When Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz showed up on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” last week to blast Donald Trump and JD Vance as “weird” — part of a recent media blitz — the line of attack quickly gained traction among Democrats.
Key among them was de facto presidential nominee Kamala Harris, who days later started using the same word in her campaign messaging against the GOP ticket, including at a fundraiser in Massachusetts on Saturday.
The simple phrase quickly highlighted why Walz — a popular two-term Midwestern governor, former congressman, military veteran and former public school teacher — had suddenly landed on Harris’ short list of prospective running mates.
But Walz’s allies, friends and current and former colleagues note that his canny folksiness is just one of the attributes that make him uniquely suited to be the Democratic vice presidential nominee.
In addition to a relatable personal story, they say, the 60-year-old Walz has a background representing rural communities that is needed in the party, as well as a record of progressive policy accomplishments.
These Democrats argue that Walz’s background and resume would translate to broad appeal across the critical nearby “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — something few other VP contenders can offer.
“If you’re looking for balance on the ticket in terms of life experience, and who’s going to bring that life experience to the administration with a whole series of credentials in solving problems for middle class and American families, Tim Walz has a pretty damn good resume,” said former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., who became close friends with Walz during the time they overlapped in Washington, D.C.
She added that Walz prompts voters, particularly across the upper Midwest, to think, “Hey, I know that guy,” and to feel “a comfort level you have with a shared human experience, a shared lived experience.”
A veteran, teacher and red-district Democrat
Walz, a Nebraska native, enlisted in the Army National Guard when he was 17, and served for more than two decades with both domestic and overseas deployments. He later worked as a high school social studies teacher and football coach in Mankato, about 80 miles south of Minneapolis, before shifting to politics.
In 2006, he successfully ran for a congressional seat in a largely rural and agricultural district in southern Minnesota. He represented the 1st Congressional District for 12 years, and has been the only Democrat to represent what has typically been a red-leaning district — which spans the entire southern chunk of the state — in nearly 30 years.
“He’s highly capable of reaching out to and connecting with the voters in small towns and rural places in the Midwest — that’s where he’s from, that’s where he was [representing] as a member of Congress,” said Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn. “Those are the voters that Democrats need to do better with, voters where we have to demonstrate that we understand what’s going on in their lives, and that we understand that we should be working to make their lives work better.”
Central to that ability, Smith and others said, is Walz’s service in the Army National Guard — at the time of his swearing-in in 2007, he became the highest-ranking retired noncommissioned officer to serve in Congress — as well as his record in the House advocating for veterans issues.
“Tim was actually an historic member of Congress,” said former Rep. Patrick Murphy, who before serving as the undersecretary of the U.S. Army under President Barack Obama represented a district in the Scranton, Pennsylvania, area. Murphy, a Democrat, entered Congress the same year as Walz and the two shared a small apartment together as freshmen.
“He was my partner in repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ he authored most of the post-9/11 GI Bill,” Murphy said. “And he was winning [in] a congressional district that Democrats don’t usually win.”
Harris’ current VP short list is filled with governors as she seeks to potentially balance the ticket with a voice outside Washington. Walz has built a robust network of influence across several states in his role as chair of the Democratic Governors Association, a job he took on last year.
But he also has 12 years of congressional experience that could be put to use in the White House.
“Think about what Joe Biden brought to Obama. In essence, all those relationships in Washington,” said Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., who is openly advocating for Harris to select Walz. “He’s got all those relationships with members of Congress, including on the other side.”
Progressive and working-class appeal
Minnesota has been consistently Democratic at the statewide level in recent elections, but it’s a place where Republicans are competitive.
Still, Walz has overseen the enactment of a bevy of progressive priorities as governor, particularly during his second term, with Democrats controlling both chambers of the Legislature.
He signed laws protecting abortion rights, legalizing recreational marijuana, restricting gun access and providing legal refuge to transgender youths whose access to gender-affirming and other medical care has been restricted elsewhere.
“He’s got the progressive receipts to bring it home to a more broad appeal across the Democratic base,” Craig said.
Walz also enacted several laws geared toward farmers and the working class, including bills that expanded paid family leave, banned most noncompete agreements, provided universal school meals for students, expanded public child care support programs and capped the price of insulin in Minnesota (three years before Biden did so nationally).
“If you want to raise up examples of where Democrats have governed successfully, especially around working family and economic issues, he has a great story to tell,” said Jeff Blodgett, a St. Paul-based Democratic strategist who worked as a campaign manager for the late Sen. Paul Wellstone and was the state director for both of Obama’s campaigns.
Walz would “give the ticket some real weight in terms of the economic arguments they want to make to voters,” Blodgett said.
Reinforcing the ‘blue wall’
Of course, the prospect of putting Walz on the ticket with Harris presents some downsides. He’s not well known nationally and may not bring the same youth or energy as other potential running mates.
He’s also not from a battleground state, like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro or Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, that could tip the presidential election.
But Walz’s allies say he could still help the Democratic ticket in other critical states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — that are home to many of the same types of voters he’s won over in Minnesota.
“He speaks farm, suburban and urban,” joked Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., who has publicly urged Harris to select Walz.
She and others noted that Walz is not reluctant to go on Fox News — a recent appearance even drew a complaint from Trump — to reach more conservative voters.
Some Democrats said Walz could also counter Trump’s efforts to make further inroads in the Rust Belt with his selection of Vance as his running mate.
“What I know is that people like JD Vance know nothing about small-town America,” Walz said on “Morning Joe” on Tuesday. “My town had 400 people, 24 kids in my graduating class, 12 were cousins. And he gets it all wrong.”
“It’s not about hate. It’s not about collapsing in,” he said. “The golden rule there is mind your own damn business.”
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