Tim Walz earns praise from Democrats – and anti-Trump Republicans

When Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor, was named as Kamala Harris’s running mate on Tuesday, one of his first endorsements came from Wonder Woman.

“Twenty-four years in the army national guard. A school teacher. A champion who understands America. I can’t wait to call Tim Walz our vice-president!”

Granted, the tweet actually came from Lynda Carter, the actor who played Wonder Woman on US TV from 1975 to 1979. But amid Democratic enthusiasm for Harris’s short-notice campaign to be the first female president, the source seemed fitting.

Related: Who is Tim Walz, the governor who is Harris’s vice-presidential pick?

In the preceding days, as Harris considered her options, Walz, 60, was widely seen as more likely to fire up young Americans and progressives than Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania governor, and Mark Kelly, the Arizona senator, both reported to have made the final round of interviews and deliberations.

On Tuesday, Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, president of NextGenPac, said: “Young voters are excited to see Kamala Harris declare Tim Walz as her running mate.”

Calling Walz “a proven champion of our youth movement”, Ramirez said that as governor, the former high school teacher and football coach had helped “pass significant legislation … that protects our rights, fights for climate justice, and builds a stronger economy for everyday people”.

Walz, Ramirez said, had “championed progressive change in Minnesota – enshrining abortion rights, establishing paid sick and family leave, enacting a nation-leading child tax credit, and signing 40 climate initiatives into law”.

The Lincoln Project, a group founded by anti-Trump Republicans, also greeted the pick – and tweeted an image of Walz grinning broadly while being hugged by a group of schoolchildren.

The picture was taken from a signing ceremony in which Walz made law a measure to guarantee free breakfast and lunch to all children regardless of income.

Writers for the Bulwark, a conservative anti-Trump site, had backed Shapiro. But staffers Sam Stein and Andrew Egger wrote: “As a matter of modern politics … this one shouldn’t have shocked us.

“In an era where vibes rule everything around us, Walz, by the end, was the guy riding the zeitgeist.

“The Minnesota governor’s ascension to the VP slot marks the first time that TikTok has helped choose a running mate. Walz was most assuredly not a frontrunner when this process started. He wasn’t even among the top three midwestern governors in the mix.

“But his quick ability to brand the Republican ticket as ‘weird’ earned him immediate plaudits among the Democratic faithful. His economic populist pitch, his non-coastal elite resume, and his mockery of JD Vance kept adding to the momentum.”

Momentum for Harris has been fuelled by organising and fundraising groups that have sprung up since Joe Biden stood aside.

One such group, White Dudes for Harris, called Walz “an amazing leader who delivered a powerful speech last week highlighting the importance of protecting fertility treatments like IVF and rejecting Project 2025”, the far-right plan for a second Trump administration steered by the Heritage Foundation, a Washington thinktank.

High-profile Democrats offered praise of Harris’s pick.

Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, anticipated Republican attacks when she told MSNBC: “To characterize him as left is so unreal. He’s right down the middle. He’s a heartland-of-America Democrat.”

The Republican National Committee duly sent out a list of talking points, calling Walz “a far-left radical”, by his own admission “more than happy” to be called a big government liberal.

In her own statement, Pelosi called Walz “a highly respected public servant in Minnesota and across America” and “the longest serving non-commissioned officer ever to serve in Congress”.

“As the vice-president of the United States,” Pelosi added, “Tim Walz will continue his leadership for America’s working families and move our country forward. Now, we must continue our march to victory in November with the Harris-Walz freedom ticket!”

Keith Ellison, the Minnesota attorney general and a former colleague of Walz in the US House, said Walz had “the courage of a veteran, the compassion of a schoolteacher, the grit of a football coach, and the experience of both a congressman and governor”.

Ellison also highlighted Walz’s record in office, including overseeing “universal background checks and a red flag law to protect people from gun violence”.

“Tim Walz built a record of putting people first because that’s just the kind of person he is,” Ellison said.

Many celebrants highlighted Walz’s experience outside politics. Glenn Kirschner, a federal prosecutor turned MSNBC analyst, said: “I like, and am inspired by, Tim Walz.

“He has military experience, as a sergeant/non-commissioned officer. Those of us who served know that it’s the NCOs that make it all work. He was a high-school social studies teacher and football coach. He’s direct, plain-spoken, and an honest, honorable man.”

Advocates for Shapiro and Kelly had pointed to their coming from battleground states, home to contests which will decide the election in November, while Walz comes from a state that has been solidly Democratic for decades.

But on Tuesday, Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia, a leading polling analyst, pointed to progressive doubts about one competitor to Walz when he said: “Yes, Governor Josh Shapiro could have brought a bigger payoff (19 electoral votes) but Governor Tim Walz fills the age-old bill for VP nominees: first, do no harm.”

Elsewhere, Matthew Dowd, a former Republican operative, saluted a “smart pic by VP Harris” that he said would work to her advantage in northern battleground states.

Walz, Dowd said, would “help the entire campaign effort especially in places like Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. As a native Michigander I can tell you Walz fits perfect in the Wolverine state.”

Shapiro agreed, issuing a statement saluting “an exceptionally strong addition to the ticket who will help Kamala move our country forward”.

“Over the next 90 days,” Shapiro said, “I look forward to traveling all across the commonwealth to unite Pennsylvanians behind Kamala Harris’s campaign to defeat Donald Trump, become the 47th president of the United States, and build a better future for our country.”