The Running Mate to Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris is quoted as having said after Walz’s nomination: "I’m pleased to share that I’ve made my decision: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will join our campaign as my running mate immediately."

by Victor Cherubim

Vice President Kamala Harris is officially the 2024 Democratic Presidential nominee, making U.S. history as the first Black Asian American (BAA) to reach this position on Friday, 2 August 2024, with 2,350 of her party’s delegates voting for her.

After four anxious days of the selection process, with five candidates among them governors and senators, and the public in a guessing game, she named Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. Walz, a former congressman and a second-term governor in a state that Democrats have reliably won, is also the serving President of the Democratic Governors’ Association, boasting an impressive track record.

Vice President Kamala Harris [Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images]

Remember, the State of Minnesota in the Mid-West U.S. is not one of her contender Donald Trump’s most favoured states, nor was Governor Walz the front runner for nomination as Veep. The front runner was the youthful Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania.

Kamala Harris is quoted as having said after Walz’s nomination: “I’m pleased to share that I’ve made my decision: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will join our campaign as my running mate immediately.”

Harris said in a statement later on 6 August 2024: “Tim is a battle-tested leader who has an incredible track record of getting things done for Minnesota families. I know that he will bring that same principled leadership to our campaign and to the office of the vice president.”

Harris continued: “One of the things that stood out to me about Tim is how his convictions on fighting for middle-class families run deep. It’s personal,” she said. “He grew up in a small town in Nebraska, spending summers working on his family’s farm. His father died of cancer when he was 19, and his family relied on Social Security survivor benefit checks to make ends meet. At 17, he enlisted in the National Guard, serving for 24 years. He used his GI Bill benefits to go to college and become a teacher. He served as both the football coach and the advisor of the Gay-Straight Alliance.”

Harris further said she wanted to share his background “both because it’s impressive in its own right, and because you see in no uncertain terms how it informs his record.”

“He worked with Republicans to pass infrastructure investments. He cut taxes for working families. He passed a law to provide paid family and medical leave to Minnesotan families. He made Minnesota the first state in the country to pass a law providing constitutional abortion protections after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and as an avid hunter, he passed a bill requiring universal background checks for gun purchases,” she continued.

But Harris said what “impressed me most about Tim is his deep commitment to his family,” and she looks forward to building an administration “that reflects our shared values.”

“We are going to build a great partnership. We are going to build a great team,” Harris said. “We are going to win this election.”

Walz has described the Republicans as a “weird lot.” Having the plainspoken Walz on the national ticket not only helps Harris in Minnesota, it also benefits the vice president in the two neighbouring Midwestern battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan.

Walz taught English and American History in China for one year through a program at Harvard University. In 2018, Walz won election as governor and re-election four years later. Harris and Walz are now scheduled to kick off a campaign swing through all seven crucial battleground states, starting almost immediately with an event in Philadelphia.

Victor Cherubim is a London-based writer and a frequent columnist of the Sri Lanka Guardian