Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday named Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate in the 2024 election to face off against former President Donald Trump, according to the Associated Press.
The nomination of Walz, 60, was not a shock because his name was expected to be quickly floated as a contender less than two weeks after Harris became president of the party after succeeding President Biden.
Former Congressman Waltz, 60, Governor of MinnesotaIt’s a state that Democrats have reliably won presidential elections in for decades, but the Trump campaign is aiming to upend the election cycle.
Walz, a known for being outspoken, is on the national campaign trail, which will not only help Harris in Minnesota but also the vice president in the Midwest battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan.
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Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination. (Getty Images)
Walz, who is chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, may also help Harris raise campaign funds, having helped the association achieve record fundraising this year.
The governor will also be able to tout a number of progressive policy victories in Minnesota, including protecting abortion rights, legalizing recreational marijuana and limiting gun access to curb mass shootings.
Growing up in rural Nebraska, Waltz enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1981, immediately after graduating from high school.
Waltz returned to Nebraska and enrolled at Chadron State College, graduating in 1989 with a degree in social science education.
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He taught English and American history in China for a year through a Harvard University program, then was hired as a high school teacher, football and basketball coach in Nebraska in 1990. Six years later, he moved to Mankato, Minnesota, to teach geography at Mankato West High School.
Waltz deployed to Italy in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2003 and retired from the National Guard two years later with the rank of master sergeant.
He was elected to the House of Representatives in 2006 and re-elected five times, representing Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, a largely rural area that includes many mid-sized cities in the southern part of the state. During his final two years in Congress, he served as the ranking member of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee.
Walz won the governor’s election in 2018 and was re-elected four years later.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks at a Biden-Harris campaign press conference during the Republican National Convention on July 17, 2024 in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Joe Lamberti)
Walz’s nomination came as the Democratic National Committee was holding a virtual roll call to formally nominate Harris as the party’s presidential nominee.
The Democratic National Committee announced on Friday that Harris had received a majority of the votes of nominating delegates at the Democratic Party’s next national convention, officially clinching the 2024 presidential nomination.
The Democratic National Committee’s electronic voting to select his 2024 presidential nominee began less than two weeks after Biden ended his reelection campaign with a high-profile announcement and endorsed his vice president as his top pick to succeed him.
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Biden’s dismal performance against Trump in the debate in Atlanta in late June stoked questions about whether he was physically and mentally capable of serving in the White House for another four years.
The incident also prompted growing calls from within his own party for the 81-year-old president to end his bid for a second term in the White House.
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at a campaign rally in Atlanta, Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Biden’s immediate endorsement of Harris sparked a surge of support for the vice president from Democratic governors, senators, representatives and other party leaders and elders. Within 36 hours, Harris had announced she had secured the party’s nomination with the verbal endorsement of a majority of the convention’s roughly 4,700 delegates.
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Harris is expected to be formally announced as the party’s nominee after the virtual roll call ends at 6pm on Monday.
The vice president may then nominate a running mate, and the convention chairman will then declare that candidate as the party’s running mate, according to Democratic National Convention rules.
Harris and Walz are scheduled to kick off their campaign tour of seven key battleground states, starting with a rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Get the latest 2024 campaign updates, exclusive interviews and more on Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.
