Harris picks Minnesota governor Tim Walz as running mate for 2024 race

United States vice president and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota governor Tim Walz to serve as her running mate in the 2024 presidential race

The news comes just weeks since Harris took over the Democratic ticket for the 2024 presidency after the withdrawal of incumbent President Joe Biden.

A reenergised Democratic base has now seen Harris gain ground on former President Donald Trump with just over three months until the November election.

Walz, the 60-year-old father of two and Nebraska-born governor of Minnesota had emerged as a vice-presidential frontrunner, along with Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro and several others.

A moderate Democrat in Congress where he served as a representative for Minnesota from 2007 to 2019, Walz is seen as an appealing working-class politician with a rural background.

Before running for office, Walz, a graduate of Chadron State College in Nebraska, served in the Army National Guard, and then worked as a teacher, first on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where he met his wife Gwen, a fellow teacher, and then in China and later as a high school teacher in Mankato, Minnesota, south of Minneapolis.

As governor, some of Walz’ political accomplishments include ensuring tuition-free meals at participating state universities, enshrining abortion rights into state law, banning conversion therapy and providing protections for gender-affirming healthcare – Walz recently defended those measures against right-wing criticism in a CNN interview earlier this month, joking: “What a monster! Kids are eating and having full bellies so they can go learn and women are making their own healthcare decisions.”

Walz also signed a bill last May expanding voting rights in Minnesota for an estimated 55,000 formerly incarcerated residents, and in 2020, oversaw the state’s response to both the COVID-19 pandemic and police brutality protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police, though he faced criticism from state Republicans over his delayed response to protests following Floyd’s killing.

Vice President Kamala Harris secured the Democratic nomination for president, becoming the first woman of colour to win a major party’s nomination and officially setting up her match-up against former President Donald J. Trump.

Harris, 59, earned the support of 99% of 4,567 delegates who cast ballots, the Democratic National Committee said on Monday.

Harris, whose mother was an immigrant from India and whose father is from Jamaica, would be the first Black woman and first person of South Asian heritage to hold the office.

Harris landed at the top of her party’s ticket after President Biden withdrew from the race on July 21 under pressure from his party and cleared a path for Harris’s ascent.

In the two weeks since, the party has rushed to align behind her, retooled its message, raised millions and tried to harness a swell of enthusiasm for its new candidate.

Harris first ran for president in 2019, while in her third year as a senator from California.