After weeks of speculation the democratic nominee and current Vice President Kamala Harris has announced her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, according to the Associated Press this morning. The announcement comes after days of Americans guessing who her vice president would be, with news outlets reporting yesterday that the decision had narrowed down to Walz or Pennsylvania Gov. Ben Shapiro .
Kamala Harris doing this with Beshear, Walz, and Shapiro this weekend pic.twitter.com/dP9N2Mlprp As news broke Tuesday morning, social media circulated with memes and hot takes, as Americans shared their opinions on Walz as the potential next vice president.
“Kamala Harris choosing Walz is VERY significant. It is a reminder that we can and must use our voices to get the outcomes we want. It also signals that VP Harris is listening to the voices of young, grassroots, pro-ceasefire, and other voters.
This is very encouraging,” Marc Lamont Hill , City University of New York presidential professor and host of BET News, wrote on Twitter/X. TO THE WINNDOOOW!!!!! TO THEEE WALZ!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.
com/v9XrHo3x5t Abortion advocates also responded to Harris’ announcement. “Governor Walz, like Vice President Harris, knows that abortion being legal alone is not enough to ensure people can get the care they need. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, Governor Walz and bold elected officials in Minnesota took historic steps to break down barriers to care for Minnesotans and people traveling to the state,” Nourbese Flint , president of All* In Action Fund said in a statement emailed to Reckon.
“This type of clear-eyed leadership is exactly what we need in the White House. How we show up and what we do in the next three months will define our future and the futures of generations to come.” Abortion is one of the top issues on the ballot in the election, with five states confirmed to have abortion-related questions on the ballot .
Abortion is legal in Minnesota and has become an access hub, with the amount of out-of-town patients tripling between 2020 and 2023, according to Axios . As governor, Walz has worked to further protect abortion and other aspects of reproductive health. According to the Reproductive Freedom Alliance , a nonpartisan coalition of 23 governors working towards expanding reproductive rights, Walz led two of the most consequential legislative sessions for reproductive health in Minnesota, implementing safeguards in 2023 and 2024.
Though abortion in Minnesota became legal through a 1995 state Supreme Court decision , he started 2023 by enshrining abortion into state law in January , ensuring that reproductive rights would be protected regardless of who sits on the court in the future, making Minnesota one of the most protective states in the U.S. In April 2023, Walz signed the Reproductive Freedom Defense Act , protecting abortion seekers and providers traveling to Minnesota against legal attacks, simultaneously signing bills that protects youth from conversion therapy and ensuring people could access gender-affirming care in the state.
CNN’s Jake Tapper credited the governor with starting the “weird” trend against Republicans, referring to Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance as “weird,” and having weird behavior like referring to horror movie character Hannibal Lecter on the campaign.
During a July interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Walz was asked if his progressive record, including legalizing recreational marijuana, expanding LGBTQ+ protections, and implementing free breakfast and lunch for students could harm the Democratic ticket or be labeled as “ultra-liberal.” “What a monster! Kids are eating and having full bellies so they can go learn, and women are making their own health care decisions. And we’re a top-five business state and we also rank in the top three of happiness,” Walz said.
“If that’s where they want to label me, then I’m more than happy to take the label.” On the White Dudes for Harris fundraising Zoom call last week, Walz shared that his daughter Hope was conceived after seven years of fertility treatment and spoke out against Project 2025 and the men pushing it. “Keep hammering on these guys.
This idea of calling them out for who they are, shrink them,” Walz said on the call. “Is he a danger to society? Yes. Is he a danger to women’s health? Yes.
Is he a danger to world peace? Yes. But don’t give him more credit than he needs, he’s just a strange, weird dude as we’ve been saying.” BREAKING - Governor @Tim_Walz , who joined #WhiteDudesforHarris last Monday, has been named @KamalaHarris ' VP pick! He’s an amazing leader who delivered a powerful speech last week highlighting the importance of protecting fertility treatments like IVF and rejecting.
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twitter.com/bwNW3YK2td As vice president, Tim Walz would have a significantly larger platform to advocate for reproductive justice, influencing policies to protect and expand access to abortion and other reproductive health services. He could work with Congress to pass protective legislation and influence judicial appointments to support reproductive rights, shaping long-term legal outcomes.
Walz joining Harris’ bid for presidency is in alignment with the policies she’s helped implement on abortion access. In her original bid on Biden’s ticket the administration pushed a campaign promising to Restore Roe , and ensure women’s reproductive rights should they be voted into a second term. Though this approach had been deemed moderate by abortion advocates , who have stressed that the protections offered under Roe were never sufficient to provide equitable rights and access to all Americans.
Harris has been central to Biden’s stance on reproductive rights. In March she visited a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota , becoming the first president or vice president to publicly visit an abortion clinic. When Kamala Harris toured a MN abortion clinic to highlight fallout from the Dobbs decision, Tim Walz was on hand-- she thanked him for his leadership, "both for this beautiful state, but nationally, you’ve been a great friend to the president and me, and thank you for all that.
" pic.twitter.com/sp8NYJthiF Her track record for supporting abortion dates back to her days as a senator.
The New York Times reports that Harris cosponsored legislation that prevented numerous state-level restrictions on abortion , including requiring providers to have hospital admitting privileges in order to provide abortion. Harris has not released an official announcement yet, which is expected to come at a campaign event in Pennsylvania later today..
