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08/06/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 08/06/2024 22:06

What Does Tim Walz Bring to Kamala Harris’ Ticket

What Does Tim Walz Bring to Kamala Harris' Ticket?

The "Midwestern dad" joins Harris as a running mate, balancing out key demographics, say BU scholars in political science and history

With such a condensed campaign window, the Democrats have limited time to make strategic moves, says Christine Slaughter, a BU assistant professor of political science. But the choice of Tim Walz as Kamala Harris' running mate balances the ticket demographically and politically, she and other BU experts say. Photos via Getty Images/Jim Watson (left) and Chris Kleponis/AFP (right)

Politics

What Does Tim Walz Bring to Kamala Harris' Ticket?

The "Midwestern dad" joins Harris as a running mate, balancing out key demographics, say BU scholars in political science and history

August 6, 2024
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He started out as America's "Midwestern dad," a viral sensation lauded for his wholesome, folksy energy. Now, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is in a position to be No. 2 in the country.

Vice President Kamala Harris' choice of Walz as her running mate was widely viewed as a move to balance out her presidential ticket and appeal to a wider cross section of voters. Walz, a former high school teacher and football coach, is also a veteran and gun owner who previously represented a Republican-leaning, rural part of Minnesota. His credentials could help Harris, who just secured the Democratic nomination for president in a virtual roll call, broaden her appeal to white, working-class voters also courted by former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.

In a post on Instagram, Harris said that what stood out to her was that Walz's "convictions on fighting for middle class families run deep. It's personal." She also ran through the highlights of his biography: Walz grew up in West Point, Neb., and enlisted in the National Guard when he was 17, serving for 24 years. He moved to Minnesota after college, and was a social studies teacher, a football coach, and the advisor of the gay-straight alliance club in the Mankato school district. Walz was elected to the US House of Representatives for Minnesota's 1st congressional district in 2006, where he served until 2019, when he resigned after winning the state's gubernatorial race.

Walz nodded to his background in a post on X accepting the nomination from Harris: "Vice President Harris is showing us the politics of what's possible. It reminds me a bit of the first day of school," he wrote, adding that it was "the honor of a lifetime" to join Harris in the campaign.

Walz offers a demographic balance to the Harris campaign. Harris, the first Black and Indian woman to lead a major party ticket, selected a Midwestern white man as her running mate-a choice that many political analysts have been predicting since President Joe Biden stepped out of the race nearly three weeks ago.

"In recent years, the idea of 'balance' has reappeared in terms of demographic balance," says Bruce Schulman, the William E. Huntington Professor of History at the Boston University College of Arts & Sciences. "The Democrats have three times (Mondale-Ferraro in 1984, Clinton-Kaine in 2016, and Harris-Walz) and the GOP once (McCain-Palin) 'balanced' gender on their tickets. You could consider this a case of both gender and ethnic-racial balance."

BU Today spoke to two BU experts in politics and history for some further perspective on Harris' pick: Christine Slaughter, a CAS assistant professor of political science, who studies race and ethnic politics and political psychology, and Andrew David, a College of General Studies senior lecturer in social science, who researches 20th-century political history.

Q&A

with Christine Slaughter and Andrew David

BU Today:Professor Slaughter, from your perspective as a scholar of race and ethnic politics, as well as political psychology, what does Walz bring to the Harris ticket?

Slaughter: It's important to keep in mind that this, too, is a play thinking about identity politics. Walz has an ability to connect with Midwestern voters, rural voters, male voters, etc. So, he brings not only his experience as a governor-as an executive of a state-but also his ability to balance out a key demographic of the Democratic Party that is important to Vice President Harris' success in November.

BU Today:The New York Times notes: "Every one of Ms. Harris's finalists for the job, including Mr. Walz, was a white man who had some record of winning in Republican areas." What does it say about our national politics that a Black and Indian woman is expected to "balance her ticket" in this way?

Slaughter: Well, first, I think we should recognize the importance of having a Black and Indian woman at the top of the ticket.

But we saw, even with Barack Obama in 2008 as a multiracial, Black candidate, that he, too, faced the constraint of needing to appoint someone on his ticket that had experience in the Senate and had been a longtime broker of bipartisan politics. So, I think this says today what it said then: there are still constraints on who is able to secure our highest office.

The other aspect of this, though, is that this is such a condensed campaign. It was [just over] two weeks ago that President Biden exited the presidential contest. And early voting, in some states, starts in September. So, strategically, I think the maneuvers that Harris and the Democrats are able to make are limited.

BU Today:We've seen from Trump's performance at the National Association of Black Journalists conference that Harris will face racist, xenophobic attacks during this campaign. How might Walz fit into this picture, either as a defender of Harris or as a surrogate?

