Who is Tim Walz, Harris’ pick for vice president?
The Minnesota governor began his career in the Army National Guard and later worked as a high school teacher and football coach before entering politics.
Vice President Kamala Harris on Aug. 6 selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, choosing the state leader, veteran, and former school teacher to be her right-hand man in her quest for the White House.
Walz, 60, was born in rural Nebraska and joined the Army National Guard at the age of 17, serving for 24 years before retiring with the rank of command sergeant major.
He moved to Minnesota in 1994 with his wife Gwen Walz, a Minnesota native, and began teaching high school and coaching football. Walz joked on X: “You do not leave that job with a full head of hair. Trust me.”
In 2006, he made his first foray into electoral politics, winning the seat in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District in the south of the state. There, he served for six terms, eventually becoming the ranking member on the Veterans Affairs Committee.
In 2018, he won the governorship in Minnesota, and was reelected in 2022.
As governor, Walz has signed into law bills codifying abortion rights, expanding free lunch for all public school children, and establishing extreme risk protection orders known as “red flag” laws to keep guns out of the hands of people judged to be a danger to themselves or others.
In January 2023, when the Minnesota Legislature passed the Protect Reproductive Options (PRO) Act, Walz hailed the bill as “a firewall against efforts to reverse reproductive freedom.”
“No matter who sits on the Minnesota Supreme Court, this legislation will ensure Minnesotans have access to reproductive health care for generations to come,” Walz said in a statement when he signed the bill. “Here in Minnesota, your access to reproductive health care and your freedom to make your own health care decisions are preserved and protected.”
Walz received an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association when he was in Congress. However, following a 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead, he denounced the NRA as the “biggest single obstacle to passing the most basic measures to prevent gun violence in America” and called for gun safety laws to help prevent future mass shootings.
Walz wrote in an op-ed in the Star Tribune after the shooting: “We can’t accept mass shootings becoming the status quo. We can’t accept the shootings that don’t generate headlines, either. And we can’t accept one more day of thoughts and prayers from our elected leaders that lead only to more inaction. I say this as someone who has handled guns my whole life: I’m a lifelong sportsman and a 24-year-veteran of our military. I say this as someone who grew up in a rural area and lives in greater Minnesota, where hunting and guns are part of so many people’s lives, including mine. And I say this as an elected official who has received A ratings and campaign contributions from the NRA in the past.”
In 2023, Walz signed a “red flag” gun safety bill into law.
“As a veteran, gun-owner, hunter, and dad, I know basic gun safety isn’t a threat to the Second Amendment – it’s about keeping our kids safe,” Walz said in a May 2023 press release. “There’s no place for weapons of war in our schools, churches, banks, or anywhere else people are just trying to live their lives. Today is about taking meaningful action to create a safer future for our kids, and I am proud to sign this commonsense, life-saving legislation into law.”
Walz has defended his record against Republicans who label him as liberal.
“They can label me whatever they want if it means kids aren’t going hungry at school and women can make their own health care decisions,” Walz told CNN’s Jake Tapper on July 28.
