Kamala Harris Picks Minnesota Governor as VP Candidate

Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party’s candidate, has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate in the United States presidential election, according to US media reports.

Harris’s choice of a progressive policy champion and a plain speaker from America’s heartland on Tuesday is aimed at helping her win over the rural, white voters in the November 5 polls.

Walz, 60, was elected to a Republican-leaning district in the US House of Representatives in 2006 and served 12 years before being elected the governor of Minnesota and re-elected in 2022. His nomination would bring to the presidential ticket a record of defeating Republicans in a Midwestern state.

A veteran of the US Army National Guard, Walz serves as co-chair of the Democratic National Convention’s rules committee.

As governor, he has pushed a progressive agenda including free school meals, goals for tackling climate change, tax cuts for the middle class and expanded paid leave for Minnesota workers.

Walz has long advocated for women’s reproductive rights and oversaw state approval of the right to abortion and protected gender-affirming care. But he has also displayed a conservative bent while representing a rural district in the US House, defending agricultural interests and backing gun rights.

Source: Aljazeera