In her most important decision as presidential candidate, Kamala Harris last week picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz run with her in the Democratic campaign against Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. "He's the kind of person who makes people feel like they belong, and then inspires them to dream big. And that's the kind of vice president he will be," said Haris, the vice president since she and Joe Biden were elected in 2020. He announced July 21 that he's not running again, clearing the way for her to seek the top job.

Harris and Walz (whose name is pronounced like walls) will accept nomination next week at their party's national convention in Chicago from Aug. 19-22, where Biden plans to speak on the first night. Delegates voted nearly unanimously to nominate her in phone balloting early this month.

Walz, raised on a Nebraska family farm, is an Army National Guard veteran with 24 years of service, a former high school football coach and social studies teacher, a past congressman and a second-term governor. He's a gun owner and hunter who stressed at his first campaign rally that Minnesotans believe in "common-sense gun violence laws." As his state's top official since 2018, he also has backed laws expanding gender-affirming care, advancing green energy and providing taxpayer benefits for undocumented immigrants. He signed legislation providing free breakfasts and lunches at all public schools.

The Democratic campaign partners spoke at a packed rally in Philadelphia hours after Harris called to invite Walz aboard (see video below). "When the vice president and I talk about freedom," he said at the Pennsylvania event, "we mean the freedom to make your own health care decisions, and for our children to be free to go to school without worrying they'll be shot dead in their classrooms.�

The next day, Trump framed the Democratic pair as risky for democracy. "There has never been a ticket like this," he said on Fox News. "This is a ticket that would want this country to go communist." That approach was echoed by Republican strategist Lance Trover, who said: "This guy is a liberal wolf in Minnesota nice clothing." For its part, the Democratic campaign raised more than $20 million in donations on the day Walz’s selection was announced, it says.

Young voter says: "He [Walz] just has this raw sense of humility and humanity that I feel like you don't see from politicians very often. He comes across as very authentic and genuine. And I think that kind of energy and authenticity will inspire hope." – Olivia Juliana, 21, of Houston

Columnist says: "He brings a plain-talking, labor-friendly, Midwestern appeal to the ticket. He is Joe Biden, 20 years ago." – Charles Blow, The New York Times

Kansas-born writer says: "Some pundits now struggle to find a word for a vice-presidential pick raised in small-town Nebraska beyond 'folksy' since their language about his place of origin has for so long reflected geographic and class biases." – Sarah Smarsh, journalist and author