Who is Tim Walz? What to know about Kamala Harris’ pick for vice president

As governor of Minnesota, Walz has made school lunches free for all students, created a paid family and medical leave program, increased public school funding, legalized recreational marijuana, and made abortion a fundamental right under state law.

A former football coach, high school teacher, and veteran with rural roots could be the next vice president of the United States.

Kamala Harris on Tuesday picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate, capping off weeks of speculation over who she’d choose. 

Harris, who became the Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race last month and endorsed her, made her selection Tuesday morning. In announcing her pick, Harris praised Walz’s commitment to improving people’s lives. 

“One of the things that stood out to me about Tim is how his convictions on fighting for middle class families run deep. It’s personal,” Harris wrote in a post on Instagram.

“He grew up in a small town in Nebraska, spending summers working on his family’s farm. His father died of cancer when he was 19, and his family relied on Social Security survivor benefit checks to make ends meet. At 17, he enlisted in the National Guard, serving for 24 years. He used his GI Bill benefits to go to college, and become a teacher. He served as both the football coach and the advisor of the Gay-Straight Alliance.”

These experiences, Harris wrote, have informed his approach to governing.

So who is Tim Walz? Let’s take a look. 

Walz’s life and career before politics

As Harris said, Tim Walz was born and raised in a tiny farming town in Nebraska. In the summers, he worked on a cattle ranch, and when he turned 17, he joined the Army National Guard.

During the 24 years he served in the military, Walz went from artillery specialist to command sergeant major. His tenure included postings around the US and in Europe and a deployment overseas after the 9/11 attacks.

Walz then went on to pursue a career in education after using his GI benefits to earn a bachelor’s degree from Chadron State College and a master’s degree from Minnesota State University, Mankato.

His first teaching job was on South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, one of the poorest areas in the country. He then became one of the first American teachers authorized to teach high school in China. After returning from China, Walz taught high school geography and coached football for over 20 years in Minnesota. 

Entering politics

Walz first got involved in politics in 2004, when he volunteered for John Kerry’s presidential campaign.

From there, he decided to run against incumbent Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht in Minnesota’s 1st district two years later. Walz beat Gutknecht, and served as one of the few Democrats in Congress from a rural district for 12 years before being elected governor of Minnesota in 2018.

Walz was also the highest-ranking enlisted soldier to serve in Congress at the time of his election. 

Walz’s record as governor

During Walz’s first term as governor, he was limited by a divided legislature, as Republicans controlled the state Senate. But after Walz won reelection and Democrats won full control of the Minnesota legislature in the 2022 elections, they successfully passed one of the most ambitious policy agendas of the past 60 years.

Using a nearly $4 billion dollar budget surplus last year, Walz and the legislature gave working- and middle-class Minnesotans tax rebates of $1,000 per individual or $2,000 per couple, approved 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for workers, and established a child tax credit to help working families.

Under Walz’s leadership, Minnesota also dramatically increased funding for public schools, invested over $1 billion in child care and early learning opportunities, made public college free for students with a family income under $80,000, invested $1 billion to expand access to affordable housing, banned medical debt from impacting credit scores, banned hidden scam fees, and lowered the cost of prescription drugs.

Walz also signed into law bills that legalized recreational marijuana, made abortion a fundamental right under state law, implemented universal background checks for gun sales, and increased protections for workers in Amazon warehouses, construction sites, hospitals, nursing homes, and public schools.

Those achievements represented a turnaround from Walz’s first term, which saw him faced with the twin crises of the COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. 

Looking ahead to November

While Walz had received praise for his role in passing the barrage of legislation in Minnesota, he had not become a national figure until after Biden dropped out of the race. But over the past two weeks, Walz’s profile skyrocketed nationwide as he emerged as one of the most effective critics of the Republican party.

Walz was the first high-level elected official to call the Trump-Vance ticket as “weird” and “strange” — a message since adopted by wide swaths of the Democratic Party. 

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Walz was also able to paint a stark contrast between what Democrats like Kamala Harris and himself wanted and the Republican agenda, ultimately persuading Harris that he was the right person to stand by her side heading into November. 

“We are going to build a great partnership,” Harris said. “We are going to build a great team. We are going to win this election.”