Meet Kamala Harris’s running mate Tim Walz, the first one to call Republicans ‘weird’

The week after Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and a host of Democratic governors gave a press conference firmly stating their support for the president. During the Republican National Convention, Waltz showed up in neighboring Wisconsin for counter-programming.

Then, Biden announced he would not seek re-election and passed the torch to Kamala Harris. All of a sudden, the former high school football coach with a heavy midwestern accent and former congressman who represented a district that voted for Donald Trump found himself in the hunt to be Harris’s running mate.

Walz faced stiff competition from contenders like Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky and Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. As time went on, rumors swirled especially around Shapiro — but ultimately, Harris picked Walz on Tuesday morning.

“Someone like him or someone like Governor Beshear [as a veep pick] would be absolutely beneficial to competing for rural votes,” Matt Barron, a political consultant who worked with Walz in the past and specializes in electing Democrats in rural areas, told The Independent ahead of the announcement.

Walz has also earned plaudits from progressives for passing a series of priorities like free school meals for children regardless of income status, paid family leave, paid sick leave and gun legislation.

“It's one of those things where Minnesotans are having this [moment] like: Oh my gosh, do we have to share him with the rest of the country?” Senator Erin Maye Quade, who serves in Minnesota’s legislature as a senator, told The Independent. “This was a really lovely secret that we kept from the rest of the rest of the country. Like, they