Tim Walz named as Kamala Harris' VP pick: Minnesota Governor, 60, the surprise choice over Josh Shapiro

Kamala Harris picked Minnesota's progressive governor Tim Walz as her running mate to take on Donald Trump and J.D. Vance after weeks of speculation and a bitter fight between candidates.

The 60-year-old father-of-two, who has been married to his teacher wife Gwen since 1994, joins the ticket in a victory for the far left of the party who were concerned about some of the other contenders' support of Israel.

In Minnesota Walz has codified the right to abortion, signed universal free school meals, legalized recreational marijuana and gave voting rights to former prisoners.

The former teacher is also credited with being the Democrat who started calling Republicans 'weird', a craze that has dominated the campaign since Joe Biden dropped out of the race last month.

Walz turned the North Star State into a refuge for LGBTQ Americans and has also backed making Minnesota the 13th 'sanctuary' state for undocumented migrants.

Harris announced her decision after a hotly-watched veepstakes in the two weeks after taking over Biden's campaign.

'I am proud to announce that I've asked Tim Walz to be my running mate,' she wrote on X after reports emerged an hour prior of the decision. 

'As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he's delivered for working families like his. It's great to have him on the team,' she added. 'Now let's get to work.' 

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly were in the final three with Walz to run with Harris on November's Democratic ticket.

Now Walz will join Harris on Tuesday night for their first tandem campaign stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

The duo will head to the six other swing states for a five-day campaign blitz this week through Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Nevada and Arizona.

Republicans who feared the popularity of Shapiro celebrated Walz' announcement and slammed his 'woke' policies while Donald Trump's campaign called the governor a 'dangerous west coast wannabe'. 

'THANK YOU!' was Donald Trump's two-word response posted on Truth Social after Walz's selection as VP on Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that the Democratic ticket in 2024 is the most 'left-wing' ever. 

'Harris-Walz: most left-wing ticket in American history,' the former Republican presidential primary contender wrote on X. 

He continued: 'Minnesota was ground zero for the BLM riots of 2020. Harris egged it on and Walz sat by and let Minneapolis burn.' 

Shapiro released a statement on Tuesday of continuing his work as governor in the battleground swing state and said he will be in Philadelphia later in the evening for Walz's first stop with Harris. 

'My work here in Pennsylvania is far from finished — there is a lot more stuff I want to get done for our Commonwealth,' Shapiro wrote. 'Over the next 90 days, I look forward to traveling all across the Commonwealth to unite Pennsylvanians behind my friends Kamala Harris and Tim Walz and defeat Donald Trump.'

'See you tonight in Philly,' he added. 

The two are expected to be officially nominated as the president and vice presidential nominees at the Democratic National Convention Starting August 19 in Chicago.

Harris earned enough support from delegates just two days after Biden announced he was ending his reelection bid.

Once a darling of the National Rifle Association, Walz is a gun-owning, hunter and Army veteran who received campaign donations and an A rating from the powerful group. 

Guns & Ammo magazine included Walz on its list of top 20 politicians for gun owners in 2016. 

But Walz began to support tighter gun restrictions during his first run for governor in 2018 after the Parkland High School mass shooting. He even spoke in favor of a ban on assault weapons. 

After growing up in a small Nebraska town he started teaching. He went to China first before moving to classrooms in Nebraska and then Minnesota.

In Mankato, Minnesota – his wife's home state – Walz taught geography and was the initial faculty adviser for the school's first gay-straight alliance established in 1999.

He also coached the school's football team. 

Walz and his wife Gwen have two children together – Hope, who recently graduated from college in Montana, and Gus, who is in public high school in St. Paul, Minnesota. 

He is a huge fan of Diet Mountain Dew but doesn't drink coffee and now abstains from consuming alcohol but was arrested for DWI in Nebraska in 1995, before quitting. 

Their children were conceived by IVF and fertility treatments, a side of his story that can be used to attack Republicans on reproductive rights.

He was also the governor of Minnesota during the police killing of George Floyd and the ensuing riots that burned down parts of Minneapolis and shook the entire nation. 

While his initial response was criticized by political opponents, he later reacted to Floyd's death by ordering the Minnesota legislature to reconvene to pass legislation on police reform, which was passed two months after the brutal incident. 

The George Floyd riots led to calls from Black Lives Matter as well as liberal lawmakers and activists for the abolition of police and law enforcement.  

According to the Star Tribune, Walz rides in the passenger seat on official duties because he gets carsick in the back. 

He is also a runner, served in the Army National Guard and has hundreds of challenge coins he has collected in his office.

Walz served from 1981 to 2005 in both the Nebraska and Minnesota National Guards. 

'On my 17th birthday, I took my oath of enlistment into the National Guard in the middle of a cornfield,' Walz wrote in a 2022 post on X along with an image of him in uniform. 'Raising my hand to serve was one of the best decisions I ever made.'

Just two years after ending his service, he became a U.S. congressman.  

Walz became governor of Minnesota in 2019 after serving six terms in the House of Representatives for the state's 1st congressional district, which encompasses its entire southern border.

He served as Democratic ranking member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee for his final term before taking residence in the Minnesota Governor's Mansion in Saint Paul.

Along with Shapiro and Kelly, there was a slew of speculation about others being considered for Harris' VP pick, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. 

On Monday afternoon, reporting emerged that Harris narrowed her decision to Shapiro and Walz. 

Some thought picking a running mate from a swing state would benefit Harris – like Shapiro from Pennsylvania or Arizona's Sen. Kelly.

But many leftists were worried that Shapiro, who is Jewish, would be too pro-Israel and Democrats were concerned it would re-spark controversial conversations about Gaza and hurt Harris' campaign. 

Along with Shapiro and Kelly, there was a slew of speculation about others being considered for Harris' VP pick, including Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

But Walz's state of Minnesota is already solidly blue and voted for the Democratic candidates in 2016 and 2020.

Minnesota voted for Hillary Clinton 1.5 percent over Donald Trump and four years later widened the blue to red ratio by voting 7.1 percent for Biden over the former president.

The state is considered to be a 'lean Democrat' for the 2024 election, according to Cook Political Report.

On Monday afternoon, reporting emerged that Harris narrowed her decision to Shapiro and Walz.