Tim Walz as Harris's VP pick
Should Kamala Harris have selected Tim Walz as her running mate? Viewpoints from multiple sides.
.jpg){kind=link}
New to Framechange? Sign up for free to see multiple sides in your inbox.
Learn more about our mission to reduce polarization and how we represent different viewpoints here.
Quick announcements
Comments are now live on the Framechange website! We aim to be a platform that promotes independent thinking and empathy for opposing views. Help us build that community by sharing your perspective at the bottom of this week’s edition! (You can find a comment link in the footer of every email.)
We're also debuting a new "Snippets" section this week. Snippets are brief summaries of major news from the week to keep you updated on current events. This is our first new feature launch in response to our inaugural survey, where a significant majority of you expressed interest in a section like this.
Let us know any feedback you have on these features or any other requests!
Snippets
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris agreed to a Sep 10 debate on ABC News. Trump said he proposed two additional September dates on Fox News and NBC News.
The S&P 500 jumped 2.3% on Thursday, its best single-day performance since 2022, after a better-than-expected jobless claims report eased fears behind steep stock market declines earlier this week.
Ukraine launched a surprise cross-border assault on Russia’s Kursk region with troops and armored combat vehicles, prompting a state of emergency declaration in the region.
Incumbent Rep. Cory Bush (D-Missouri) was defeated by St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell (D) in a House of Representatives primary this week, a contest largely dictated by divergent views on Israel-Gaza.
A federal judge ruled in a significant antitrust case that Google has held an illegal monopoly in search and advertising, setting up follow-on proceedings to determine potential changes.
What’s happening
On Tuesday, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris announced Minnesota governor Tim Walz (D) as her vice presidential running mate. Harris picked Walz over two other finalists, Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro (D) and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Arizona).
How he got here: Walz, 60, grew up in Nebraska where he became a teacher and joined the Army National Guard, serving for 24 years and rising to master sergeant before retiring. During that period, he moved to Minnesota where he continued to teach and coached a high school state championship football team.
In 2006, Walz won a House of Representatives seat in a rural, southern Minnesota district against a Republican incumbent and served in that post from 2007 to 2019, the year he became Minnesota governor. He was re-elected to a second term as Minnesota governor in 2022.
Current policy views: Walz’s recent history as Minnesota governor helps illuminate some of his stances:
Immigration: Walz signed laws that enable undocumented immigrants a chance to access Minnesota’s free college tuition program, obtain state driver’s licenses, and enroll in the state’s publicly subsidized healthcare program. Walz has also supported a path to US citizenship for “Dreamers.”
Abortion: Walz enacted a 2023 law that protects abortion access as a state right and prevents it from being reversed by courts, later signing a law protecting individuals traveling to Minnesota for abortion care from legal prosecution by authorities outside the state. Minnesota has effectively permitted abortion through all stages of pregnancy since Roe v. Wade (1973).
Education: Walz passed a bill providing universal free school breakfast and lunch for participating schools and legislation that provides free state college tuition to qualifying families making less than $80,000 in annual income.
Transgender issues: Walz enacted a 2023 law that legally protects individuals seeking transgender treatments in Minnesota and legislation that bans “conversion therapy,” the practice of advising individuals on gender identity.
Climate: Walz signed a bill that requires Minnesota to consume 100% of its energy from carbon-free sources by 2040.
Other: Walz has also implemented pro-worker reforms such as paid family leave and state-run medical leave, restored voting rights for convicted felons, and legalized recreational marijuana use for adults.
Walz’s nomination has surfaced debate over his potential impact on Harris’s candidacy and policy influence. This week, we bring you the viewpoints from multiple sides. Let us know what you think.
Notable viewpoints
More supportive of Tim Walz’s VP nomination:
Walz will help Harris’s candidacy.
Choosing Walz, who is more progressive than alternative candidates but popular throughout the Democratic party, likely gives Harris leeway to take more centrist stances on the campaign trail at a lower risk of backlash from the progressive end of the coalition.
Walz was a safer bet for Harris than early frontrunner Shapiro who, while more moderate than Walz, may have had liabilities including his relative political inexperience, mixed reputation on gender issues, and vocal opposition to anti-Israel protestors which may have divided the Democratic base.
Walz was considered more of a centrist congressman during his tenure in the House of Representatives from 2007-2019 and more progressive as Minnesota governor, a balanced record that will appeal to both moderates and progressives.
Walz’s profile – which includes former Army National Guard, House of Representatives ranking member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, hunter, former football coach, and teacher – make him a well-rounded vice presidential candidate that will resonate with middle class voters more than the elite lawyer alternatives.
Walz can help win over voters in midwestern swing states such as Michigan and Wisconsin, where Walz is well-known given the state shares a media market with Minnesota.
“Walz is aggressively normal; his public persona is the human embodiment of a dad joke. This non-threatening masculinity allows him to posit his own progressive values as normative American values – and to contrast the Republicans’ maximalist social conservative agenda as a creepy intrusion on the American way of life.” (Moira Donegan, The Guardian.)
If Harris is elected, Walz will promote an effective policy agenda.
Walz’s record as Minnesota governor reflects the balance he may bring to the Whitehouse; while enacting many left-leaning priorities such as paid family leave and organized labor protections, Minnesota was still ranked as the 6th-best US state for businesses according to a 2024 CNBC study.
