ST PAUL, Minn. — The eagerly-anticipated announcement of who would join Vice President Kamala Harris atop the Democratic ticket dropped Tuesday morning, with confirmation that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will join her quest for the White House.
It didn't take long for reaction to start rolling in, with many of Walz's colleagues and supporters lauding him as a respected leader and Midwestern everyman, while the Trump-Vance campaign and GOP opponents jumped on the chance to paint him as an extreme liberal who would further push America down the wrong path.
Here are some of those reactions.
"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. Now let’s get to work. Join us." - Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris
“Minnesota is known as the land of Vice Presidents, and we’ve got another great one on the way. Vice President Harris made a fantastic choice by selecting my friend Minnesota’s own Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. He is an effective leader, a clear communicator, and he knows the midwest. Tim and I were first elected to Congress the same year, and since then we have worked side by side to improve the lives of all Minnesotans. His background as a veteran, teacher, and someone from a rural part of this country informs everything he does. He holds true to his values while working across the aisle to get stuff done. With just over 90 days until election day, I’m more committed than ever to electing Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.” - Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota)
"It’s no surprise that San Francisco Liberal Kamala Harris wants West Coast wannabe Tim Walz as her running-mate – Walz has spent his governorship trying to reshape Minnesota in the image of the Golden State. While Walz pretends to support Americans in the Heartland, when the cameras are off, he believes that rural America is 'mostly cows and rocks.' 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." - Karoline Leavitt, Trump Campaign Press Secretary
“The entire country is about to see why their friends from Minnesota can’t stop bragging about Governor Walz. 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. Under Governor Walz’s leadership, Minnesota has built a model for how Democrats across the nation can both win elections and improve people’s lives." - Ken Martin, MN DFL Chair
"What Minnesotans most remember about Walz's current term is his broken promise to return the $17 billion budget surplus to taxpayers. Instead, Walz added an additional $10 billion of new taxes. His inability to manage the state financially was also seen when he oversaw the largest COVID-related fraud in the country to the tune of $250 million in the "Feeding our Future" scandal. To this day, not one employee in his Administration has been terminated for this disgusting mismanagement." - David Hann, MN GOP Chairman
"We worked together over the last two years on the most productive session in Minnesota in decades, enacting policies that will help Minnesotans build better lives for themselves and their families. The last two years are a shining example that Tim Walz is good at working with strong women in full collaboration to get things done. I am thrilled by Kamala Harris's candidacy and believe Governor Walz is a strong addition to the ticket.” - DFL MN House Speaker Melissa Hortman
"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." - House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring)
“Tim Walz is a political chameleon – changing his positions to further his own personal agenda. In Congress, Walz purported to be a friend of gun owners to receive their support in his rural Minnesota district. Once he had his eyes set on other offices, he sold out law-abiding Minnesotans and promoted a radical gun control agenda that emboldened criminals and left everyday citizens defenseless. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz cannot be trusted to defend freedom and our Constitutional rights.” - Randy Kozuch, Chairman of the NRA Political Victory Fund
"This race is about defending our freedoms and making sure we are moving forward, not going backwards into old fights and broken systems that prioritize corporate greed over working families. Governor Walz has shown how this can be done over the last few years in Minnesota, making historic investments in the work that SEIU members do in healthcare, nursing homes, public schools and in cleaning and protecting buildings across the state. We’ve seen him expand rights and bring people together around a vision of a state and country that works for all of us." - Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Minnesota State Council
"If elected, a Harris-Walz Administration would push for the most extreme abortion agenda policies of any administration. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are both radically pro-abortion and see the lives of precious unborn babies as disposable inconveniences." - Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life
"The Biden-Harris administration did more for reproductive freedom than any other, and a Harris-Walz administration is poised to build on that legacy. The stakes have never been higher and the contrast between a Harris-Walz administration and a Trump-Vance administration could not be more clear. Our more than 4 million members are fired up and ready to send Vice President Harris and Gov. Walz to the White House.” - Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO Mini Timmaraju
“Kamala Harris has spent her entire public service career making communities safer, and with Governor Walz as her running mate, she has a partner who shares this fundamental commitment. While the Trump-Vance ticket represents danger and extremism, Harris and Walz stand for the future we all deserve. From now until November, we’ll harness the power of our 11 million-strong movement to elect the leaders who will actually fight for a safer America.” - Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action.