Harris Chooses Walz

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well you can now find the headlines. wherever you get your podcasts so find. it subscribe to it and thank you and now. here's today's daily from New York Times. I'm Michael Boro this is the. [Music]. daily today the story of how a little. known Midwestern Governor became kamla. Harris's choice for for a running.

mate my colleague Ernesto londono walks. us through the career politics and. sudden startom of Governor Tim wals of. Minnesota it's Wednesday August. [Music]. 7th Ernesto over the past few days we. watched vice president Harris bring the. final three contenders for her running.

mate to her house in Washington DC for a. set of in-person interviews and then we. watched as she seemed to narrow her pool. of choices down to a final to the. governor of Pennsylvania Josh Shapiro. and the governor of Minnesota Tim Walls. and now of course we know that she has. made her choice what has she told us. about her campaign strategy the way she. views this race in ultimately choosing.

Tim Walls Michael I think what the. choice tells us is that kamla Harris was. drawn to two qualities that Governor. walls brings to the table and what's. interesting is they may seem to be. intention for starters here's the. ultimate everyday man somebody who grew. up in a small town in Middle America. served in the National Guard was a high. school teacher a football coach very. plainspoken goes to campaign events. wearing t-shirts and baseball caps is a.

gun owner and very proud about it he. sort of embodies the Midwest and she. clearly thinks that that is going to. bring the kind of moderate white. workingclass voters that the campaign. needs in swing states to come to them to. sort of make this feel like a balanced. ticket and something that will give her. enough of the crucial votes to defeat. Donald Trump in the fall right on the. other hand as Governor he passed a slew.

of pretty Progressive legislation in the. past couple of years everything from. abortion rights to gun control so these. things are likely to appeal to bread. andb butter Democrats but the question. is when voters have examined these two. facets of Tim wals May it bring them. enough enthusiasm from the base and. enough undecided voters that the. campaign desperately needs or at some. point do these two aspects of him start.

canceling each other out right in short. you're saying Harris is betting on a. dual appeal from walls to two essential. constituencies but the risk is that the. appeal to one of them is just much much. greater than to the other right you. could definitely see a scenario where. voters once they've examined Tim walz's. story and Legacy May conclude that both. of the candidates are quite liberal okay.

so tell us the story of Tim Walls a. story that I think a lot of us don't. know cuz we really don't know walls all. that well and how he has come to embody. these two qualities and that tension. that you just described Michael the. origin story of Tim wal's political. career is quite. fascinating he and his wife were social. studies teachers in in a small City.

south of Minneapolis and in 2004 when. George W Bush was running for reelection. wals took a group of his students to a. political rally in his hometown they. wanted to just see the president make. his case and a strange scuffle happened. when they were trying to get in well one. of the kids had a John Cary sticker on. his wallet and this is where the. individual says well you're not going to. be allowed to enter you've been deemed a. threat apparently one of the students.

had a sticker for Bush's rival John KY. on his wallet and security officials at. the rally didn't want to let them in and. I said oh it's okay they're with me and. who are you and I said I'm Tim Walls I'm. their teacher here and showed them my ID. and and they said well you two have been. deemed a threat to the president and I I. said well that's not true and and it. kind of escalated I told and this really. ticked off Tim wal he was really upset. there was a fight and a confrontation at. the rally wow at this point in time I'm.

kind of nervous I'm get arrested so I'm. like saying well you know I'm teacher of. the year in Mano and they didn't care. about that and it was a kind of a sad. Epiphany moment how it felt for people. to be looked right through by people. these these people didn't see me and. this is happening all and ultimately he. sort of walks away from this moment. feeling really sick of the Bush. Administration the politics of the day. and he turns around and volunteers for. the carry campaign. and then the more interested he becomes.

in politics in this era he starts. looking around his congressional. district and there's a republican who's. held this seat for many many years this. was a largely rural District in southern. Minnesota and there's no reason to. believe that a newcomer to politics. somebody without a donor base could make. a run for this seat and win right but. walls signs up for this weekend boot. camp where.