Walz distinguished himself in passing meaningful policies as governor of Minnesota, where he signed bills codifying abortion rights, protecting access to transgender treatments, and formalizing gun control rules such as universal background checks and red flag laws.
Walz’s accomplishments as Minnesota governor on education – which include free breakfast and lunch at school, expanded literacy programs, and greater access to mental health – and agriculture – which include state support for farmers and farmer training – are examples of effective policy ideas he could bring to the nation.
Walz’s working class background, which includes 24 years of service in the Army National Guard, a teaching career, and personal experience with burdensome family medical debt after his father’s passing at a young age, positions him to promote government initiatives that help level the playing field for people enduring common life struggles.
Walz has taken moderate approaches while governing; despite facing pressure from the left to defund the police in the wake of George Floyd’s death in 2020, Walz signed reforms that kept police funding steady in Minnesota while implementing alternative changes, and later spoke out against the concept of defunding the police in 2021.
While some contend Walz is opposed to Israel’s operation in Gaza, his track record and statements demonstrate a more traditional support for Israel with calls for a ceasefire; the key difference between him and Shapiro on the issue is Shapiro’s historically harsher critique of pro-Palestine protests on campuses.
More critical of Tim Walz’s VP nomination:
Walz will not help Harris’s candidacy.
Walz’s response to the George Floyd protests, where he delayed calling in the National Guard to enforce order, will likely be criticized by Republicans and viewed negatively by key voters.
Walz’s immigration record is too-progressive; he’s signed various legislation enabling undocumented immigrants living in Minnesota to obtain driver’s licenses, access free healthcare, and gain free college tuition.
Walz was not particularly popular as Minnesota governor, winning re-election in 2022 at 52% of the vote compared to 54% in 2018.
Shapiro would have been a better pick for his popularity (64% approval rating) in the critical Pennsylvania swing state and his youth (51 years old) compared to Walz (60 years old), which would have heightened the Harris campaign’s contrast to the Trump ticket.
Walz is too progressive.
“After his party gained a one-seat majority in the state senate in 2022, Walz embraced nearly every insane idea it rammed through the legislature, including driver’s licenses for illegal aliens, marijuana legalization, voting rights for convicted felons, stricter gun laws, and automatic, permanent mailing of ballots to people who sign up just once to vote by mail.” (Dan McLaughlin, New York Post.)
Walz has a progressive climate agenda, including a requirement for Minnesota to consume 100% of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2040, which will send energy prices high and inflict hardship on ordinary citizens.
While Minnesota had built a $17.6B budget surplus leading up to 2022, Walz and his Democratic majority spent most of it on infrastructure and education programs while raising taxes for corporations and the wealthy.
One of Walz’s more progressive efforts as Minnesota governor was his signing-into-law protections for individuals seeking legal transgender treatments in Minnesota from prosecution by out-of-state authorities and discouraging the approval of health plans that don’t cover transgender treatments.
Walz has a history of governing poorly.
Walz has a history of governmental oversight; for example, a 2024 audit found that Feeding Our Future, a federally-funded nonprofit providing reimbursement for meals provided to children during the COVID-19 pandemic, was defrauded of $250M at meal sites across Minnesota while the program was overseen by the Minnesota Department of Education.
Walz failed in his response to the George Floyd riots by not taking swift measures to restore order and delaying in calling in the National Guard, as riots cost the city of Minneapolis an estimated $55M+ in damages.
As Minnesota governor, Walz employed overly aggressive COVID-19 lockdown procedures, including a hotline encouraging people to report their neighbors violating social-distancing rules.
Walz has a poor track record as Minnesota governor; from 2018 to 2023, the crime rate increased above the national average and student math and reading scores fell despite upticks in state funding.
Other viewpoints:
While some argue choosing Shapiro could have helped Harris win the critical Pennsylvania swing state, evidence shows vice presidential candidates don’t necessarily deliver victories in their own states and don’t have a significant effect on the presidential outcome.
Harris’s pick of Walz demonstrates a shift in Democratic political strategy in favor of appealing to the progressive base over conventional philosophy to placate the center, which former President Bill Clinton institutionalized during his 1992 presidential win.
While Harris’s pick of Walz may not hurt, she should offset his liberal addition to the ticket by adopting and messaging as many moderate positions as she can to come off as more centrist to voters.
Walz was a safe pick for Harris that is likely intended to avoid headlines about misalignment within the Democratic party and internal disagreement over the Israel-Gaza war that may have emerged had Harris picked Shapiro.
Picking Walz over Shapiro, who could have likely won over more moderate and across-the-aisle voters, is a continuation of a damaging trend for American politics that prioritizes “motivation over persuasion” and “prioritizes party unity over outreach.”
Support Framechange by sharing it
Help us reduce polarization by spreading the word on Framechange. We believe our world would be a better place if everyone had a straightforward understanding of multiple sides. We'd greatly appreciate it!
➡️ Share the link to our homepage with a friend and tell them to subscribe.
➡️ Share on LinkedIn here, X here, or Facebook here.
Be heard!
We want to hear from you! Comment below with your perspective on Tim Walz’s selection as Harris’s running mate and we may feature it in our socials or future newsletters. Topic ideas to consider:
Do you support or oppose Tim Walz’s selection as Harris’s running mate?
What are some arguments or supporting points you appreciate about a viewpoint you disagree with?
Give us your feedback! Please let us know how we can improve.
#BTW
Check out this Lord Huron hit, “The Night We Met.” Listen on Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon Music.