Harris decides on Tim Walz as running mate

CNN:   Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota as her running mate, elevating the former teacher and Army National Guard veteran to join the Democratic ticket and help lead the party’s fight to defeat Donald Trump.

The selection – which Harris personally delivered to Walz via a video call, according to a source familiar with the matter – caps the Midwestern Democrat’s short but swift ascent from a relative unknown to a leading driver of the party’s attacks against the former president and the MAGA agenda.

Walz emerged from the most accelerated vice presidential search in modern history from a shortlist that included half a dozen Democrats, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly. The vice president held in-person interviews with Walz, Shapiro and Kelly on Sunday.

While Harris and Walz did not enjoy much of a previous relationship, aides said Harris grew increasingly enthused by how Walz genuinely carried himself and found a warm chemistry with him during a final meeting Sunday at her residence at the Naval Observatory. Harris was impressed “by his authenticity,” a person close to the process told CNN.

At a Tuesday rally in Philadelphia, their first joint appearance together, Walz portrayed himself as both a folksy Midwestern everyman and an attack dog for Harris.

“Thank you for bringing back the joy,” he said to Harris as he took the lectern, saying he is “thrilled to be on this journey” with her and second gentleman Doug Emhoff.

“We’ve got 91 days. We’ll sleep when we’re dead,” Walz told the crowd. “Over those 91 days, and every day in the White House, I’ll have Vice President Harris’ back every single day – and we’ll have yours.”

In a remarkable two-week period, Walz ascended from a third-tier candidate to a final contender in the view of Harris and her vetting team. He was propelled by support from across the Democratic Party, progressive and moderate groups alike.

“He talks and looks like a lot of the voters we’ve lost to Trump,” said a longtime Democratic operative who was supportive of Walz from the day President Joe Biden stepped aside.

In March, Walz accompanied Harris when she became the first sitting vice president to visit a clinic that performs abortions. A source close to Walz said that visit, along with the time Harris spent with the governor as he campaigned for reelection in 2022, had a “big impact.”

“The chemistry was really important to Harris and it really clicked for both of them,” the source said. “Then, on top of that, the Harris campaign, like all of us, saw how energizing Walz was for the base.”

Trump’s campaign has already begun crafting a narrative around Harris decision on Walz, with one source saying the vice president “bent the knee to the anti-semitic, anti-Israel left and chosen someone as dangerously liberal as she is.” Shapiro, considered another finalist for the role, is Jewish and has been critical of some demonstrators who have protested Israel’s war against Hamas.

Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that Walz “has spent his governorship trying to reshape Minnesota in the image of the Golden State.”