Kamala Harris picks Tim Walz as running mate in US election

Vice President Kamala Harris has picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate on Tuesday, according to three people familiar with the decision.

In choosing Walz, she is turning to a Midwestern governor, military veteran and union supporter who helped enact an ambitious Democratic agenda for his state, including sweeping protections for abortion rights and generous aid to families.

The selection caps the Democrat's short but swift ascent from a relative unknown to a leading driver of the party's attacks on Donald Trump and the MAGA agenda.

Harris had not formally called Walz to offer him the position, a source familiar with process told CNN.

The Democratic Party US presidential nominee is set to introduce her new running mate at a rally on Tuesday evening in Philadelphia.

Harris, the first Black woman and person of South Asian descent to lead a major party ticket, initially considered nearly a dozen candidates before zeroing in on a handful of serious contenders, all of whom were white men.

In landing on Walz, she sided with a low-key partner who has proven himself as a champion for Democratic causes.

Walz has been a strong public advocate for Harris in her campaign against Trump and Vance, labelling the Republicans "just weird" in an interview last month. Democrats have seized on the message and amplified it since then.

During a fundraiser for Harris on Monday in Minneapolis, Walz said: "It wasn't a slur to call these guys weird. It was an observation."

Walz, who grew up in the small town of West Point, Nebraska, was a social studies teacher, football coach and union member at Mankato West High School in Minnesota before he got into politics.

He won the first of six terms in Congress in 2006 from a mostly rural southern Minnesota district, and used the office to champion veterans issues.

Walz served 24 years in the Army National Guard, rising to command sergeant major, one of the highest enlisted ranks in the military.

He ran for governor in 2018 on the theme of "One Minnesota" and won by more than 11 points.

As governor, Walz had to find ways to work in his first term with a legislature that was split between a Democratic-controlled House and a Republican-led Senate.

Minnesota has a history of divided government, though, and the arrangement was surprisingly productive in his first year. But the COVID-19 pandemic hit Minnesota early in his second year, and bipartisan cooperation soon frayed.

Walz relied on emergency powers to lead the state's response. Republicans chafed under restrictions that included lockdowns, closing schools and shuttering businesses. They retaliated by firing or forcing out some of his agency heads. But Minnesotans who were stuck at home also got to know Walz better through his frequent afternoon briefings in the early days of the crisis, which were broadcast and streamed statewide.

Walz won re-election in 2022 by nearly 8 points over his GOP challenger, Dr Scott Jensen, a physician and vaccine skeptic.

Not only did Walz win, Democrats kept control of the House and flipped the Senate to win the "trifecta" of full control of both chambers and the governor's office for the first time in eight years.

A big reason was the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision, which held that the Constitution doesn't include a right to abortion. That hurt Minnesota Republicans, especially among suburban women.

Harris' campaign planned to make the announcement via video message before the rally, though the exact timing remained unclear, according to a person involved in the planning who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail discussions occurring behind closed doors.

Doing so would be similar to how then-candidate Joe Biden revealed Harris as his vice presidential choice during the pandemic-marred presidential race of 2020.

It will mark be another major milestone in the barely two weeks since the vice president moved to take over the top of the Democratic ticket heading into November's election.

She has been scrambling to build out a campaign since then, and to breathe new life into the Democratic race against Republican Donald Trump.

– Reported with Associated Press and CNN.