Trump, Harris campaigns race to define Democratic running mate Tim Walz

The Kamala Harris and Donald Trump presidential campaigns on Tuesday raced to push out dueling portraits of newly announced Democratic running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

To hear the Harris campaign tell it, Walz is a relatable moderate. According to Trump’s operation, he’s a radical leftist.

What neither campaign disputes is that Walz is a relative unknown on the national stage. In a campaign that is playing out on a turbo-charged timeline, both camps have a narrow window to shape how voters view Harris’ running mate.

According to an NPR/Marist poll released Tuesday morning, 70% of registered voters had either never heard of Walz or had no clear opinion of him. Among those who did have an opinion of Walz, 17% were favorable and 12% were unfavorable, the survey found.

Harris praised Walz’s character and his working-class background in her rollout, describing him as a champion for average Americans who has a track record of success.

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

Walz’s brand new bio on the Harris campaign’s website refers to “family” or “families” eight times, and highlights his life as a National Guardsman, high school teacher and football coach before he entered politics.

The bio describes Walz in ways that, at times, make him sound like a traditional Republican. He won a seat in Congress in a conservative-leaning district by “representing the needs of farmers and rural America,” it says, before touting his support for the Second Amendment and his gubernatorial record of “putting more cops on the street.”

It also notes his efforts to enshrine abortion rights in Minnesota after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Walz’s triumph in the Harris veepstakes quickly won the approval of labor unions and some young activists who had been pulling for him.

“I’m hearing from a lot of young voters who are really excited. A month ago they could barely imagine voting,” New Yorker staff writer Jane Mayer wrote on X.

The Trump campaign and its Republican allies, meanwhile, are trying to frame Walz’s selection as a capitulation to the Democratic party’s far-left flank.

“It’s no surprise that San Francisco Liberal Kamala Harris wants West Coast wannabe Tim Walz as her running-mate,” Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Tuesday morning.

“Walz has spent his governorship trying to reshape Minnesota in the image of the Golden State,” Leavitt said. “Just like Kamala Harris, Tim Walz is a dangerously liberal extremist, and the Harris-Walz California dream is every American’s nightmare.”

Sara Craig, executive director of the Republican Governors Association, wrote in a memo: “While Walz will try to sell himself as a relatable moderate, his record shows that he consistently backs the most liberal policies that national Democrats have to offer and will be in lockstep with the Democrat agenda that has already failed Americans.”

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said on Fox News, “This is a very dangerous ticket, a very liberal ticket, a very progressive ticket.”

The campaign also sought to project confidence about what the pick means for their odds of victory in November, casting it as an unforced error by the Harris campaign.

“THANK YOU!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Tim Walz? What a relief,” Kellyanne Conway, a longtime Trump aide, said on X.

The early wave of attacks, many of which preceded the Harris campaign’s official announcement, showed Republicans trying to head off Democrats’ efforts to introduce Walz to the nation as an avuncular, straight-talking midwestern populist.

Walz joined the Harris ticket as Trump’s own running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, has struggled to quell a slew of bad press in his initial weeks on the Republican presidential ticket.

Vance has come under fire for some of his past remarks, including denigrating women without children as “childless cat ladies.” He has pushed back on criticism of the comment, saying he was being sarcastic and that his broader point was about defending families.

Vance has also faced repeated questions about his 180-degree shift in recent years from vocally opposing Trump to supporting him. Some recent polls show Vance’s unfavorable ratings have grown since he became Trump’s running mate.

Some Republicans claimed that Harris picking Walz over another top contender, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, showed Democrats siding with progressives who have been among the loudest critics of Israel during its war with Hamas.

Shapiro, who is Jewish, came under scrutiny from the left for his support of Israel. Shapiro’s defenders have charged that he was unfairly singled out, possibly because of his religion, since his views closely resembled those of other potential Democratic running mates.

“The [Democratic] party is not home for strong supporters of Israel,” Ari Fleischer, the White House press secretary under former President George W. Bush, said on X. “It’s time for the Jewish community to recognize the power in the [Democratic] party rests with its anti-Israel progressive base.”

Vance said earlier Tuesday that if the Harris campaign did not pick Shapiro, antisemitism would be to blame.

“Well, look, if it’s not Josh Shapiro, I agree with you. I think that they will have not picked Shapiro, frankly, out of the antisemitism in their own caucus, in their own party,” Vance told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt. Harris’ husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, is Jewish.

Vance told reporters later Tuesday morning that he left a voicemail for Walz. “I just said, ‘Look, congratulations. Look forward to a robust conversation and enjoy the ride,'” Vance said. “And maybe he’ll call me back, maybe he won’t.”

Shapiro on Tuesday morning called Walz “an exceptionally strong addition to the ticket.”