Vice President Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, capping the Midwestern Democrat’s short but swift ascent from a relative unknown to a leading driver of the party’s attacks on Donald Trump and the MAGA agenda.
Walzamania is running wild. I checked out his resume and background. He is the best choice and a decent human. Which is rare in these times. I give props where it is due for Dems not fucking up here.
Wondered where I remembered him from, it was this juxtaposition of photos:
Additional context: around the same time Governor Walz (upper) was signing a bill for guaranteed school lunches the Governer of Arkansas (lower) was signing a bill rolling back protections on child labor.
Brilliant pick. This is the kind of energy that will get the Midwest to drive this national election and bring enough casserole for everyone at the potluck
Between the response to this ticket and the big antitrust win today, this is the most optimistic I've been about the direction of American politics in a very long time.
My sister used to be the head of the environmental department of one of the suburbs of Minneapolis. She's met Tim Walz a few times, and has had nothing but good things to say about both his personality and his attitude toward the environment. The US has pretty slim pickings for good politicians these days, but I really feel that Tim is on that list. I'm feeling hopeful about American politics for the first time since I learned about how American politics works!
I loved this guy since the juxtaposition photos between him and the child labor folks. I wonder if Harris campaign is getting to make decisions because this whole situation blindsided DNC officials/strategists who have historically made stupid calls. They haven't had 4 years to overthink a campaign.
As cynical as I am, I think laughing Harris just felt a good feeling about smiling Walz that she just didn't get from Shapiro, and no strategist hack was able to convince them otherwise.
To me, as Bernie Sanders flavored "Socialist", Walz is an amazing pick.
However I had a preference for Kelly since I strongly believe that his history as an astronaut and his popularity in a state like AZ could help drive a lot of independent voters to the Democrat's platform come November.
All that said, progressives know that progressive policy is also extremely popular when messaged broadly and communicating the benefits to the invidual and country. Hopefully Kamama & Walz use their experince with their A* campaign team to drive that home. And then fucking deliver.
Yeah! I was so worried she'd tank her momentum by picking Shapiro and ham-handedly presenting it. I continue to be impressed with the Harris team's ability to both politic and stay tapped into the people's sentiments.
As much as I would have liked to see her make a strategic pick who could help her win an at risk state like Arizona or Pennsylvania, he has less baggage than Shapiro.
I think too, there's strategy in a non-strategic pick. The cynics would have said "Oh, she only picked Shapiro because she needs Pennsylvania" or "Yeah, yeah, he's an astronaut, but she wants Arizona".
In this case? I think he's going to be a delight to watch. He'll devastate Vance in the debate.
After feeling absolutely hopeless with the democratic direction for basically 3 years, I had put out of my mind the liklihood that they would pick Walz.
As a MN resident I floated him like 4 months ago as a Biden replacement over shitlibs like Newsome, but I honestly didn't expect leadership to consider him for anything other than his current position
I'll be sad to see him go but I'm much less nihilistic about the general now, so I'll take it.
Anyway, after seeing Walz’s record I think he’s a great choice. Unfortunately as VP he’s not a policy-maker, even though the VP can wield some influence, but hopefully his presence will drive things in a positive direction.
I still wonder if Kelly would have delivered more cheap voter appeal, but Walz is doubtless the best pick on merit and policy and will be the better asset as VP should she win.
In the end though I'm just so happy it's not Shapiro (please announce it officially so I can breathe).
Never heard of this guy but a quick search suggests he's got a decent record. I'm not American though so my opinion doesn't matter, but looks like a good pick to me!!
Ill be saddened to lose him as governor, but to see him go onto larger issues and to help more people -- I guess that's a sacrifice we can make. Flanagan seems to a be competent lieutenant gov, so we're still helmed by good people.
This is okay. Although I think they should've picked Hunter, because he has cooler criminal charges than Trump, and would've been able to out flank the republicans on the crime front.
The best possible choice she could have made. It fills me with joy the democratic party didn't stand in the way. I for sure thought she was going to pick Obama's boy Shapiro.
This is reassuring. I've claimed for a while that Dems are excellent political tacticians, but MAN do they suck at the long-term strategies due to being unwilling to play hardball. Meanwhile, the Right are great at long-term strats and often fail when it comes down to making quick, tactical decisions that fall outside their plans. Then Harris here stepped in after an honestly excellent choice by Biden, and we are seeing just how skillful someone on the Left can be when there isn't any time to be a moron.
I think this was a poor pick. Penn's governor was a good candidate, but also didn't have the George Flyod riots in his political past. You're already seeing Republicans key in on that.
I don't ever wanna hear any move about how we need to get old white rich people out of politics, cause you guys clearly don't mean it. This guy is the exception, but so was sanders? Come on.
Get some young blood like buttegieg in there please