It's not Donald Trump's birthday but Kamala Harris just gave the former president a gift. Harris chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her vice presidential running mate in November.
I am absolutely sure that Harris would have preferred to choose Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. But Shapiro has a "Jewish problem" that many Democrats just couldn't stomach. And when it became known that he volunteered for the Israeli army when he was younger, it sealed his doom.
Shapiro would have made the capture of Pennsylvania an uphill climb for Trump and the Republicans. He's very popular in the state with both Democrats and Republicans, and he would have forced Trump to pour a lot more resources into the state than he would have preferred.
Winning Pennsylvania is still no cakewalk, but Trump has a better shot with Walz as the vice presidential candidate.
Walz is a safe pick. He was elected to Congress in 2006 and elected governor in 2018. Although for most of his political career, he was seen as a "moderate" Democrat, something switched on in his head when he was re-elected in 2022. He got a slew of radical progressive legislation passed that gives the lie to the idea he is anything but a far-left Democrat.
As governor, some of Walz’ political accomplishments include ensuring tuition-free meals at participating state universities, enshrining abortion rights into state law, banning conversion therapy and providing protections for gender-affirming healthcare—Walz recently defended those measures against right-wing criticism in a CNN interview earlier this month, joking: “What a monster! Kids are eating and having full bellies so they can go learn and women are making their own healthcare decisions.”
Walz also signed a bill last May expanding voting rights in Minnesota for an estimated 55,000 formerly incarcerated residents, and in 2020, oversaw the state’s response to both the COVID-19 pandemic and police brutality protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police, though he faced criticism from state Republicans over his delayed response to protests following Floyd’s killing.
Walz's response to the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent unrest is telling. After two days of protests that were turning increasingly violent, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey begged Walz to call out the National Guard. A few hours later, chief of police Medaria Arradondo submitted a written request for 600 troops.
But it wasn't until the following afternoon that Walz signed an executive order allowing the Guard to assist cities.
“It was obvious to me that he froze under pressure, under a calamity, as people’s properties were being burned down,” said GOP State Sen. Warren Limmer. Senator Limmer chaired a committee that investigated Walz's response to the unrest.
Related: I See Dead People: Ohio Culls 155,000 Names on Voter Rolls in Advance of November Election
Some observers suggested that Walz delayed a strong response because he was personally sympathetic to the protesters.
“Governor Walz had the ability and duty to use force and law enforcement to stop criminal violence, but he did not,” said a 2020 Minnesota Senate report on the riots. “Governor Walz was not willing to do what was necessary to stop the rioting right away because he was having a philosophical debate about whether the use of force should be used to stop violence.”
The cost in lives and property damage was immense.
In the end, according to a state legislative report, more than 1,500 businesses and buildings burned, including a Minneapolis Police station, with an estimated $500 million in property damage statewide. Many police officers and protesters were injured, and at least three deaths were linked to the unrest. Some aspects of the state response will never be known: A Minnesota State Patrol major testified in 2021 that troopers deleted text messages and emails shortly after the protests.
Still, Walz was the safest pick Harris had in front of her. If Democrats were hoping for an exciting vice presidential candidate, they got off at the wrong station.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member