Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, looking to strengthen the Democratic ticket in Midwestern states, AP sources say.
She will introduce Walz at a rally Tuesday evening in Philadelphia.
Harris was the only candidate eligible to receive votes after no other candidate qualified by a deadline last week. She officially claimed the nomination Monday night when the DNC released final results.
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A team of lawyers and political operatives led by former attorney general Eric Holder pored over documents and conducted interviews with potential vice presidential selections.
And Harris herself met with her three finalists on Sunday. She mulled the decision over Monday with top aides at the vice president’s residence in Washington and finalized it Tuesday morning.
Walz emerged as the choice.
Minnesota Democratic strategist Abu Amara says Walz will be a good surrogate for Harris across the upper Midwest, because he represented a rural U.S. House district but won statewide in a state with large metropolitan and suburban areas.
“He’s not trying to speak in poetry. He speaks in practicality,” Amara said. “That’s a level of accessibility for so many voters.”
“He has the ability to connect with rural, suburban and urban voters,” he said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called it the “most left-wing ticket in American history” and accused Walz of not doing enough to protect Minnesota during the 2020 protests over the killing of George Floyd.
He said “Walz sat by and let Minneapolis burn.”
The campaign had already pulled down a planned stop in Savannah, Georgia, because of the weather.
But the Democratic presidential nominee will now no longer travel to Raleigh, North Carolina, either, according to the campaign. She was set to travel to Raleigh on Thursday.
Harris is launching a tour of battleground states on Tuesday evening, starting in Philadelphia.
Vice President Kamala Harris picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate on Tuesday. That’s according to three people who spoke to The Associated Press.
In choosing Walz, she’s turning to a Midwestern governor, military veteran and union supporter who helped enact an ambitious Democratic agenda for his state, including sweeping protections for abortion rights and generous aid to families. The people were not authorized to speak publicly about the choice and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
— Seung Min Kim, Zeke Miller and Colleen Long
Vice President Kamala Harris has decided on a running mate and an announcement is expected in the coming hours before the two appear together at a Philadelphia rally, according to three people familiar with her decision.
In recent days, she has zeroed in on a trio of potential finalists: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. It wasn’t clear yet who she picked.
The people were familiar with her plans but spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss a decision that had not been publicly announced.
Harris’ campaign planned to make the announcement via video message before the rally, though the exact timing remained unclear, according to a person involved in the planning who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail discussions occurring behind closed doors.
— Seung Min Kim, Zeke Miller and Colleen Long
Vice President Kamala Harris formally secured the Democratic presidential nomination late Monday — becoming the first woman of color to lead a major party ticket.
Harris’ nomination became official after a five-day round of online balloting by Democratic National Convention delegates ended Monday night, with the party saying in a statement released just before midnight that 99% of delegates casting ballots had done so for Harris. It said it would next formally certify the vote before holding a celebratory roll call at the party’s convention later this month in Chicago.
Harris’ coronation as her party’s standard-bearer caps a tumultuous and frenetic period for Democrats prompted by President Joe Biden’s disastrous June debate performance.
As soon as Biden abruptly ended his candidacy, Harris and her team worked rapidly to secure backing from the 1,976 party delegates needed to clinch the nomination in a formal roll call vote. She reached that marker at warp speed, with an Associated Press survey of delegates nationwide showing she locked down the necessary commitments a mere 32 hours after Biden’s announcement.
