When Vice President Kamala Harris chose Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday, Democrats were quick to praise the Minnesota governor not just for his policy accomplishments but for a more personal trait: his straightforward, sometimes goofy affability.
“Tim’s hallmark is his ability to speak like a human being and treat everyone with decency and respect,” former President Obama said in a statement.
Walz's ability to cut through political jargon and deliver a straightforward message appealed to Harris, according to a person familiar with her decision-making process.
Waltz and the “weird”
Walz shot to the forefront of Harris's vice presidential pick list with one word: “weird.”
“There are strange people on the other side,” Walz said in an interview on MSNBC. “They want to take your books away, they want to be in your exam room. That’s what it comes down to, and there’s no sugarcoating it: These are strange ideas.”
The news spread. Soon, videos of Walz's “strange” debut flooded social media and raised his national profile.
Walz has repeated the word in other appearances in recent weeks.
“These guys are just bizarre,” he said at a recent campaign event. “Are they a threat to democracy? Yes. Are they going to take away our rights? Yes. Are they going to endanger people’s lives? Yes. Are they going to endanger the planet by not addressing climate change? Yes, they’re going to do all of that.”
But the left does not own the word.
“Now, Kamala Harris is saying we’re ‘weird,’” said Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, President Trump’s former running mate, at a campaign rally in Atlanta. “Well, Kamala, I’m glad you brought it up. Let’s talk about some things that are weird. We think it’s weird that Democrats want to put sexually explicit books in little kids’ libraries. We think it’s weird that the far left wants to allow biological males to beat up women in boxing.”
On Trump and Vance
Another Midwesterner, Walz attacked his vice presidential opponent for Vance’s characterization of the American Midwest in his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”
“He’s completely wrong,” Walz said. “The golden rule is that you have to mind your own business. His policies are what destroyed rural America.”
“Telling it like it is” was a trait many Republicans credited with Trump’s rise when he ran for office in 2016. Many voters said they preferred a swaggering candidate who didn’t talk like a traditional politician. Perhaps that’s why, during Trump’s first campaign for office, Republicans downplayed a leaked recording of Trump saying he grabbed women by the genitals. His campaign dismissed the comments as “locker room talk.”
On abortion
Walz has been an outspoken advocate for abortion access, one of the most important issues for Democrats in this election. And unlike President Biden, who has previously said Roe v. Wade went too far and, as a Catholic, often seems uncomfortable talking about the topic, Walz embraces abortion as a regular topic of conversation.
In an interview with CNN's Kaitlan Collins, Walz praised Harris for visiting a reproductive health care clinic and frequently using health terms like “uterus.”
“I think older white men need to learn to speak up about this a little bit more,” Walz said. “And I think the most important thing is to listen to women. Listen to what they’re saying. We’ve seen that when we listen to them, they speak up about it loudly and they do it at the ballot box.”
On gun control
As a gun owner, Walz was a rarity in his party: a Democrat backed by the National Rifle Association. But after a gunman went on a shooting rampage at a school in Parkland, Florida, killing 17 children, Walz disavowed his support and strongly backed more legislation to restrict gun access.
“When I first came into Congress, I had an A rating from the NRA,” Walz said in a speech to Minnesota lawmakers last year. “Now I have all Fs; I sleep perfectly at night.”
As governor, Walz has signed into law laws imposing stricter background checks on people who buy guns and increased penalties for those who buy guns to give to others.
“I’m a veteran and a hunter, and for many years I was one of the top marksmen in Congress, and I got the trophies to prove it,” Walz said. “I know guns as well as anybody, but I’m sick of talking about it. Because I’m not just a veteran, I’m not just a hunter, I’m not just a gun owner. I’m a father, and for many years, I was a teacher. And we all know full well that weapons of war have no place in our schools, in our churches, in our pews.”
