press releases, and from the party’s rank and file, on social media. One factor is decisive in gauging his popularity among supporters: money. According to the campaign, more than $36 million has been raised in the 24 hours since the announcement that he will be number two. Now it remains to be seen what impact the former professor will have on the polls.
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