US Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen her running mate for the 2024 US presidential election. Tim Walz, 60, is the governor of Minnesota and has a history of swaying Republican districts with progressive policies.
Following President Joe Biden’s exit from the race the governor may help build enthusiasm for policies favored by Democrats as opposed to merely running a negative campaign against former President Donald Trump.
Walz formerly worked as a teacher in China, Nebraska, and Minnesota, where he also worked as a football coach. He served in the army national guard for 24 years and was the faculty adviser for the school’s first gay-straight alliance chapter in 1999.
Walz's supporters say he will appeal to undecided voters as a down-to-Earth teacher but holds a track record of defeating Republicans that Democrats will view as favorable. Progressive policies he pursued in Minnesota include free school meals, abortion protection, gun control legislation and the legalization of marijuana.
Walz was responsible for kicking off a new attack line against Trump and his running mate Ohio Senator JD Vance, who is also a Midwesterner, as “weird”. The label has resonated with Harris’ supporters and has been difficult for Trump and other Republicans to respond to.
“There’s an inauthenticity about JD Vance that is the antithesis of what Tim Walz is. Tim is the most authentically kind of normal person you’re going to meet, and he has a background that is uniquely situated in these times, especially for people in my part of the country,” said Heidi Heitkamp, the former senator of North Dakota.
“I met Tim Walz and I knew Tim Walz,” she said. “I didn’t have to say, what’s this guy all about and what’s his agenda? I knew his agenda, because I had high school teachers just like him, who cared about their students and cared about their community.”
Republicans will likely attack his state’s handling of the George Floyd - a Black man who was murdered by police - protests in 2020. Some believe he should have deployed the state’s National Guard sooner to combat the looting, arson and violence which took place during the racial justice protests.
Perhaps the most trying issue for Harris, who is still tied to the Biden administration, will be the White House's support for Israel's ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
Fears of a regional war in the Middle East have been growing since the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in an attack on his residence in Tehran. Hamas has blamed Israel and the US for Haniyeh's death and vowed retaliation. Intelligence Minister Ismail Khatib said Israel ordered the strike after receiving a green light from the US.
Nearly 40,000 people in Gaza have been killed since Israel’s operation in Gaza began in October, according to the territory's health ministry. The US has given Israel more aid than any other nation since World War II.