Kamala Harris has chosen the most unassuming man in the Midwest as her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the guy who wittily called MAGA Republicans “weird.”
This development is likely to be causing strong discomfort to two other political rivals.
First up, Gavin Newsom. No matter what our curly-haired leader says, he has his sights set on the Resolute Desk. Now, even if the Harris-Walz ticket doesn't win, he has Walz ahead of him in line. Ouch!
And second, of course, is JD Vance, who must be drinking Pepto-Bismol with glasses of buttermilk after hearing this news. About a week ago (which is about two millennia by the current political calendar), Walz called Vance “weird.”
By today’s standards of labeling immigrants as “animals” and “rapists,” as former President Trump has done, “weird” sounds like the least of insults.
But it stuck to them like gum on the soles of MAGA shoes. Or maybe it stuck to their souls. For some reason, it got to them, especially Vance.
Since then, Trump has had to defend his chosen one, who can't shake the image of being weird. Of course, his comment about “cat ladies without children” didn't help.
But the strange label has put even Trump on the defensive.
“They are the weird ones,” he said in a recent interview. “No one has ever called me weird. I am many things, but I am not weird and I am sincere, and neither is he, I assure you, JD is not weird at all, they are.”
That's the “I'm rubber, you're glue” defense popular in first-grade classrooms across America.
But if anyone is not an oddball in this election, it's Walz, and that makes him an excellent choice.
This guy is a true Minnesotan, in the best sense of the word. He was in the Army National Guard for 24 years. He coached football. He was a social studies teacher on a Native American reservation in China for a year, and then at a public high school where he served as advisor to the first gay-straight alliance club.
Since then, he has been an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights, in a part of the country where there is often little political capital to do so.
He has signed laws protecting gender-affirming health care. He has stopped banning books containing gender issues.
He has protected the right to abortion and banned so-called conversion therapy, the controversial practice of trying to stop being homosexual through religion or other methods.
He's clearly a progressive, though it seems central casting sent him to play “conservative grandpa,” even though he's only 60 (clearly, a 60-year-old Minnesotan is an 80-year-old LAn). No offense, but he doesn't look young.
But he acts young, and he is definitely young at heart.
Perhaps most endearingly, he posts videos with his college-bound daughter Hope that are pure fatherly fun and a joy to watch. They have authentic Fargo-style humor (yes, I know we're in North Dakota. Pretty close). I just saw one of them at the Minnesota State Fair (Walz in a Springsteen t-shirt) that had me cracking up:
Walz: Let's go get something to eat. A hot dog with sausages?
Esperanza: I am a vegetarian.
Walz: Türkiye then.
Hope: Turkey meat.
Walz: Not in Minnesota. The turkey is special.
Yes, it's silly, but this guy has a lot of integrity. You want to argue about family values? Good luck raising that with Walz.
That’s why this Harris pick is so telling. Walz is just a good guy. Whether you ask around in political circles or research his life, he has a habit of standing up for the values that MAGA Republicans claim to love — but also love to squash.
If you put him in a debate with Vance, my prediction is that Vance will come across as shrill and petty. Walz has proven with his leadership in Minnesota that you can have a kind and inclusive government without the world falling apart.
Last year, Walz created a plan to “make Minnesota the best state in the nation for children to grow up in.”
That's exactly what Vance claims to be doing, albeit by putting children and families into a little white Christian nationalist box.
Walz, by contrast, has given free school lunches to children, made college free for more people and provided significant state tax credits for families.
What about those policies, Vance?
And what happened when MAGA put IVF in the crosshairs? Well, Hope is an IVF baby. Walz had this to say about it:
“Even if you’ve never been through the hell of infertility, someone you know has. When Gwen and I were having trouble getting pregnant, anxiety and frustration overshadowed the sun. For JD Vance to oppose the miracle of IVF is a direct attack on my family and many others.”
You may recall that we have yet to hear many specific policies from Trump or Vance, other than the promise to separate immigrant families and deport millions of people.
Instead, “we’re leading the nation on climate, gun safety, and protecting reproductive rights. We’re investing in education and ensuring no child has to learn on an empty stomach. We’re expanding voting rights, expanding workers’ rights, and reducing child poverty,” Walz said on Twitter (now X) last year.
Walz has what even Harris lacks: a real track record of successfully doing the right thing.
And, as an added benefit, if the Harris-Walz ticket were to win, Walz's lieutenant governor, Peggy Flanagan, would become the first Native American female governor in U.S. history.
So yeah, I'm a waltz-maniac and there's nothing weird about it.
