Walz Had One Line On His Resume No One Else Could Offer
The statement from the Kamala Harris presidential campaign announcing the selection of Tim Walz highlighted his record of policy wins as Minnesota governor, noting he “cut taxes for working families, lowered the cost of insulin, and protected women’s right to choose.”
Similarly, many progressive activists and labor groups coalesced around Walz because he worked with Minnesota’s Democratic-controlled state legislature on a bold agenda, enacting measures that mandate clean energy for all electricity generation by 2040, create a paid family and medical leave program, provide free school breakfasts and lunches, require universal background checks for gun purchases, ban anti-gay conversion therapy, and expand pre-kindergarten access.
But other governors considered by Harris like Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro and Kentucky’s Andy Beshear had legislative records to tout—under tougher political conditions with Republican-controlled legislative chambers. Illinois’s J.B Pritzker, in a deep blue state, also racked up big legislative wins.
Walz has been a great surrogate in media appearances. But many political observes saw Shapiro as similarly sharp and effective, with a comparable record to Walz in winning votes in the reddish portions of their states.
But there’s one thing Walz had that they didn’t.
First, here’s what’s leading the Washington Monthly website:
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Unlike Shapiro, Beshear, and Pritzker, Walz clocked in 12 years as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
And Harris could use a wingman who knows Congress.
She is the sitting vice president. But her legislative resume is thin, existing solely of four years in the Senate during the Donald Trump presidency when Democrats weren’t doing much legislating.
Harris’s position is not unusual. Quite the opposite. Like Harris, Barack Obama didn’t complete his lone Senate term. Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter were governors with no Washington experience at all.
All three picked sitting senators for running mates to help them govern an unruly Washington.
However, a sitting senator wasn’t as easy an option for Harris.
Hailing from deep blue California, Harris needed geographic balance. And as a woman of color, probably racial and gender balance as well.
But Democrats currently cling to the Senate by their fingernails. To pluck an incumbent senator from a non-coastal red or purple state would either risk an immediate lost seat (in the cases of Montana’s Jon Tester or Ohio’s Sherrod Brown, now on the ballot battling for their political survival), or in 2026 (such as with Arizona’s Mark Kelly or Michigan’s Gary Peters.)
A sitting House member is a risky move since it’s very hard to argue one is more “ready on Day One” than a governor or senator.
Walz, however, is a sitting governor who also has a solid House resume.
While his gubernatorial record is one of great progressive accomplishment, his House record is one of moderate bipartisanship, including passage of a veterans suicide prevention bill and a ban on insider trading by members of Congress.
During his run for governor in 2018, a time when Republicans controlled the House, he touted his bipartisan credentials in an interview with Minnesota Public Radio: “In the minority, I found myself being very effective because the Republicans needed someone at times. There isn’t still a piece of veterans legislation that is not sent back to me, even by the majority.”
Knocking out progressive wins in a blue state with a friendly state legislature is nice. But Harris knows all too well that legislating in Washington, even when your own party controls both chambers, is an entirely different beast of a task.
More than anyone else who fit Harris’s political needs for a running mate, Walz knows how Congress works and how to make Congress work.
While we can’t read Harris’s mind, to my eye Walz stood out from the short list as the best possible governing partner.
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Best,
Bill Scher, Washington Monthly politics editor
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