Teachers See ‘A+’ Allies in Harris-Walz Ticket

For teacher Kim Mathis, the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz ticket represents “humanity.”

“Obviously Kamala Harris and Tim Walz understand that the children are our future,” Mathis, who works at a private pre-school in Florida, told Newsweek. “For this teacher, this is an A plus. It’s a masterpiece pair.”

In the first 24 hours after Harris announced Walz as her running mate her campaign raised $36 million, with teachers being the top profession to donate, according to Rob Flaherty, Harris’ deputy campaign manager.

Newsweek reached out to the Harris campaign for additional comment but did not hear back immediately.

“Our folks are thrilled with the Democratic Harris/Walz ticket,” a representative from the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) union told Newsweek.

The UFT’s national union affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers, was the first union to endorse Harris.

“The Republican Party has a platform to destroy public education. Our rights as unionized workers and public-school educators are under direct attack,” said Michael Mulgrew, president of the UFT. “Kamala Harris is the champion we need to protect and support public education.”

The National Education Association followed suit, with President Becky Pringle posting to X, formerly known as Twitter, that “Kamala has delivered for students & educators.”

Pringle posted on Aug. 6 that Harris has “delivered once again” with her “exceptional choice of the ‘Education Governor’ Tim Walz as her running mate.”

Walz taught geography and coached football in Alliance, Nebraska and Mankato, Minnesota before he started his career in politics. He and his wife, Gwen, ran Educational Travel Adventures, to take high school students on summer educational trips to China. Walz also served as the faculty advisor of Mankato West High School’s first gay-straight alliance.

“It was my students, they encouraged me to run for office,” Walz said at a Philadelphia rally Tuesday night. “Don’t ever underestimate teachers.”

With Walz now by her side, Harris has called for increases to Title I, the federal program that provides money to schools serving large numbers of low-income families.

Harris has also called for federally subsidized preschools to assist low-income children. In 2019, during the Trump presidency, she called for the repeal of changes made to Title IX, the federal law that protects LGBTQ students from discrimination at school.

“She has worked tirelessly on behalf of students and working people, whether that is expanding student debt relief or creating tens of thousands of new, high-paying jobs,” Mulgrew said. “Harris also stands strong in her fight to protect our health care and preserve women’s reproductive rights and freedoms.”

The Democratic nominee has also proposed closing the pay gap for teachers, and she has supported proposals for free two-year colleges for most students and free four-year colleges for lower and middle-income students.

“It’d be nice if they could lift some of this stigma around teachers,” Mathis said. “Having teachers in the White House or White House adjacent will help with that…They certainly see that teachers need to be able to teach and children need to be able to learn.”

Mathis, who has been a teacher for 36 years, said there is renewed hope for universal free breakfasts and lunches for all students across the country under a potential Harris-Walz administration.

As governor of Minnesota, Walz signed a law providing free breakfast and lunch for Minnesota public school students, becoming the fourth state to do so. When state Republicans criticized the plan as a waste of taxpayer funds, Walz responded: “The haves and have-nots in the lunchroom is not a necessary thing. Just feed our children.”

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