Tim Walz Brings the Democratic Ticket Back to the Party’s Roots

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/tim-walz-harris-vp/

40 comments

  1. My grandpa would’ve been stoked to see Walz as a VP. A union man who hunted and was in the National Guard.

  3. He is a great pick. He cares about people. He cares about providing stepping stones for those who want to do better. I’m excited to vote this election. Harris/Walz 2024

  4. >Walz, amazingly, is the first Democrat on a presidential ticket not to have attended law school in half a century—going back to the 1976 run of Naval Academy physicist Jimmy Carter. The longtime high school social studies teacher and principal is also the first former union member on a presidential ticket since former Screen Actors Guild president Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign.

  5. For once I’m just glad the dems didn’t immediately try to turtle and capitulate to “centrists”.

  6. This tells me Harris and the DNC are aware well aware of the importance of inspiring the youth voting demographic. Even her campaign videos have an authentic youth touch.

    Walz is a former teacher and absolutely has the vibe of that teacher you loved in high school because he was funny, no bullshit, and deeply compassionate. He also signals A commitment to progressivism that would normally be kept under the radar to assuage centrists.

    But who in America can be a centrist when the right side option is TRUMP?

  7. This is something I was saying to my wife this morning. He isn’t progressive in a true sense. He’s just doing old democrat stuff that works for regular people. It just looks progressive now but is REAL middle of the road….in a good way.

    We’ll talk about progressivism when people start talking about who owns the means of production and actual socialism stuff. Not funding education and letting people live their lives freely.

  8. Tim Walz seems like the guy that everyone hopes Fetterman would be while he was campaigning.

  9. Walz got marijuana legalized in Minnesota, hopefully this is something they announce at the DNC to really set in stone a win.

  10. The article suggests a real role, an immensely important one, for Democrats who remember what the Party used to be, used to stand for, used to battle relentlessly for. The slick sellouts and their agendas have to be brought to heel.

  11. r/conservative in all their wisdom is celebrating this as the key to Trump’s landslide victory.

  13. Tim “turkey is a vegetable” Walz is every midwestern dad.

  14. I am so happy thinking someone who is not a lawyer might be in a position of power in our government. Lawyers make pessimistic leaders.

  16. >After he was elected governor in 2018, Walz likewise focused on basic quality-of-life and income supports as the foundation of his administration. With a narrow one-vote majority in the state legislature, Walz was able to enact a host of sweeping, universalist measures last year, ranging from **protections of reproductive freedom** to **voting rights protections** to **landmark climate initiatives** to the state’s largest-ever **increase in its education budget,** including a **free school-lunch program**. Nor, contrary to established pundit lore, has Walz’s robust set of social democracy achievements come at the expense of members of vulnerable identity groups. Walz famously launched a student group showing **affinity for LGBTQ students** while he was a football coach at Mankato High School, and has signed an executive order **supporting gender-affirming care in the state.**

    I’m enjoying reading about Walz this morning. Harris made a great decision.

  17. This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/tim-walz-harris-vp/) reduced by 93%. (I’m a bot)
    *****
    > In naming Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has begun to redress a major deficit in the party's leadership.

    > Rahm Emmanuel, who then headed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, took the standard DLC and neoliberal party line and maintained that the party should prioritize investing in the races where it stood an immediate chance of victory.

    > Studies of the Democratic Party's competitiveness had it adopted the 50-state strategy conjure a dramatically different version of the electoral map, one in which the overlapping debacles of the Tea Party and the MAGA movement would have been significantly reduced.

    *****
    [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/1elojx0/tim_walz_brings_the_democratic_ticket_back_to_the/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ “Version 2.02, ~691905 tl;drs so far.”) | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr “PM’s and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.”) | *Top* *keywords*: **party**^#1 **Walz**^#2 **worked**^#3 **New**^#4 **Democratic**^#5

  18. lol folks on r/conservative are celebrating about Walz.
    I think they’re in for a big shock at how well he’s going to be received by undecided voters.

    Common sense like helping kids eat and families have time to be together and reasonably priced medicines isn’t the progressive disaster they think it is.

  19. His message of lets get back to minding your own business is wonderful. Stay out of others medical business. Stay out of others marriages unless you get invited. Stay out of their bedrooms. Just mind your own business.

