2024-08-07 04:06:41
Many analysts said Kamala Harris, who is very likely to face Republican Donald Trump for the White House in November, should choose an older white man as her running mate. Her choice ultimately fell on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. This was reported by CNN and the AP agency on Tuesday afternoon, citing their sources. Harris later officially confirmed the selection.
Walz, 60, is only half a year older than Harris. Compared to 81-year-old Joe Biden and 78-year-old Trump, this is a generation of younger politicians. President Biden withdrew from the election last month after growing pressure from his party and the public precisely in connection with his advanced age.
It’s the greatest honor of my life,” said Walz. American media reports that Walz is scheduled to appear next to Harris on stage at a meeting with voters in Philadelphia on Tuesday.
Walz has been serving as the governor of the northern US state of Minnesota since 2019 and has a reputation as a liberal politician. He is the polar opposite of the ultra-conservative Republican vice-presidential candidate, Ohio Senator JD Vance.
The Financial Times wrote about him that he is a person who has the potential to gather the votes of workers and rural people.
“Walz is popular in the North and can pass Harris in two key states. Wisconsin and Michigan,” The Wall Street Journal wrote in an analysis. There are a total of seven states in which the election is likely to be decided. The others are Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina. Harris is now going to these states for meetings, already with the support of Walz behind her.
Walz has worked as a teacher in the past, spent a year interning in China, and is said to be just as comfortable in a flannel shirt and baseball cap as he is in a suit. In the military, he served in the National Guard, which is the reserve component of the US armed forces. But he was never deployed in combat. In 2006, he successfully ran for the House of Representatives in a district traditionally won by Republicans.
He is a liberal who supports a low-carbon economy or the rights of sexual minorities, and in Minnesota he pushed for tax cuts for people with low incomes, free meals in schools and investments in cheap, affordable housing. According to The Wall Street Journal, he is one of the great favorites of former US President Barack Obama.
Last January, he signed a law that specifically allows for the right to abortion, affordable contraception and artificial insemination in Minnesota.
Donald Trump called Walz the worst candidate for vice president in history, on the contrary, according to former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, he will be a great partner for Harris. “I’m thrilled,” she said of his nomination.
“Harris and Walz are the most left-wing duo in American history. Violent protests started in Minnesota with the slogan Black Lives Matter (Black Lives Matter) and Walz then just sat idly by and let Minneapolis burn,” declared the Republican governor of Florida in the first reaction to the selection of Harris and Trump’s defeated opponent in the Republican primary, Ron DeSantis.
Video: Kamala Harris Says I Will Do Everything I Can To Unite Democratic Party (7/23/2024)
“I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party,” said Kamala Harris | Video: Reuters