Could Harris’ VP Pick Appeal to Multiple Voting Blocs in Presidential Race?
Kamala Harris (L) and Tim Walz (R), Aug. 7, 2024. Photo: X/ @KamalaHarris
August 7, 2024 Hour: 10:55 am
Democrats hope that having Walz on the ticket will help shore up support in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who has won enough delegate votes to secure Democratic presidential nomination, on Tuesday chose a running mate who could appeal to myriad voting blocs. On Tuesday, Harris named former Congressman Tim Walz as her running mate.
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“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. As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he’s delivered for working families like his own,” Harris said about Walz, who was elected governor of Minnesota in 2018 and re-elected in 2022.
“Walz is broadly acceptable to the various groups that make up the Democratic party and doesn’t provoke any schisms or dissension within the ranks. He appeals to different groups for different reasons. Progressives and liberals like his record as governor,” said Christopher Galdieri, a political science professor at Saint Anselm College.
“Walz also has a cultural appeal. As a Democrat from a rural area who served in the military and coached high school football before running for Congress, he can appeal to voters in the Rust Belt states that will be crucial in this election,” he added.
Democrats hope that having Walz on the ticket will help shore up support in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. Those are strongholds of the Democratic party, although Harris’ opponent and former President Donald Trump flipped them when he clinched the White House in 2016. Biden flipped them back to the Democrats in 2020. This time around, the three states are crucial to winning the election.
“He comes from that part of the country, knows how to talk to ordinary Midwesterners, and talks about ways to boost economic opportunities for the middle class,” said Darrell West, a senior fellow at Brookings Institution.
“He has a wide range of political experience, having been a legislator and an executive and should help Harris draw the contrasts with Trump,” he added, noting that Harris has come up “quite a bit” in the polls and the race now is very competitive between Trump and Harris.
According to polling data compiled by the U.S. election information website Real Clear Politics, as of Tuesday, Harris leads Trump by an average of 0.5 percentage points in national polls, but Trump still leads in several key swing states.
The possibility that Walz will be the No. 2 leader in the United States is growing by the day. Prior to Harris’ nomination, President Joe Biden was getting crushed in the polls by Trump.
Trump was leading by leaps and bounds in key battleground states such as Georgia and Pennsylvania, according to Real Clear Politics’ average of polls. While Trump retains the lead in most key swing states, Harris is closing the gap.
Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, said that Walz has effectively attacked the Republican nominee for vice president, J.D. Vance.
“If there is a debate, it will be widely watched. The value of vice-presidential candidates in winning an election is greatly exaggerated, but Walz is a very skilled campaigner,” he said, adding that Walz ran for the House of Representatives as a Democrat in a usually Republican district, and won it many times before running successfully for governor.
Meanwhile, critics blast Harris as simply an extension of the Biden administration, whose time in office has seen food inflation skyrocket. They also blast Harris for allowing millions of migrants to illegally pour over the U.S. southern border during Biden’s tenure.
In reaction to the selection of Walz, Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that “this is the most Radical Left duo in American history. There has never been anything like it.”
teleSUR/ JF Source: Xinhua
