Harris Doubles Down on Progressivism With Tim Walz

• Kamala Harris chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro

• Walz has a very liberal record and signals Harris’s commitment to her progressive base

• Walz will have to defend a number of scandals, most prominently overseeing the 2020 riots in Minneapolis

The story

After two weeks of speculation about who Kamala Harris would select as her running mate, she chose progressive Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. He was elected governor in 2018, after serving six terms in the House of Representatives from 2007-2019, and won reelection in 2022.

Choosing Walz signals Harris’s commitment to shifting the Democrat Party in a more progressive direction. In recent weeks, Harris had walked back some of her more progressive stances, including banning fracking and a mandatory buyback program for certain firearms.

Tim Walz is one of the more progressive governors in the country. He worked with Minnesota’s Democrat-controlled legislature to enact liberal policies, including a $1 billion affordable housing act, legalizing recreational marijuana, and signing a “trans refugee” bill that welcomes children into Minnesota to receive surgeries and hormone blockers if they’re denied access in other states.

Governor Walz oversaw the George Floyd riots in 2020 — some of the most destructive in American history. Walz refused to deploy the National Guard to address escalating violence, relenting only after intense criticism from residents who watched their city burn for three days while rioters overwhelmed police. As Minneapolis burned, Walz posited, “the ashes are symbolic of decades and generations of pain, of anguish unheard.”

Momentum for Kamala Harris’s decision seemed to favor Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — widely regarded as the strongest choice due to his popularity, his more moderate political orientation, and his status as a crucial swing state denizen. Many are puzzled at Harris’s judgment in making a play for her party's base, and not for political independents needed to tip the election.

The politics

Political progressives are overjoyed that Tim Walz was selected for his strong liberal record. While his “legislative and political acumen” is celebrated, it is also acknowledged that the choice may not help Harris electorally because Minnesota is not a battleground state.

Democrats across the spectrum came out strong in defense of Walz, who received endorsements from moderate Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) to progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), as well as Democrat Party leaders Barack Obama and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

For entirely different reasons, Republicans are matching progressives’ enthusiasm for Harris’s selection. Many conservatives believe that Walz’s liberal record and his management of the 2020 riots will present new, effective avenues of attack for the GOP.

Sen. JD Vance recently remarked that Walz is “the most boring man in America.” After the news broke that he was selected, Vance said this choice “highlights just how radical Kamala Harris is.”

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro asserted that Harris “is ignoring the moderate votes she needs to win” in order to placate her more radical base of supporters. In short, Shapiro says “clarity is good. Kamala chose The Squad.”

However, not everybody on the right slams Walz for his progressive record. Some note that Walz threatens to neutralize JD Vance's working-class appeal, especially in the Midwest. Because Walz grew up in rural Nebraska and enacted pro-labor laws as governor, he has the potential to attract blue-collar voters who aren’t sold on the Republican ticket.

Beyond the headlines

Several left-leaning observers have highlighted troubling aspects of Harris’s decision, including CNN commentator Van Jones, who claims that antisemitism “has been marbled into” the Democrat Party. Jones questioned whether choosing Walz over the Jewish governor of Pennsylvania was “caving into some of these darker parts in the party.”

Likewise, Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) called out the “overly online left” for a “strong undercurrent of antisemitism.” Auchincloss argued that it is antisemitic for Democrats to criticize Shapiro for his pro-Israel positions while not applying the same level of scrutiny to other potential VP picks.

Walz brings heavy baggage from his tenure as Minnesota’s governor by way of numerous scandals. One example is "Feeding Our Future." Dozens of individuals lied about serving meals to needy children and, instead, misappropriated a quarter billion dollars in state funds to purchase luxury cars and homes. Gov. Walz and his Department of Education were asleep at the wheel, while his administration ignored multiple red flags.

Further, during the height of the COVID pandemic, Governor Walz set up a hotline for Minnesotans to snitch on their neighbors for walking dogs or going to church. The hotline remained in use until November 2020, long after the state’s stay-at-home order was lifted.

In 2022, Walz enacted “hero pay” to gift frontline workers in Minnesota $750 each, and estimated that 750,000 people would qualify. His administration soon discovered that over one million people qualified, forcing a reduction in payments to $487. A state audit later concluded that a significant portion of “qualified” recipients were not qualified, including deceased benefit recipients.

In 2023, Walz signed legislation providing illegal migrants with state-funded health care, driver’s licenses, and free college tuition. He signed another bill mandating that public school boys’ bathrooms in grades 4-12 be stocked with sanitary pads and tampons to ensure all “menstruating students” had access.

And, upon taking office in 2019, Walz’s very first action was to institute a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) program to ensure that the state views all actions through the "lens of equity.”

Why it matters

In an election where Democrats are portraying Donald Trump and JD Vance as too radical for average Americans, Kamala Harris declined an opportunity to demonstrate her willingness to be a moderate alternative. The headache her campaign envisioned had she chosen a pro-Israel, Jewish running mate evidently was enough incentive for her to select a true progressive.

While vice presidential picks are considered to have marginal effect in general elections, they can influence overall perception of the primary candidate. In Harris’s case, voters may view themselves as having been deprived of a moderate-left option.

In selecting Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, Kamala Harris reinforced her commitment to progressive politics, potentially cementing herself as the most progressive Democrat nominee in modern American history.