Photo: Tim Walz and Kamala Harris
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris announced on Tuesday, August 6, that she has nominated Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her vice presidential candidate. According to informed sources, she has chosen a politician with progressive views who will help attract white voters from rural areas.
Harris's choice was reported by CNN, the Associated Press and Reuters, as reported by "Voice of America".
Harris held a meeting with her vice presidential selection team over the weekend, including former Attorney General Eric Holder, whose law firm Covington & Burling LLP has scrutinized their backgrounds and finances.
Walz, a 60-year-old National Guard veteran and former teacher, was elected to the House in a heavily Republican district in 2006 and served 12 years before being elected governor of Minnesota in 2018.
As governor, Walz has pushed a progressive agenda that includes free school meals, climate action, middle-class tax cuts, and expanded paid leave.
Walz has long been an advocate for women's reproductive rights, but he also has a conservative streak, representing a rural district in the House of Representatives that includes advocacy for rural producers and gun rights.
Harris, the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, has nominated a popular Midwestern politician for vice president, a native of a state that has consistently voted Democratic in presidential elections but is located near Wisconsin and Michigan, two battleground states.
Walz is widely seen as an ally of white rural voters, many of whom have voted in recent years for Harris's Republican rival for the White House.
Harris's campaign has said her pick will accompany her on a seven-state tour, topped by Pennsylvania, a state both Harris and Trump see as critical to the election's outcome.
In addition to Philadelphia, Harris and Walz will visit six other cities in five days: Eau Claire, Wis.; Detroit, Mich.; Durham, N.C.; Savannah, Ga.; Phoenix, Ariz.; and Las Vegas, Nev., a Harris campaign official said on condition of anonymity.
Prepared by: Sergei Daga