Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz made their first joint campaign appearance as running mates on Tuesday, Aug. 6, speaking at Philadelphia’s Temple University. The pair’s stop in Pennsylvania kicks off a five-day tour of seven battleground states.
“Since the day that I announced my candidacy, I set out to find a partner who can help build this brighter future,” Harris said after entering the event alongside Walz. “A leader who will help unite our nation and move us forward. A fighter for the middle class. A patriot who believes as I do in the extraordinary promise of America — a promise of freedom, opportunity and justice not just for some but for all.”
“So Pennsylvania,” she continued, “I’m here today because I’ve found such a leader: Gov. Tim Walz of the great state of Minnesota!”
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Harris, 59, named Walz, 60, as her vice presidential pick on Tuesday morning, rounding out the new Democratic White House ticket.
“One of the things that stood out to me about Tim is how his convictions on fighting for middle class families run deep. It’s personal,” Harris said in a statement explaining her decision. “We are going to build a great partnership. We start out as underdogs but I believe together, we can win this election.”
Harris had final interviews with her top running mate choices in Washington, D.C., on Sunday and reportedly narrowed her options to Walz and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. According to multiple outlets, she slept on the decision after the in-person interviews and began getting the pieces into place for a Walz announcement by Monday evening.
Despite getting passed over, Shapiro showed up at Tuesday’s event in his home state to rile up Pennsylvania voters in support of the Harris-Walz ticket.
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Walz, a veteran and former educator, turned to politics in 2006 when he successfully ran for U.S. Congress as a Democrat in a historically Republican district, becoming the highest-ranking enlisted man to serve in Congress.
After 12 years in the House, during which he became the top Democrat on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Walz soundly won the 2018 Minnesota gubernatorial race. He was reelected in 2022.
Following the announcement that he would be Harris’ running mate, Walz shared a video on X (formerly Twitter) about his background.
Noting that he served in the Army National Guard for 24 years, Walz said he used his GI benefits to go to college and become a public school teacher, teaching social studies and coaching high school football for 20 years.
