Odds were definitely not zero for Walz. Here’s how Minnesota’s governor became Harris’ running mate

You don’t campaign to be invited to join a national party’s presidential ticket, do you? Only one vote is needed — the nominee — to be the vice presidential pick.

But Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and his supporters succeeded Tuesday in winning a two-week sprint to being named No. 2 on the Democratic ticket. Against the odds — at least the odds set by the talking heads and the D.C. pundits — Walz ran past senators, cabinet secretaries and even other governors — to complete the Kamala Harris presidential ticket.

How’d it happen?

The Demographics

When it was still in the early, bald-faced speculation phase, Walz made the lists because he met the criteria. If Harris sought all of the ticket-balancing characteristics cited, he met each one — white, because she’s not, male because she’s not, Midwestern because she’s not, a governor because she’s not.

Nationally, some pundits put him on the list because of criteria, some put him in the second tier, some ignored him. This was all before President Biden announced his withdrawal. But he rose mostly as others dropped — Michigan’s Whitmer, North Carolina’s Cooper didn’t want the job. Kentucky’s Andy Beshear stuck around but eventually fell away.

Related | Kamala Harris picks Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as running mate

The familiarity

Walz isn’t well-known nationally but he was well-known within the party and within the rank and file. As a governor with a Democratic trifecta  — governor-House-Senate — he got credit for sweeping progressive legislation (even though most should probably go to House Speaker Melissa Hortman and then-Senate Majority Leader Kari Dziedzic). He then took that message around the Midwest to party gatherings like conventions and dinners.

When his name first surfaced as a possible running mate, national media were dismissive, but plenty of party soldiers remembered his appearances and said, “not so fast.” That kept him in the conversation

The Debut

During his 2023 State of the State speech, Walz appeared to aim much of his message at a national audience — not so much as a candidate but as a messenger. He delivered several shots at the man then considered the GOP frontrunner, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“Look, I’m only the governor of this great state,” Walz said that April night. “It’s not up to me how folks in Florida go about their business. But I have to tell you, I’m pretty glad we do it our way and not their way. They’re banishing books from their schools. We’re banishing hunger from ours.”

It wasn’t exactly prescient about the GOP nominee, but in hindsight, it sounds a lot like his cable TV appearances over the last month (and included this now-ironic criticism of DeSantis: “You’ve seen some of these other governors on TV — they find a lot of time to be on TV …”)

Walz has accepted nearly every invitation to go on TV, even doing a FOX News segment that angered former President Trump. His one-liners and zingers delivered in a seemingly good-natured manner reminiscent more of a Friar’s Club Roast than an angry broadside became viral among Democrats. He is credited with labeling Trump and Vance as weird, though it was less a scripted tagline than an example of just how he talks.

That created buzz and buzz creates candidates, especially those who need just one vote instead of millions to be the winner.

Attrition

The best way to climb a political ladder is to have those above step off — or fall off. All of the other potential veeps either took themselves out of the competition for Harris’ favor or became less viable. Walz plugged away.

Related | ‘Favorite uncle’ vibes, straight talk and Midwestern grit: see what the national influencers pushing Walz for VP are saying

By the final weekend it was just Walz and Shapiro. And unlike the Pennsylvania governor who drew attacks from some on the left, there was no organized or even-semi-organized campaign against Walz. He had enough to keep most Democratic constituencies, partly by not taking clear positions on the Gaza War other than not entertaining divestiture demands as chair of the state investment board.

Aw, shucks

Tim Walz has never been described as slick. He is anti-slick. While that isn’t always a political asset, it has become so in an era of over-produced, focus-group vetted messaging. Walz’s staff often spoke of how his jokes and one-liners went over with the normally cynical D.C. media (“I was a high school lunchroom supervisor. I know how to deal with a bunch of legislators,” “My high school had 25 graduates and 12 were my cousins.”)

The terms used most frequently for the small-town Nebraska product were authentic, sincere and folksy. He went to Chadron State College, not Yale or Harvard. One international reporter described him as having a “heavy Midwestern accent.” While this breath of fresh air can and will grow stale in a campaign, for now it is different to many.

At a time when too many national political figures fit into the angry uncle category, Walz falls into the suburban dad grouping. He’d likely win the “which candidate would you prefer to go for a beer with?” even though the tee-totaler would prefer a Diet Mountain Dew.

The campaign

The political etiquette at play here is that potential nominees are supposed to say they are honored to be considered but really just want to do what’s best for the team. Walz certainly did all that. He was not one of the Democrats who called on Biden to withdraw from seeking a second term. As chair of the Democratic Governors Association, he was a good soldier.

“We are not a party that all wears red hats and marches to the same drummer,” he said. “Knowing the threat of a second Trump presidency far outweighs the discussions we’re having now. At this point in time, if President Biden says he’s going forward, then that’s where I’m at. I’m working with him.”

Of being considered Harris’ pick, Walz said: “It’s an honor but these things are parlor games that gets out there. I have never prepared my life to run for these offices but I think my life prepared me well.”

But as soon as Biden dropped out, Walz and his people were ready. It wasn’t just the media appearances. Grassroots groups — maybe less naturally occurring than they appeared — emerged to promote his selection. Letters from Minnesota labor and DFL party leaders were sent to the Harris campaign.

Related | Who is Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s pick for Vice President?

What’s next?

Republicans have had time to begin the opposition research on all of the short-listed Democrats, Walz included. He will be criticized for his response to COVID-19, the delayed deployment of the National Guard during the riots that resulted from the police murder of George Floyd, his resignation from the National Guard to run for Congress just as his unit was being deployed to Europe,  the way a record revenue surplus was spent in a single session, the failure of his administration to see and stop the Feeding Our Future theft of COVID nutrition money and the state’s elimination of all governmental restrictions on abortion.

And as good as Walz performed in cable TV appearances over the last two weeks, they were mostly scripted. And he is good with a quip and a one-liner. But he is also easily flustered when pressed on the problems such as those above — his tendency to speak in half sentences slides into quarter sentences. Scott Jensen, the GOP nominee for governor in 2022, had an ability to get under his skin.

All that will be tested now on a national level that will be mostly new turf for Walz.

Editor’s note: Peter Callaghan wrote this story for MinnPost.com. Callaghan covers state government for MinnPost.

This article first appeared on MinnPost and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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