expert campaigners train newcomers who. want to run for office and he gets. really enthused by the idea that he can. pull it off so he starts raising money. with the support of an army of students. who become so thrilled and energized by. the prospect that their nerdy and kind. geography teacher is making this uphill. bid for a congressional race so his. campaign staff is basically his former. students that's right and he proves to.

be a formidable candidate he draws a lot. of attention to his experience in the. classroom and as a coach when I coached. football these stands held about 3,000. people that's a lot it's also the number. of American soldiers who have died. fighting in Iraq he's a very strong. advocate for pulling out of the war in. Iraq serving right now are kids that I. taught coached and trained to be. soldiers they deserve a plan for Iraq to. govern itself so they can come home my.

opponent has the WR and one thing that. happens in the campaign that is really. surprising to people is he comes out as. being in favor of same-sex marriage now. it's useful to remember that this is. 2006 when the vast majority of Democrats. Democrats running for most elected. office were not ready to come out in. favor of same-sex marriage and here's a. guy who's new to politics who's trying. to unseat a Republican who's held on to.

his seat for more than 12 years taking. what appear to be a reckless position on. something and when he was asked about it. at the time Tim Walls told the supporter. you know this just happens to be what I. believe in and I'd rather loose a race. that I've ran being true and consistent. to my values than try to run as somebody. I'm not H and of course he wins yes to. everybody's surprise.

he pulled it. off so from the GetGo he shows a kind of. Maverick politics. bamned quality taking stands that he. knows may be unpopular among the voters. he's trying to win over but he's got. some innate political gifts that are all. making it work yeah I think that first. campaign showed us that Tim wals had. real political chops he was a very.

effective campaigner and people really. liked him when he was knocking on doors. when he was introducing himself to. voters they saw him as somebody who was. very genuine and who was. adorable so once he gets elected in this. conservative leaning District in. Minnesota what does he actually do in. Congress in Congress he develops a. reputation for being somebody who can. work across the aisle and this is a. period where Democrats and Republicans. were deeply polarized over the Iraq War.

he spents a lot of his time lobbying to. expand benefits for veterans so it's. easier for them to go to college after. their service and also becomes a leading. voice in The Quest To repeal don't ask. don't tell the policy that prohibited. openly gay servicemen from serving in. uniform and he remained really popular. he easily won reelection five times the. last time he runs for his seat happens. to be 20 2016 when President Trump wins.

his district by about 15 points and. still you know voters kept Tim Walls in. office I think it's important to note. what you just said walls is. distinguishing himself as a Democrat who. can take some pretty Progressive. positions as he did in that first. campaign on gay rights as he did with. donel and keep winning in very Trump.

friendly districts of his State that's. right and as he's serving his sixth term. in office he sets his sides on the. governor's mansion and decides to run. for office in. 2018 he wins that Race easily and early. on during his time as Governor the eyes. of the world are on Minnesota after a. police officer kills George Floyd and. what we see is Mass mive looting and.

protests in. Minneapolis and remind us how Governor. walls handles that violence those. protests yeah I think that's a crucial. chapter in Tim wal's political career. and one that will come under scrutiny in. the days. ahead after George Floyd was killed on a. Monday people are upset and they're. tired and being black in Minnesota. already has a stigma and a mark on your.

back protests took Route in. Minneapolis want to sit out here and. shoot up your rubber bullet and gas and. they got progressively larger and more. [Music]. violent there comes a point where the. mayor and the police chief in. Minneapolis plead for help they ask the. governor to send in the National Guard. and crucially that request was not. immediate heated this is the third.

precinct here there are fires burning to. the left of it at the and at the height. of the crises a police precinct building. was abandoned there's someone climbing. up the wall right now kicking the window. in trying to climb up the wall because. City officials grew concerned that. protesters were about to overrun it and. may attack the cops inside their own. turf and the building is set on.

fire right a very memorable image I I. can recall it happening in real time. yeah and in the days that followed I. think there were a lot of questions of. why the governor didn't send in troops. earlier and whether a more muscular. decisive response could have averted. some of the destruction that spread. through the city. [Music].

and how does walls end up explaining his. decision not to send in the National. Guard more quickly the governor and his. administration have said that they were. really really dealing with an. unprecedented Challenge and I think. there was a concern that sending in. troops into this really really tense. situation could have done more to. escalate rather than pacify things on. the street but in the week weeks and. months that followed there were a lot of.

