August 06, 2024 08:24 AM UTC

Presenting The Harris/Walz Ticket

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #2: The Trump campaign is perplexed at how to respond:

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UPDATE: Colorado’s Gov. Jared Polis thumbs-ups the selection of fellow Gov. Tim Walz to serve as Vice President after humorously level-setting his own chances of being picked last month:

With a proven Governor on Kamala Harris’s ticket, the path to victory is now even brighter. My friend Tim Walz is a strong governor who has delivered results, fought to protect and expand our freedom, and has a shared vision to help build a better future.

Sen. Michael Bennet:

Governor Tim Walz has been a longtime champion for ending child poverty. Together, we can send him and VP Harris to the White House and build an economy that when it grows, grows for everyone, not just the people at the top.

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NBC News reports the story driving the day today, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has been selected by Vice President Kamala Harris to take over her job when Harris shatters the nation’s final glass ceiling in November:

Vice President Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her vice presidential running mate, according to three sources with knowledge of the pick, adding a popular Midwestern state executive to the Democratic ticket as the party gears up to hold onto key northern battleground states this fall.

In picking Walz, who’s in his second term and also served 12 years in Congress, Harris will have as her No. 2 someone with a proven record of winning over white working-class voters in Rust Belt states while also boasting a robustly progressive record.

Democrats will hope that mix of attributes helps a Harris-Walz ticket shore up support in the onetime “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan — longtime Democratic strongholds at the presidential level that Donald Trump flipped in 2016 and Joe Biden flipped back in 2020. This year, they’ve been seen as Biden’s, and now Harris’, most viable path to victory.

Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver, who served with Walz in the House, was quick to respond with enthusiasm this morning over his selection:

We’ll update with more local reactions as they come in. The consensus view this morning is that Walz is an energizing pick for the progressive Democratic base, who can appeal to crucial Rust Belt constituencies more authentically than his ill-conceived counterpart on the right.