  20. About fucking time! The Midwest has historically been a hotbed for progressive and labor movements and glad Harris picked up Walz.

    Well done and Walz is a great counter to a venture capitalist and phony billionaire

  21. I can’t be the first to make this comparison, but:

    The man is Ted Lasso

  27. As a Minnesotan, I can confirm he is genuinely a down to earth person. He’s not one of those ideological political nut jobs.

  29. Interesting how the GOP is pumped about this pick. They’re planning on attacking him based on his handling of the 2020 riots and how he’s overall a liberal leftist “radical,” but all I can see is a solid, Midwestern dude that is pro-union, likes to hunt and is very well spoken. Once again I don’t think the GOP understands voting bloc’s because this guy is going to be great maintaining excitement with younger voters and working people from the Midwest.

  31. Walz wasn’t my first pick, but damn, the man is impressive. Harris’ campaign is hitting on all cylinders and really impressing me. Kamala and Tim? Sounds like a sitcom, but the two of them really do represent normal people. This should be very interesting trying to watch the MAGA nuts combat this with something silly like “they’re east coast elites!!?111”

  32. I have been very skeptical of democrats and their actions. Over the past few months they have shown that political prowess AND listening to the people can be done. First Biden stepping down, now picking a person who can energize the progressive base as well as certain elements in rural America that the party has seemingly forgotten exist. It is a great day and I havent felt this much hope in a very long time.

  33. For decades now the democrats have given up on rural voters who used to vote Democrat for economic reasons but lately have voted republican for culture war issues. This VP pick signals a significant shift, which goes beyond just the race for President. As most people know, a major problem in our democracy today is that each state gets two senators, regardless of population. In recent decades, this has meant republicans had the advantage in the senate in terms of representation. Democrats are finally realizing they must do better in rural states if they want to control the senate. They must convince blue collar workers that the democrats will be better for them in the long term.

  34. Tim Walz is such a great pick and a true reminder to the Democratic party the need to remember the Midwest.

    There’s this whole idea that the image of the democratic party is run by or focused on the elite west of the northeast corridor. It is off putting to many run of the mill, “average Joe” American. I’m still baffled so many people wanted Gov. Newsom to be the top of the ticket or VP. He just gives off coastal elite who hasn’t worked hard in his life.

    Walz? Teacher. Football coach. Grew up with nothing in a rural community. Had a manufacturing job. Not elite educated or law school. National guardsman. And he just gives off regular guy vibes. He looks like you want to have a beer with him. Or just talk to him. I saw clips of him in just a t-shirt and jeans and it seemed so casual and appropriate for him. And then you see him in a suit as governor and it suits him well, too.

    This is the type of ideal middle America strives for. That the regular among us can reach great heights. This is going to jazz people so much and Dems need to take notes on what moved Harris has been taking Cuz she is on point.

  35. So pleased with Harris & Waltz. He’s an all around great guy.

  36. *Reads that Tim Walz was a former social studies teacher*

    That’s right, time to put some much needed respect on my content area again!

    I didn’t know of Walz before today, but from the cursory google search as well as a few Reddit comments, he seems like a solid choice for VP. I won’t lie, I was hoping for Pete Buttigieg, but Tim Walz is an excellent choice.

  37. Walz is my favorite politician and I’ve seen a view. He is progressive where I am and more moderate or conservative where I am as well.

    Generally he is common sense type of person and very Minnesotan.

  38. It feels bizarre watching the Dems actually making all the right moves since Biden withdrew.

    Like, I’m so used to this party snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Making widely approved and popular campaign choices that the entire party AND their bases get behind? It’s wild.

  39. I don’t understand these takes. The Democrats have been about these policies for decades. A couple hold outs in places Democrats have a hard time winning isn’t a reflection of the entire party. Places like California and Washington, where Democrats have had power long, have been on these topics for ages.

    It’s just silly acting like it’s all brand new. MN gave him a Democratic majority legislature and he did what D legislatures do when they have the numbers.

  40. As someone unfamiliar with Tim Walz until this all began, the more I learn the more I love this pick. I hope he appeals to many facets of the electorate, because he also seems like a progressive in centrist clothing, which makes me even more hopeful for this ticket!

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