In what became an unavoidably rushed search for a running mate, Kamala Harris had several characteristics for which she had to be looking.
Her choice of Tim Walz, the two-term governor of Minnesota, checked a lot of the boxes.
He’s from the upper Midwest, an area of the country where this year’s presidential contest between Harris and Donald Trump may be decided. Walz makes it unlikely that the Republican nominee will flip Minnesota, as Trump had been hoping while Joe Biden was still in the contest. Walz also strengthens the Democrats’ odds of holding onto three nearby states — Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — that are definitely in play.
He’s not a member of the intellectual or urban elite, for which Trump’s MAGA following has such distaste. Walz grew up in a small Nebraska farm town, taught social studies and coached high school football in a mid-sized Minnesota city before entering politics, and spent 25 years in the Army National Guard.
He’s got ample experience in government, having served 12 years in the U.S. House of Representatives before being elected Minnesota’s governor. Not only that, he has experience working with sharply divided government, both in Washington and in St. Paul, which would be an asset should he become the presiding officer of the U.S. Senate.
And just as importantly as all of these, he’s white and a man. Those clearly were unspoken but essential criteria for Harris, who is trying to become the nation’s first female, first Asian American and only second Black president. She needed to bring racial and gender balance to the ticket — just as Biden did in picking her four years ago — and that’s why all three of her finalists were white men.
The diversity that Walz does not provide, however, is ideological. Minnesota, which has long been somewhat of a liberal enclave in what is otherwise a moderately conservative part of the country, has gotten even more so during his tenure as governor.
The state has rolled back restrictions on abortion that were enacted in previous years by Republicans, has become a refuge for families seeking treatment for trans children that they can’t secure in their own states, has legalized the recreational use of marijuana, and has expanded the welfare state to include free school meals for all children and free tuition at public colleges for students of working- and middle-class families.
Many of the liberal domestic policies that worry undecided voters about Harris are going to be reinforced by Walz’s addition to her ticket, as they learn more about him.
A similar worry could be true for Trump’s pick of JD Vance, though, who mirrors the GOP presidential nominee’s thoughts about cracking down on immigration, protecting American jobs at the expense of free trade, and avoiding foreign entanglements, even if that means throwing the people of Ukraine to the Russian wolves. The only real diversity that Trump, 78, was looking for in the 40-year-old Vance was age.
In the end, though, Trump is correct when he says that his choice of Vance is mostly irrelevant. The same holds true for Harris’ pick of Walz.
A vice presidential nominee can hurt the person at the top of the ticket but rarely provides much of a boost. Voters are casting their ballots based on whom they best see as the next president. They aren’t worrying too much — with Biden being the rare exception — of what would happen should their choice not last four years in the White House.
The selection of a vice president is, however, helpful as a reflection on the decision-making process of the person at the top of the ticket. Harris had a lot less time than Trump to make that decision, but early indications are that she did as well if not better with her choice.