questions about Governor wal's. leadership and there were critics who. said during what may have been the most. challenging week of his life we saw a. governor who was indecisive and who. waited too long to send in resources. that ultimately allowed the city to get. to a semblance of order right and it. feels like this is a moment that will. almost assuredly be used against him by. Donald Trump and JD Vance the Republican.

ticket which has made Law and Order so. Central to their message in this. campaign yeah absolutely and here in. Minnesota that was certainly a liability. for him when he ran for reelection in. 2022 but voters kept him in office and. he won that race handedly and not only. did he win but Democrats managed to flip. the Senate and have full control of the. legislature on his watch and that sets. in motion one of the most productive.

legislative sessions in Minnesota. History where Tim wals and his allies in. the house and the Senate managed to pass. a trove of really Progressive. legislation often times on a party vote. tell us about some of that legislation. well Minnesota becomes the first state. in the wake of the Supreme Court ending. the constitutional right to abortion to. actually codify this right under State. Statute and they did a lot more stuff.

they had a huge budget surplus and they. used that for instance to fund meals for. all school children they managed to pass. a couple of gun control laws that were. very contentious they gave the right to. undocumented immigrants to get driver's. licenses they legalized recreational. marijuana and finally the governor takes. a pretty bold St on this issue of gender. affirming care for transgender kids and.

teenagers and says that Minnesota will. be a save Haven for people who want that. Healthcare Soo how should we think about. that Blitz of. legislation and the largely Progressive. tone of it given the way that walls had. campaigned and. succeeded up to that moment as somebody. with such broad appeal across the. political Spectrum when the governor was.

asked whether you know this had been too. much too quickly in terms of progressive. legislation his answer was that these. were broadly popular policies that these. are issues Democrats had campaigned On. and Here Democrats had a window of. opportunity where they were in control. of the governor's mansion in control of. the house the Senate and that when you. have political Capital you spend it but. when you start listening to Republicans. in Minnesota they say here's a guy who. campaigned on this Mantra of one.

Minnesota that was his campaign slogan. and who sort of came into office with. his promise that he would govern in a. bipartisan way reach across the aisle. but when they had all the votes they. needed to pass their policies. Republicans felt that wal was not. bothering to bring them into the fold. and to pass legislation that was going. to be palatable to conservatives in the. state so I think people who once. regarded him as a moderate now start. seeing him as somebody who when he had.

the power acted in ways that were really. Progressive and liberal so at the height. of his power Governor walls emerges as. somebody who when given a shot at. getting done what he really wants to get. done with a democratic legislature is a. pretty Progressive leader even at the. risk of being somewhat at odds with his. earlier image. as more moderate because in his mind.

enough people in the state are Behind. These policies yeah and I think he. assumed that he had banged enough. Goodwill and that people across the. state liked him enough to tolerate. policies they may have disagreed with. and I think it's safe to say you know. among the people who cover him here. regularly there was never any real hint. that Tim Walls was eyeing a run for. higher office he's not somebody who's. written the kind of of political Memoir.

that often times serves as a case of. what you would bring to a national. ticket or to the White House and he. seems pretty happy with the state job so. it was a huge surprise when Tim Walls. starts going viral through a string of. cable news appearances right after. President Biden drops out of the race. and the Democrats are scrambling to put. Harris at the top of the. ticket and what becomes clear is that.

walls is very forcefully auditioning for. the role of Vice. President and Vice President Harris. starts taking him very. [Music]. seriously we'll be right back. [Music].

so Ernesto tell us about this cable news. audition that Governor walls undertakes. over the past few weeks and how. ultimately it seemed to help him land. this job of being Harris's running mate. I think walace does something really. interesting and that is that he says. that Democrats shouldn't be talking. about Trump and vans as existential. threats he kind of makes the case that. Democrats have been in the state of fear. and paralysis for too long and that it's. not serving them well so the word he.

latches onto is weird well it's true. these guys are just weird and and you. know they're running for He-Man women. Haters Club or something that's what. they go at that's not what people are. interested in and and I think one other. thing we see in walls is somebody who's. putting himself out there as a foil to. JD Vance that angst that JD Vance talks. about in hillbilly elogy none of my. hillbilly cousins went to Yale and none. of them went on to be uh Adventure. capitalist or whatever it's not who I.

