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Kamala Harris loved Tim Walz’s governing record in Minnesota. His biography and record of winning tough races resonated with her. And most of all, she just really liked him.
The Minnesota governor and vice president sat down for a one-on-one interview Sunday and connected, despite having little relationship prior to the vice presidential selection process, according to two people close to the process granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.
But several other factors were important to Harris as well, according to one of the people. Harris appreciated Walz’s two terms as governor because he had accomplishments in Minnesota that Harris wants to replicate in her presidency — access to reproductive health, paid leave, child tax credits and gun safety.
Harris was also taken with Walz’s biography — a former high school teacher, a football coach and a veteran who flipped a Republican-leaning district in 2006 — which she believes will play well in all three of the Blue Wall states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, including his win as a House member in a Republican district.
Walz is seen by Harris’ camp as a deft messenger, popularizing “weird” as a messaging framework to describe former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance — a cutting and clear tagline that went viral over the last two weeks.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, another finalist, avoided the green-room circuit and instead touted Harris and his own record at a series of events throughout the state. A pro-Harris event in Philadelphia turned into a Shapiro-for-VP party.
His style was seen by at least some in Harris’ world as showboating. One senior Democrat in touch with Harris’ team called it “counterproductive.”
And there was a sense within Shapiro’s team that, unlike Walz, his interview with Harris did not go as well as it could have. There was “not a great feeling” coming out of it, according to a person in touch with his advisers.
After their meeting on Sunday, Shapiro called Harris’ team and made clear that he was “struggling with the decision to leave his current job as governor of Pennsylvania, in order to seek the vice presidency,” according to a person familiar with the selection process.
Harris’ team initially cast a wide net that included as many as a dozen names, according to two people familiar with the vetting process granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. But that group quickly narrowed to about nine candidates who were asked to submit material to the vetting team, including financial disclosures and campaign ads from previous races.
The vetting team was led by campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon, campaign Chief of Staff Sheila Nix, former Attorney General Eric Holder, former White House counsel Dana Remus and Tony West, Harris’ brother-in-law and a former top official in the Department of Justice.
The team met with six of the candidates over Zoom last week, including Walz, Shapiro, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. The vetting ended on Thursday and Holder and Remus put together their findings for a panel of Harris confidantes.
That panel included former Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, Harris campaign adviser Cedric Richmond and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.). They interviewed the candidates again on Friday.
On Saturday, those involved in the process, joined by Harris’ White House Chief of Staff Lorraine Voles, briefed Harris on their findings, discussing each candidate for about an hour to 90 minutes. By that afternoon, Shapiro, Kelly and Walz were invited to the Naval Observatory for one-on-one meetings with Harris, described as a “chemistry test.”
Harris and her staff wanted to take as much time as possible, considering the stakes of the decision and the truncated process she had to employ. Harris told staff on Sunday that she wanted to sleep on it, a person involved in the vetting told POLITICO, adding that Harris made the decision yesterday and told a small set of staff Monday evening.
Harris’ staff was preparing for the possibility that any one of the finalists could be picked. Beginning Sunday, staff prepared videos, messaging memos, stump speeches and website graphics for all three men.
