Vice President Kamala Harris chose the Minnesota governor as her running mate in the 2024 race for president
It’s official: Kamala Harris has announced that her running mate for her 2024 presidential campaign is Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
It has been a whirlwind few weeks for the vice president, who became the presumptive Democratic Party nominee less than three weeks ago after President Joe Biden decided to drop out of the race, following pressure from his party and supporters alike.
Harris subsequently jumped into campaigning with only 100 days to go before Election Day, as of July 28, and moreover, had to go through a significantly truncated search for a running mate, a vetting process that typically takes well over a month to go throughThough other names such as Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro had been floated around as strong options, Walz, 60, became increasingly popular in the last two weeks both for his varied resumé, wholesome and unifying personality, progressive values, and more recently, for coining a new dig at far-right Republicans: calling them “weird.”
Below, catch up on everything to know about the candidate, from his small town background, sweet love story with his wife, and more.
The Minnesota governor met his wife when they were both teachers
Walz, who is originally from West Point, Nebraska, graduated from Chadron State College, and later became a teacher and coach at a school in Alliance, Nebraska, where he met his wife, fellow teacher Gwen Walz (née Whipple).
They tied the knot in 1994, and two years later moved to Gwen’s home state of Minnesota, specifically Mankato, where Walz again became a teacher and coach at Mankato West High School. During his time at the school, he led the football team to its first state championship, and was a faculty advisor for the school’s first gay-straight alliance in 1999.