think the Casey's making is that Tim. Walls is a more authentic embodiment of. small town values what I know is is that. people like JD Vance know nothing about. small toown America My Town had 400. people in it 24 kids in my graduating. class 12 were cousins and he gets it all. wrong it's not about hate it's not about. and behind the scenes people from Tim. wal's days on Capitol Hill start calling. everybody they know. in the Harris campaign and the Harris.

orbit and saying you know here's a guy. who has executive experience as Governor. but also somebody who has a really. impressive record from his time on. Capitol Hill and somebody who could be. an asset in helping a Harris. Administration pass tough legislation MH. so you should take a hard look at this. guy which is of course exactly what. Harris ends up doing and I want to talk. for a moment about how Harris announces. walls as her running mate on Tuesday.

morning she did it in an Instagram. message and it felt like the way she did. it very much embraced this idea that you. raised earlier Ernesto that walls. contains these two appeals one to the. Democratic base one to the white working. class Harris specifically cites the work. that walls did with Republicans on. infrastructure and then CES his work on. gun control. she mentions that he was a football.

coach and the founder of the high school. gay straight Alliance she's stradling. these two versions of walls but I want. to linger on the idea for a moment of. walls' vulnerabilities because once he. becomes Harris's running mate Harris and. walls are going to lose a fair amount of. control over how they present him to the. country because he's going to become the. subject of very attacks from the.

Republicans in this race so talk about. that for just a. moment yeah I mean it's important to. keep in mind that Governor wals has. never endured the scrutiny of a. presidential race so the questions he's. going to be asked and the way his record. is going to be looked at is going to be. different and sharper you know I think. the Harris campaign is billing him as. first and foremost a fighter for the. middle class and I think that certainly. will have some appeal but I think in. coming days there's going to be a lot of.

attention drawn to parts of his record. that may be unpopular with many voters. for instance giving undocumented. immigrants driver's licenses which. Governor wals championed is likely to. provide fodder for an attack ad the very. dramatic footage of Minneapolis burning. in 2020 is also something that I think. people will be drawn to and there's. going to be interest in reexamining what. the governor did and what he could have. done. differently to avert the chaos and on.

Tuesday we saw that the Trump campaign. wasted no time in trying to Define Tim. Walls as soft on crime permissive on. immigration policy and they also made. clear they wanted to relitigate the era. of George Floyd's killing and. specifically they want to try to tie him. to the effort at the time to defund the. police which is a movement that walls. personally never Ed so the Republican. attack here will be pretty simple walls.

is liberal Harris is liberal so in their. efforts to speak to especially white. workingclass and Rural voters in swing. States the Trump campaign is going to. say this is not the ticket for that. group of Voters this is the ticket of. burning police precincts and gun control. and of course that may not be fair but. that's very likely going to be the. message over the next couple couple of. months right I think there's going to be.

effort to portray him as a radical. liberal who has used his small town. routs to put on this sort of veneer of. being a moderate and a really sort of. understanding and being part of the. segments of the electorate that I think. are critical in this election I want to. speak for just a moment about the person. Harris did not pick when she chose walls. because many Democrats had felt that. walls was a potentially too liberal.

seeming running mate for a candidate. kamla Harris who herself comes from a. blue State and is caricatured by the. Republicans as liberal herself and the. person she didn't choose was governor. Josh Shapiro of. Pennsylvania who was seen as having a. huge appeal in that particular key swing. state but also presented risks of his. own of alienating parts of the. democratic base with his well documented. support for Israel and his criticism of.

