Who is Tim Walz? A look at the VP nominee who beat out Shapiro

Vice President Kamala Harris has tapped Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to serve as her running mate.

Walz made his first public appearance with Harris on Tuesday evening in Philadelphia after beating out Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro for the No. 2 spot on the Democratic ticket.

He’s known for his approachable, Midwestern style. It’s what pundits and peers say ingratiates the governor with his community, the reason he’s been so electable and able to ascend in national politics.

“Tim’s just a freaking down-home guy,” former U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio said to The Guardian.

Here’s what you need to know about Walz and Harris’ decision to choose him over Shapiro.

Walz, 60, currently serves as the 41st governor of Minnesota, after being elected in 2018 and assuming the position in January 2019. He was easily reelected in 2022.

Before becoming governor, he was a congressman for Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, serving five terms and 13 years.

Monday afternoon, Walz released a video about his background on X, formerly Twitter. He talked about graduating from a high school class of 24 people and being related to half of them and emphasized the values he picked up along the way.

“I tried to teach my students what small town Nebraska taught me: respect, compromise, service to country,” Walz says in a voiceover as photos and video clips flash across the screen.

Walz worked for 20 years as a teacher and football coachin Alliance, Neb., and Mankato, Minn.

Before teaching, Walz served for 24 years in the Army National Guard. According to an archived view of his congressional website, Walz was the “highest-ranking enlisted soldier to ever serve in Congress.” He was deployed to Italy to support U.S. operations in the war in Afghanistan in 2003, and also served overseas for disaster response.

Born in Nebraska, he grew up between the small city of Valentine, which has a population of about 2,600, according to the 2020 Census, and the village of Butte, Neb., population 286.

He chairs the Democratic Governors Association and co-chairs the Rules Committee for the Democratic National Convention.

Walz’s 2006 congressional election was a major upset. He bested the six-term incumbent Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht.

The same year Democrats gained 30 seats to take control of the U.S. House amid backlash to then-President George W. Bush.

Walz was a social studies teacher and became active in politics after taking a group of students in 2004 to a Bush rally; at least one of them wore pins for Bush’s Democratic opponent, John Kerry. Walz was angered when some rally goers questioned his students’ politics, and began campaigning for Kerry not long after.

In 2005, he participated in a short, progressive political training program called Camp Wellstone. About two short years after first entering politics, Walz announced he was running for Congress.

Walz is a member of the progressive Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, created in 1944, whose platform includes workers’ rights, family-sustaining wages, and affordable health care. It is the state-level affiliate of the national Democratic Party in Minnesota.

A Democratic majority in the state House and Senate means Walz has been able to pass his agenda. He ended his 2023 legislative session with achievements that include:

The 2023 budget surplus is part of a “record run of budget surpluses,” according to MinnPost.

Shapiro faced the most backlash of any of the top VP contenders since the selection process started two weeks ago.

The Pennsylvania governor’s popularity in the crucial swing state immediately put him in the conversation of potential running mates, but some of Shapiro’s policies drew sharp criticism from progressive voters and interest groups.

Shapiro drew scrutiny from teachers unions over his support for vouchers, which would provide state money to parents who send their children to private schools. Shapiro has said he supports vouchers paired with an increase to public education funding.

Shapiro has also been a full-throated supporter of Israel during its war against Hamas in Gaza, a conflict that has sharply divided the Democratic Party.

Many progressive Democrats have called for a ceasefire as Israel’s war against Hamas. As of July 22, more than 39,000 Palestinians and more than 1,500 Israelis had been reported killed in the conflict.

Still, many in the Democratic Party support Israel. It’s proven to be a largely generational divide, with younger voters often more sympathetic to the pro-Palestinian position.

Shapiro supporters have said the governor was unfairly criticized for his pro-Israel stance due to his own Jewish background, denouncing the opposition as antisemitic. Walz has also been supportive of Israel over his career, as had other VP contenders.

Shapiro will continue to serve as governor of Pennsylvania. He’ll be up for reelection in 2026.

In a statement posted to X, Shapiro said the VP decision was “deeply personal” for him.

“My work here is far from finished — there is a lot more stuff I want to get done for the good people of this commonwealth,” he said.

He went on to say he’ll spend the next three months traversing the state to stump for Harris and Walz.

Whether Walz’s Midwestern charm can help the Harris campaign clinch red parts of the state remains to be seen.

Pennsylvania is a crucial swing state for the presidential election. It’s likely one of the reasons Shapiro was so high on Harris’ VP shortlist. Philadelphia Democratic Party chair Bob Brady, who was part of a very public campaign for Shapiro to become the vice presidential nominee, said he thinks the path to winning Pennsylvania would have unquestionably been easier with Shapiro.

“You wouldn’t have any respect for me if I said it didn’t matter,” said Brady. “It does matter but it doesn’t mean we can’t still win it.”

Walz faced criticism over his response to his state’s George Floyd protests in 2020. Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white police officer in Minneapolis.

The murder by a police officer set off national protests, including in Minnesota. Minneapolis also experienced arson and other unrest in the wake of Floyd’s murder. The mayor of Minneapolis requested Walz deploy the National Guard on May 27, two days after Floyd was killed, because local police were being overwhelmed. Walz did not deploy the troops until the following afternoon.

A 2020 Minnesota Senate report found that “Governor Walz had the ability and duty to use force and law enforcement to stop criminal violence, but he did not.”

Properties in Minneapolis sustained $350 million in damage. Two people were killed as a result of the unrest. One was found dead in the charred remains of a burned down building. Another was shot by a pawn shop owner.

Walz was criticized by then-President Donald Trump at the time and recently when Trump visited the state.

In a statement to the New York Times published Tuesday, a spokesperson for Walz said, “Governor Walz took action and deployed the National Guard to keep our city safe.”

If Harris and Walz win, state law dictates that he’d be replaced by Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan.

It would mark the state’s first female governor as well as its first Native American governor according to MinnPost.

Flanagan is currently the country’s highest-ranking Native woman elected to an executive office, her official bio says. She’s a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe.

Staff writers Julia Terruso and Emily Bloch contributed to this reporting.