Ever since Joe Biden announced that he was ending his 2024 reelection campaign, the Democratic base has been newly energized, with perhaps no question looming larger than who would fill out the ticket alongside Vice President Harris.
Now, Harris has decided that she will be running with Minnesota governor Tim Walz.
“As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he’s delivered for working families like his,” she said of Walz in a statement posted to social media on Tuesday. “It’s great to have him on the team.”
The short list (at least measured by media buzz) was dynamic over the past few weeks. Prior possibilities included United States Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Arizona senator Mark Kelly, Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, Michigan senator Gary Peters, and Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro. (Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer and North Carolina’s Roy Cooper seemed likely candidates, too, before both of them stated that they were removing themselves from the running.)
The one thing that the Harris campaign has been clear about from the get-go: They are looking for someone ready to govern. (Trump, by contrast, in defending the choice of J.D. Vance, appeared to dismiss the importance of the VP pick last week, saying “historically, the vice president, in terms of the election, does not have any impact.”)
Below, everything you need to know about Tim Walz, including his core beliefs on the issues, legislative history, and how he became Harris’s running mate.
He has been in politics for almost 20 years
The 60-year-old Walz is currently chair of the Democratic Governors Association, but before being elected governor of Minnesota in 2018, he represented the state’s 1st Congressional District and—before that—served in the Army National Guard for 24 years (starting when he was 17). His first campaign, in 2006, was staffed primarily by former students, according to The New York Times.
He was a teacher for much of his career
Walz is also a former educator who taught social studies for 20 years before becoming a politician in Mankato, a small city south of Minneapolis. While he was a teacher, he was both a football coach and the faculty adviser for the Gay-Straight Alliance. Minnesota’s lieutenant governor, Peggy Flanagan, recently recounted hearing stories from former students who commended Walz’s classroom as a safe space for queer students.
He has a track record of progressive legislation
As governor, Walz has a strikingly progressive record, having overseen, among other things, the legalization of recreational marijuana in Minnesota, the implementation of universal background checks, the protection of gender-affirming services, legislation that enshrined abortion rights, and a plan for transitioning to clean energy.
Kids love him
A year ago, surrounded by Minnesota students, he signed a free-lunch bill into effect and was promptly hugged by the crowd, which seemed to delight and surprise him at the same time.
He came up with “These guys are just weird”
In a seemingly off-the-cuff quip, Walz became responsible for one of the most memorable attacks on the Republican Party this election cycle to date, calling them, simply, “weird” and birthing a million memes in the process.
He may help give an electoral edge in Midwestern states
Though Minnesota is not a battleground state (Richard Nixon was the last Republican presidential candidate that the state voted for), Walz is seen as someone who might help Harris with rural, working-class voters in the Midwest in particular. With 15 electoral votes, Michigan was part of the so-called blue wall for Biden in 2020 (along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin), and Democrats are no doubt hoping that Walz may help give them an edge in that state, where the polls currently have the two candidates almost tied.
Memories of the George Floyd protests could be a point of attack
The aftermath of the George Floyd protests—particularly instances in which the protest turned violent—is expected to be a point that the GOP raises in its attacks on Walz. Some have argued that Walz’s response to violence should have been faster and more muscular.
His wife is also a teacher
The governor is married to Gwen Walz, a longtime teacher who has held positions in public, alternative, and migrant schools and has also worked to bring educational opportunities to incarcerated people. They have two children, Hope and Gus.
Reproductive rights are personal for him, and he’s not afraid to talk about it
“I think old white men need to learn how to talk about this a little more,” Walz said on CNN this year. “And I think the biggest thing is, listen to women, listen to what they’re saying. We’ve seen that when we listen to them, they’re speaking loudly. They’re speaking at the ballot box.” The governor went on to underline that “abortion is health care.” Walz and his wife have also been open about their past use of fertility treatments after Alabama legislation shut down several IVF clinics in that state earlier this year.
This piece has been updated.
