WIREDGOV

EXPERT COMMENT

Tim Walz has been embraced by both moderates and progressives in the Democratic party, but what impact will Kamala Harris’s VP pick have on the outcome of the race?

US Vice President and Democratic Party presidential candidate Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate in the November US presidential election. But who is Walz and does this choice enhance or hinder Harris’ chances of defeating former US president and Republican candidate Donald Trump and his running mate Senator J.D. Vance? And what does it mean for everyone living outside the United States, who get no vote, but have to live with the consequences of the US election?

What do we know about Tim Walz?

Walz, 60, has been a popular Minnesota governor, elected twice, with a healthy 56 per cent home state approval rating in a recent survey. But he is disliked by Republicans in his state, who complain that he campaigns as a moderate but governs as a progressive.

Expect this to be a line of attack the Trump-Vance campaign will pursue, charging that Walz doesn’t know who he is (just as Trump attacks Harris for identifying both as Indian and Black) and thus voters won’t know what they are getting.

Click here to continue reading the full version of this Expert Comment on the Chatham House website.