ST PAUL, Minn. — It's official — current Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate this fall.
CNN first announced the news Tuesday morning, and the selection was also widely reported by social media sources. Vice President Harris officially confirmed that Walz is joining her ticket just after 9 a.m. on her X (Twitter) account.
"I am proud to announce that I've asked Tim Walz to be my running mate. As a governor, a coach, a teacher and a veteran, he's delivered for working families like his."
"It's great to have him on the team," she concluded. "Now let's get to work. Join us."
KARE 11 cameras captured a motorcade of black SUV's with smoked windows leaving the governor's residence on Summit Avenue shortly after 10 a.m. en route to Holman Airport in St. Paul. It was unclear if Gov. Walz was in one of them, but he is expected to join Harris at a rally at Temple University in Philadelphia Tuesday evening.
In her full statement, Harris said that she and Walz planned to champion reproductive freedom and working-class families.
"One of the things that stood out to me about Tim is how his convictions on fighting for middle-class families run deep," Harris wrote. "It's personal. As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he's delivered for working families like his own."
Of Walz's accomplishments in Minnesota, Harris highlighted that he lowered the cost of insulin, eliminated junk fees and signed paid parental leave into law.
Minnesota DFL Chair Ken Martin is among those lauding the selection of Walz for the Democratic ticket.
“The entire country is about to see why their friends from Minnesota can’t stop bragging about Governor Walz," Martin said in a released statement Tuesday morning. "By picking a servant leader born and raised in a small town who has dedicated his career to protecting freedoms and lifting up working families, Vice President Harris has chosen the perfect foil for JD Vance and his politics of resentment."
"Tim Walz is my friend and a former colleague whose Midwest values are rooted in selfless service to our nation, caring for his neighbors and inspiring students, soldiers, and citizens to stand together, dream bigger and never give up," added U.S. Representative and former Congressional colleague Betty McCollum.
"Tim is a rock-solid Democrat, a teacher, a football coach, a veteran and a leader who will defend our freedoms and will work to improve the lives of all Americans in every corner of our country," McCollum said.
Walz does have his detractors, including Republicans from the Minnesota Legislature who frequently clashed with his progressive agenda as Governor.
"Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are the most extreme ticket in recent presidential history — they want to decriminalize illegal immigration, end private health insurance, reduce sentences for violent criminals and make your energy bills more expensive," said House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring) after learning Harris had selected Walz.
The Trump-Vance campaign soon chimed in, calling Walz "a dangerously liberal extremist."
"While Walz pretends to support Americans in the Heartland, when the cameras are off, he believes that rural America is 'mostly cars and rocks,' the Trump-Vance campaign said in a released statement. "From proposing his own carbon-free agenda, to suggesting stricter emission standards for gas-powered cars and embracing policies to allow convicted felons to vote, Walz is obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and wide."
Gov. Walz, who was first elected to the state’s highest office in 2018, also served five terms as southern Minnesota’s First Congressional District representative.
The news of Walz's selection comes after weeks of speculation regarding Harris’s potential running mate, the search coming rather suddenly after President Joe Biden ended his bid for a second term last month.
In the final hours preceding Harris’s decision, it was reported she held talks with both Walz and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Walz has raised his national profile as chair of the Democratic Governors Association, as well as his work as a Biden surrogate on the campaign trail. Gov. Walz’s legislative success in Minnesota has also scored points with progressives.
At the same time, he's taken hits from Republicans over the response to the riots after the murder of George Floyd, and for the massive Feeding Our Future fraud scandal that robbed a federal nutrition program operated under the auspices of the Minnesota Department of Education.
The Harris-Walz team said the governor will now hit the ground running on the campaign trail, beginning with the Democratic nominees appearing together for the first time Tuesday at a previously scheduled rally in Philadelphia.
Harris and Walz will then attend a rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin in the “early afternoon” Wednesday, while the campaign for former President Donald Trump and Republican nominee for vice president, JD Vance, announced Vance will host his own media availability at 1 p.m.