.png)
Vice President Kamala Harris announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday.
WASHINGTON — After Vice President Kamala Harris announced Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, the Democratic Party of Virginia said they're seeing a lot of enthusiasm.
"It's been a really roller coaster of a ride couple of weeks, but we have seen tremendous enthusiasm already on the ground," Susan Swecker, Chair of the Democratic Party of Virginia, said. "I'm hearing from lots of volunteers and and family and friends and Democratic activists about what a great, great choice this was, and how they're ready to get to work for the whole ticket."
Walz is currently serving his second term as governor of Minnesota after representing a typically Conservative-leaning district in the U.S. Congress for six terms.
He is a 24-year veteran of the Army National Guard -- but what he and Harris emphasized during their introduction speeches at Tuesday's Philadelphia rally were his humble roots.
He was born in a small Nebraska town and spent years as a high school teacher and football coach.
"It was my students -- they encouraged me to run for office. They saw in me what I was hoping to instill in them: a commitment of common good," Walz said at the rally in Philadelphia Tuesday night.
Swecker said she is partial to governors anyway, because they are day to day executives -- but this kind of experience sealed the deal for her.
"I just love Governor Walz. I mean, this is coming from me as a rural girl, you know, I just think that he represents the best of the heartland and rural America, and it's so inspiring," Swecker said. "And I just think that Kamala Harris, chose somebody that she knew she could trust and depend on and would tell her the truth, would be honest with her from day one. And I think that's really important in the role of Vice President. You have so many Yes people around that you have to have somebody that you can depend on to to tell you the truth."
Virginia Republicans, however, are definitely not saying "Yes" to Walz.
They shared the following statement on X:
"Today, Kamala Harris doubled down on her radical extremism by choosing Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. By picking Walz, Harris further confirmed what we already knew – that a Harris administration would be a puppet regime of the radical progressive left.
As Governor of Minnesota, Walz has placed himself on the wrong side of virtually every issue of importance to the American people. On immigration, he infamously said he wanted to invest in a “ladder factory” when asked about President Trump’s border wall. He fully supports “sanctuary cities” and Democrats’ open borders extremism and believes American citizens should pay for illegal aliens’ healthcare and college.
In 2020, Walz did nothing as rioters burned Minnesota’s cities to the ground. He delayed deploying the National Guard, prolonging the violence and leading to senseless suffering and destruction.
Walz has espoused openly socialist views, calling for universal government healthcare and once said, “one person’s socialism is another person’s neighborliness.” He has also proudly embraced the label of “big government liberal.”
Over the next three months, the American people will only continue to learn more about Tim Walz’s radicalism and why a Harris-Walz administration would be an utter disaster for our country. Just as Harris is the most radical liberal presidential nominee in American history, Tim Walz is the most radical liberal vice presidential nominee in American history.
As much as the corporate media will try to repackage Walz as a garden-variety moderate between now and November 5, voters will see through the charade and send President Trump and Senator JD Vance to the White House to finally end the era of Biden-Harris decline."
When it comes to Walz's record as governor, Swecker pointed to his support of a woman's right to choose.
"I will point out that Governor Walz was the first governor in this country to codify abortion rights. A big deal. Governor Walz and his wife have two children that he talks about that were a result of IVF. And his daughter -- he said his daughter was named Hope for a reason," she said. "So when you look at what Trump and Vance and the MAGA Republicans want to do and take away a woman's right to choose, take away the right to choose to have your family and how to have your family, I think the contrast couldn't be clearer."
Walz also helped write paid family and medical leave into law and instituted universal free lunches.
All of this is energizing Virginians, according to Swecker.
She said that over the weekend, the Democratic team knocked on over 11,000 doors, and in the last two weeks, more than 10,000 people have signed up to volunteer.
She said they have even seen people showing up at headquarters asking what they can do to help.
At Tuesday's rally in Philadelphia, Harris admitted that their campaign is the underdog, but Swecker said, "We are going to do everything we can to make sure that their message gets out and we get it across the finish line on election day."
In addition to talking about his experience, Walz took the opportunity to make his first jabs at Republican VP opponent JD Vance, saying, "'I just have to say it. You know it, you feel it. These guys are creepy and just yes, weird as hell. That is what you see.''
English (US) ·