Campus. protesters how should we think about the. fact that ultimately Harris chose walls. over. Shapiro yeah I think in the final. stretch of this campaign to be the vice. presidential pick we started seeing a. lot of acrimony In Pockets of the. democratic phase drawing attention to. the fact that Governor Shapiro could be. divisive on Gaza which has really sort. of. split the party in recent months so I.

think at the end of the day they made a. calculation that Tim Walt would be more. of a unifying figure and would be. somebody who would sort of inspire and. energize enough pockets of the. electorate that they need particularly. in the midwest to make him the stronger. and more exciting pick and somebody who. wouldn't force them to go back to. defending and retiga the Biden. administration's record on Israel and on.

the war in Gaza right and then on. Tuesday night we got our first glimpse. of Harris and walls together on stage. for the first time at a campaign rally. I'm curious what struck you about their. debut. together good evening Philadelphia. I think everybody was watching the.

opening scene of this rally to see what. the chemistry between these two people. was going to be like and they both. seemed giddy they were literally at. times bouncing with enthusiasm since the. day that I announced my candidacy I set. out to find a partner who can help build. this brighter. [Applause]. future so Pennsylvania I'm here today. because I found such a leader. Governor Tim Walt of the great state of.

Minnesota they soon down to business and. that business was how to define Tim. Waltz for voters who don't know him well. to those who know him best Tim is is. more than a governor and right off the. bat we saw that kamla Harris really. highlighted a lot of pieces of his. pre-political career to his former High. School football players he was coach. she repeatedly called him Coach Waltz Mr.

Waltz evoking his time in the classroom. and even used his military title from. his days in the Army to his fellow. veterans he is Sergeant Major. wall and then when it came time for Tim. wals to introduce himself on this. massive stage welcome the next Vice. President of the United States Tim wall. he drew a lot of attention to his small.

town Roots I was born in West Point. Nebraska I lived in but a small town of. 400 he said something that he said. repeatedly recently in campaign. appearances which is in Minnesota we. respect our neighbors and their personal. choices that they. make even if we wouldn't make the same. choice for ourselves there's a golden. rule mind your own damn. business the golden rule of small towns. is you mind your own damn business which.

is something he said in the context of. his argument that Republicans have been. limiting rather than expanding people's. rights but he also Drew attention to the. fact that he's a gun owner by the way as. you heard I was one of the best shots in. Congress but in Minnesota we believe in. the Second Amendment but we also believe. in common sense gun violence. laws and then when it came time to draw. a sharp contrast with their opponents. Tim Waltz said these guys are phonies.

Donald Trump's not fighting for you or. your family you are he never he never. sat at that kitchen table like the one I. grew up at wondering how we were going. to pay the bills he set his country club. up in Mar Lago wondering how he can cut. taxes for his rich. friends he said it's actually people. like me and Kam Harris who come from. Humble Origins and showed what is. possible in America when you heal from a. workingclass background and you seize.

opportunities that were available to you. thank you Philadelphia thank you vice. president God Bless. [Music]. America so when it comes to this. question of walls' dual identities and. dual. appeals what did we learn on day one of. this this new Democratic ticket do you.

think I think the campaign is trying to. convey that these two facets of Tim. Walter's life are not mutually exclusive. that they don't need to be intention. they don't cancel each other out they're. both part of Tim wal's. story and I think that's how they're. going to present him from now until. election. day oresto thank you very much we. appreciate it it's my pleasure.

[Music]. Michael we'll be right. [Music]. back here's what else you need to. another day on Tuesday Hamas said that. Yaya senoir one of the masterminds. behind the deadly October 7th attacks on.

Israel had Consolidated his power over. the entire. organization until now senoir had held. the title of hamas's leader in Gaza but. with the assassination of hamas's top. political leader by Israel last week. Hamas said that sinir would take on that. title as well senoir remains a major. Target of Israel and is believed to have. been hiding in tunnels underneath Gaza.

since October. 7th and the US Department of Justice has. charged a Pakistani man with ties to. Iran with trying to hire a hitman to. assassinate political figures in the. United. States the man recently traveled to the. US and was arrested in New York last. month American authorities believe that. his potential Target. likely included former president.

Trump today's episode was produced by. Alex Stern Eric krupky and Olivia Nat it. was edited by Lisa chow and Patricia. willins contains original music by Pat. mccusker and Marian Lozano and was. engineered by Alyssa Moxley our theme. music is by Jim brunberg and ven. lansberg of. wonderly special thanks to Nick Pitman.

and Minnesota Public. [Music]. Radio that's it for the daily I'm. Michael Boro see you tomorrow. [Music].