Slaughter: I think we saw that Trump utilized the National Association of Black Journalists to make it appear that he still had the support among Black voters that we've seen dissipating since Biden exited the race. It seemed to be an attempt to leech some of the enthusiasm that we've seen for Vice President Harris by attacking her identity. But what we know from racial and ethnic politics is that many Black Americans have a strong racial identity, so those attacks actually may have worked in Harris' favor to hunker down on support for someone who not only is a Black woman, but a South Asian woman, and who has experience in the White House. So, [Trump's attacks at the NABJ conference] actually gave her some momentum.

Now, how does Walz fit into this picture? Well, for one thing, I think Vice President Harris has shown that the primary role of the vice president is to support the president. So, Walz will be the supporter of candidate Harris in the same way that we saw Biden support Obama and Harris support Biden, and, to a lesser extent, J. D. Vance for Donald Trump.

BU Today:What's the role, historically, of a vice presidential running mate during the campaign, and how does Walz's pick fit into those trends?

David: Vice presidents can serve a variety of purposes. One of the most important is party unity. If you look at someone like Franklin Roosevelt, he picks John Nance Garner-at that point [early 1930s], a very prominent Democrat from Texas. Roosevelt picks him because Garner represents a more traditional aspect of the Democratic Party. John F. Kennedy did the exact same thing in 1960. So, the idea, "I'm going to pick someone who represents a different part of the party than I do," is pretty prominent. And I think the idea of the [current] vice president from California picking a Midwesterner is an attempt to capture a chunk of the population where the Democratic Party has really struggled in the last couple years.

The other thing is that you want someone who has qualities you, being the presidential candidate, don't [have]. So, famously, in 1952, Dwight Eisenhower was beloved by many Americans. In fact, he still is the modern president with the highest approval ratings. But Eisenhower can't go out on the campaign trail and say, "Look at my terrible opponent, who's a monster." But Richard Nixon, his vice president at the time, can do that. And Nixon's really good at that. In that case, you want someone who can be the attack dog.

The other side of that balance is what Trump did in 2016. Trump was very comfortable and was accepted by the public making these aggressive statements. He wanted someone like Mike Pence who can say, "No, I represent a different aspect of the party. I can give legitimacy to this guy. I'm going to seem like the voice of reason."

So, Walz is a National Guard veteran. He's, again, a Midwesterner. He was a union member at one point. He can speak to a rural upbringing, a small-town vision of America that Harris, being from California, can't.

BU Today:What impact do vice presidential selections typically have on an election?

David: We have had some very effective vice presidents. I think back to Kennedy, who narrowly won in 1960. And part of the reason he won that election is because the Democratic Party was fractured going into 1960, they didn't know who their standard-bearer was going to be. Kennedy pulls it together, and part of the way he signals, "Hey, look, I'm a Democrat you can trust," is by selecting this immensely popular Democrat from Texas to be his running mate.

BU Today:How does Harris' selection of Walz compare to Trump's selection of Vance?

David: I think the reason Trump picked Vance makes sense in terms of what the campaign was trying to do: Trump wants to reaffirm his vision of the Republican Party, and Vance as his modern political incarnation. This is a vision of the Republican Party that he believes in.

But Vance also has an appealing personal story. It was made into a Hollywood movie. It was a best-selling book. It's that idea of, "I know what Americans are going through. I've been there. Look what I did. I can tell you that the policies my administration will enact are policies that will help people like you."

Now, I think we're seeing something interesting with the Democrats' campaign. Normally, when you pick vice presidential running mates, you want to balance out what the other party's doing, but there's not necessarily a major focus on that. Oftentimes, this is a secondary decision. Yet, I think Walz is absolutely an attempt by the Democrats to say, "You want to see what this looks like in real life? Here's the guy. We know [Vance] reinvents himself. He's trying to sell you on authenticity. But that's not him. Instead, [Walz] is a guy who represents, in reality, all the things that our opponent says he's representing." And that, I think, at the very least, shows that Harris' campaign is evaluating that aspect of Vance's résumé as something that they have to compete with, as well.

These interviews were edited for clarity and brevity.

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  • Molly Callahan

    Senior Writer

    Molly Callahan began her career at a small, family-owned newspaper where the newsroom housed computers that used floppy disks. Since then, her work has been picked up by the Associated Press and recognized by the Connecticut chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. In 2016, she moved into a communications role at Northeastern University as part of its News@Northeastern reporting team. When she's not writing, Molly can be found rock climbing, biking around the city, or hanging out with her fiancée, Morgan, and their cat, Junie B. Jones. Profile

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