I have a pretty good idea why Kamala Harris defied conventional wisdom — and maybe Electoral College wisdom, too — to pick Tim Walz as her running mate.
You can blame, or credit if you like, the disaster that is JD Vance.
Walz is the anti-Vance pick. He’s the anti-anti-cat-lady pick. He’s the small-town guy who not only isn’t “weird” — Walz’s Trump-Vance descriptor that somehow lifted him from semi-obscurity to the Democratic ticket — but might be, as politicians go, something closely resembling normal.
I mean, if he weren’t a liberal Democrat, which he is, he might even fit Sarah Palin’s description of a “real American.” You know, one of 25 people in his high school graduation class — half of whom, he jokes (I think he’s joking), were cousins. Joined the Army National Guard at 17 and retired 24 years later as a master sergeant.
Owns guns. Hunts for turkey and pheasant. Was a high school football coach, for cripes’ sake, whose team won a state championship.
He’s folksy. He’s avuncular. And if you’re into the dad vibe, you might even think he’s funny.
He’s a two-term governor in a midwestern state after spending 12 years in Congress — first flipping a rural Republican-held district — after spending 20-some years as a teacher.
Want early access to
Mike’s columns?
Subscribe to get an
exclusive first look at
his columns twice a week.
He’s not a lawyer — the first non-lawyer, according to the Washington Post, to run as vice-president on the Democratic ticket in 60 years. He’s not an Ivy Leaguer. In fact, he graduated from Chadron State College, which is apparently in his native Nebraska, where, last I looked, elitism went to die.
And in his introductory video as Harris’ running mate — he’ll obviously need more than a few introductions since most people have no idea who he is — Walz stressed his rural roots. Of course he did. Soon, I’m sure they’ll roll out Walz’s award-winning recipe for his Turkey Trot Tater Hotdish. It’s all part of the package.
Most importantly, if Harris’ team did a decent job with its speed vetting, I don’t see how Walz will do much harm, which is the vice-presidential nominee’s main job, other than, of course, attacking the other guys.
Unless, that is, you buy the Republican line on Walz, which you’ve already heard. He’s an extremist whom they’ve called “radical” and “dangerously liberal” and someone — this from Vance — “who listens to the Hamas wing” of the Democratic Party.
Trump took it a few steps further down the rabbit hole, of course, saying Walz would be the “worst VP in history,” and — get this — “would unleash hell on earth.”
Weird, huh?
The conventional wisdom was that Harris would pick Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a popular moderate who might have proved to be the difference in carrying the most important swing state in the election. Or she might have gone with Arizona’s Mark Kelly, who is not just a senator but also a former astronaut and from yet another swing state.
There is risk involved in picking Walz. If Democrats lose Pennsylvania and that defeat puts Trump over the top in the Electoral College, the decision to choose Walz over Shapiro will be second-guessed from November until approximately forever.
In any case, the VP picks are both from the Midwest — blue Minnesota vs. red Ohio — and the stakes obviously extend past Pennsylvania to the other swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin. The latest polling in those three states, all of which are must wins for Democrats, is basically even. And if voters care about who is vice president — history suggests that most people don’t — they present a clear contrast.
Vance’s “Hamas wing” comment was a not-so-veiled shot at the fact that some progressives thought Shapiro, who is Jewish, was too pro-Israel. But I’m not sure there’s much difference between Walz and Shapiro, or among any of the possible Democratic VP contenders for that matter, on Israeli policy. And the suggestion, heard in some right-wing corners, that the pick is somehow antisemitic is, of course, ludicrous. I mean, how many Jews are on the Republican ticket?
But Walz is a mainstream liberal and, in picking Walz, Harris clearly made a policy statement. Walz, who began his career as a moderate Democrat, has become more liberal over the years, particularly when it comes to guns. And after Democrats took over both houses of the Minnesota state legislature, he signed into law a laundry list of progressive legislation, much of which won’t look entirely unfamiliar to Coloradans.
You can start with universal gun background checks and a “red flag” law. Legalizing pot. A state law protecting abortion rights. Restoring voting rights to felons, meaning Donald Trump might consider moving there someday. A state law protecting the right to gender-affirming care. Another allowing undocumented Minnesotans to apply for driver’s licenses. Child tax credit. Free meals for K-12 students.
Those laws are definitely progressive. But how many of those laws actually poll well? Even Vance, the self-proclaimed pro-family candidate who missed the vote on the recent bipartisan bill expanding the child tax credit, is apparently pro-child tax credit. He even falsely accused Harris of opposing the credit.
And, by the way, Gwen Walz — Tim’s wife — underwent years of fertility treatments before giving birth to their two children. Yes, Walz is definitely pro-IVF.
But it’s on gun policy that Walz most obviously changed. He was once among the NRA’s favorite Democrats, earning an A rating. After the 2018 shooting at Parkland High School, he came out in favor of a ban on assault weapons. And now, he says of the NRA, “I get straight F’s, and I sleep just fine.”
The criticism that is most likely to stick is that Walz was governor during the riots following George Floyd’s murder. Republicans in Minnesota charged that he didn’t move quickly enough to send in the National Guard. Of course, we might remember when Trump was just a little slow in sending in the reinforcements to the Capitol on January 6.
Walz also had a DUI charge 30 years ago, but now doesn’t drink unless it’s Diet Mountain Dew, which, in a coincidence that defies explanation, is also Vance’s drink of choice.
What Democrats hope will stick is how Walz presents as Minnesota nice, which they think will contrast nicely with Vance’s exhibition of straight-up weirdness.
I mean, the craziest thing that we know so far about Walz is that two weeks ago, hardly anyone had ever heard of him and now he could be our next vice president. Which, in this strangest of strange presidential campaigns, means that we should have known all along that Harris would pick him.
Mike Littwin has been a columnist for too many years to count. He has covered Dr. J, four presidential inaugurations, six national conventions and countless brain-numbing speeches in the New Hampshire and Iowa snow. Sign up for Mike’s newsletter.
The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy. Learn how to submit a column. Reach the opinion editor at opinion@coloradosun.com.
Follow Colorado Sun Opinion on Facebook.