Kamala Harris Chooses Tim Walz as Running Mate
US Vice President Kamala Harris has picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate in America's November presidential election.
In a post on social media, Harris said that Walz, 60, has "delivered for working families" as a governor, coach, teacher and veteran.
Walz called it "the honor of a lifetime" to be Harris' vice presidential pick.
He is joining Harris during one of the most turbulent periods in modern American politics. Republicans have rallied around former President Donald Trump after his attempted assassination in July. Just weeks later, President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign, forcing Harris to unify Democrats behind her and find a running mate over two weeks.
Harris' team interviewed possible vice presidential picks, and she met with the three finalists on August 4. She made her decision on the morning of August 6.
In picking Walz, Harris hopes to improve her chances in America's upper Midwest, a region that often helps Democrats win the White House. But in 2016, Trump finished just 1.5 percentage points behind Democrat Hillary Clinton in Minnesota. While Biden won the state by more than 7 points in 2020, Trump has been falsely claiming that he won the state and can do it again.
Walz grew up in the small town of West Point, Nebraska. He served 24 years in the Army National Guard, and was a social studies teacher and high school football coach in Minnesota before getting into politics.
He won the first of six terms in Congress in 2006 from a mostly rural southern Minnesota district. He ran for governor in 2018 on the theme of "One Minnesota," and won by more than 11 points.
As governor, he introduced tax credits for families with children, protections for trans and abortion rights, and a paid family and medical leave program, as well as free school breakfasts and lunches for all students.
However, Walz has been criticized for not doing enough to stop the fraudulent loss of $250 million from food programs that paid for meals for kids during the coronavirus pandemic.
