Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has been picked as Kamala Harris’ running mate — and the American left couldn’t be happier.
This is not because Walz himself is an ideological leftist. He certainly has progressive credentials, though — in 2023, he passed a series of left-liberal reforms called “The Minnesota Miracle” — he has taken more centrist positions on a whole slate of hot-button issues like crime.
The left’s romance with Walz is intertwined with a deep-seated animosity with his main rival for a spot on the ticket: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. Who has Harris’ decision on Shapiro? A history of hostilities With the pro-Palestinian faction of the party, he was seen as a bellwether for whether he would meaningfully diverge from Biden on Gaza. Walz looked like the most progressive anti-Shapiro available and therefore emerged as the left’s preferred option.
Walz’s elevation earned the left a major victory. Yet because Walz himself is not of To the left, the pick seems intended to serve a unifying purpose: a candidate who appeals to Democrats of different stripes for different reasons. The thing is Democrats across the political spectrum Seemingly thrilled by the selection — starting with the effective support from people of Joe Manchin from (WV). Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) — The theory appears to be valid.
It’s important to be clear: VP elections are less important to elections than people think. Choosing a potential president is far more important than an optimal running mate.
But you can see why Harris picks Walz as a savvy politician. This simultaneously extends the left’s winning hand without necessarily making him a leftist—potentially keeping his coalition together and even serving to win over centrists in decisive general elections.
Is Tim Walz a progressive or a moderate? yes
According to the record, it may seem that there are two Tim Walzes: Progressive Governor Loved by the American left, and Central Member of Congress who preceded him. Yet in reality, reconciling two people is easier than you might think.
Minnesota’s miracle reform, enacted in a single legislative session, reads like a progressive wish list. These include paid family leave, free school meals, legalization of marijuana, a 100 percent clean energy mandate by 2040 and several protections for organized labor.
But I use the term “progressive” deliberately and not its cousin “leftist”. The Minnesota Miracle policies are entirely within the Democratic mainstream: none betray ideological commitments to the socialist or otherwise radical wings of the party.
Actually, there is Walz clashed with the Left in the past
As governor of the state where George Floyd was murdered, he faced significant pressure to sign off on defunding the police. Yet he instead rejected the idea Signing a slate of police reforms That keeps police funding steady and remits in 2020 $300 million to local public safety offices In 2023.
Walz has become the factional favorite of the left not because he is one of them, but because he is the best they can hope for. The left-wing case for Walz may be hard to separate from the left-wing case against Shapiro—anyone The left hates it for Offensive comments He developed an affinity for the Palestinians in college and bitter enmity with pro-Palestinian protesters on campus.
But Walz’s position on Israel-Palestine is hardly leftist. Aggregated by The Atlantic’s Yar Rosenberg list of Walz’s position and actions Which largely reflects the traditional pro-Israel consensus. Walz’s position on how to end the current Gaza war Virtually identical to Shapiro. The most important difference is less Middle East policy than domestic: Shapiro is much tougher on pro-Palestinian campus protests than Walz.
So even if Walz is the left’s nominee, he’s not the candidate of the left He is a mainstream Democrat with a record that both progressives and moderates can love.
It’s good politics if you appease the left
The best political case against Walz is that Minnesota isn’t really a battleground. Had Harris chosen Shapiro of Pennsylvania instead, he would have maximized his chances of winning the most important state in the Electoral College.
But the idea that vice presidents deliver their swing states is overstated at best — and probably wrong. My colleague Eric Levitz recently took a deep dive into political science research on this topic, and the weight of evidence strongly suggests that vice presidents don’t really have much of an impact on the final presidential outcome.
By contrast, there is at least some reason to believe that Walz’s unique ability to appeal to all factions of the Democratic Party could help Harris expand.
Trump’s strongest attack on Harris, at least to date, is that he is too far to the left. scored one each (suspicious) metric As the most liberal member of the Senate in 2019, he has criticized Republicans for previous positions on everything from Medicare-for-all to banning fracking to decriminalizing border crossings.
In response, Harris veered toward the center: rejecting his past unpopular positions in favor of positions more moderate with mainstream public opinion. The message that the Republican is “weird” is designed to enforce the idea that he represents the vast American middle while Trump is the true extremist.
Walz helps make this message more believable.
Very typical Midwestern white guy, he Invented literal “weird” attacks On Trump and JD Vance. Although he has recently played up his progressive credentials, he has also demonstrated the ability to take centrist positions when it is politically convenient. He has a knack for winning people over with displays of empathy, including talking about Trump supporters relatives and neighbors. In his endorsement of Walz, Sen. “I can think of no one better than Governor Walz to help bring our country closer together and restore balance to the Democratic Party,” Manchin said.
Moreover, his celebrity status on the left gave Harris significant running room to maintain strategic centrality. By handing a victory to his left, he theoretically built up a great deal of credibility that he could use to fend off a left-wing revolt over his more centrist positions.
From Harris’s point of view, Walz selection is an exercise in coalition management. It helps keep the Democratic base united and strong as he continues his new moderate outreach to swing voters in the general election. If he’s right, the choice may be more important in Pennsylvania — and elsewhere — than Shapiro’s association with his brand.
