Kamala Harris Has a Tough VP Choice to Make—and Tim Walz Should Win It

A lifetime ago in American politics which is to say a couple months ago on your calendar, I had the good fortune to attend a dinner party at the home of a senior member of the Biden administration. When the topic turned to the 2024—which was pretty much the minute we walked in the front door because, well, Washington—there were deep concerns about the outcomes. Fearing the election of Donald Trump and the end of American democracy will do that to you.

Our host framed the election as being between two men and a couch. The point they were making was that voters who simply chose not to vote, who decided to stay home on the couch, would very like decide the November election.

How far we have come since those days. Democrats have been energized by the emergence of Vice President Kamala Harris as their standard bearer. And the selection of J.D. Vance as the vice presidential nominee has given the expression “having a date with the couch” a whole new meaning.

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The next big question for Harris and the Democrats is can they maintain the currently off-the-charts level of enthusiasm for their ticket with their vice presidential selection? Fortunately, for them, by making possibly the worst selection of a running mate in modern presidential history, Trump has set the bar very low.

In just a few short weeks, Vance, a man with virtually no public service experience who changes his name more often than most members of the federal witness protection program, has managed to offend essentially all of the women in American, cats, our NATO allies, childless people, probably his wife (about whom he memorably said, “obviously she’s not a white person, but…”) and almost certainly his running mate with his recently revealed off-message comments that the Democratic decision to go with Harris sucker-punched the GOP.

Harris of course, will not only want to do better than Trump did (selecting any cat in America as her running met would probably get her there including my younger daughter Laura’s cat Lucie who is, to put it mildly, not a natural politician); she will want to pick a running mate that does all things Vance does not. By that I mean, she will want to pick a running mate who in some small way—and it usually is only a small way—makes it more likely she wins in November and America does not sink into the weirdocracy promised by Trump, Vance, and their supporters.

Right now, reports have it that the VP has narrowed the choices down to a short list that includes Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

As my grandmother would say, “What’s not to like?” Kelly is a former astronaut from a key border state with a wife who is herself a true American hero, Gabby Giffords. Shapiro, who would be the second Jewish American to be on a national ticket after Al Gore’s running mate the late Senator Joseph Lieberman, has had a great record as governor and attorney general of one of the most crucial states in the election, Pennsylvania.

And Walz, well, Walz is easily one of the most likeable politicians in America today, a former school teacher who is also the highest ranking enlisted member of the armed services ever to serve in the U.S. Congress, a midwestern governor with a great sense of humor and a plain spoken style sure to connect in every battle ground state.

Kelly would blunt the right’s inevitable criticism of Biden-Harris immigration policies because he is a popular politician from a purple border state and would surely send a strong message about the seriousness with which Harris takes national security issues given that he is a career naval aviator.

Shapiro immediately gives Harris an edge in perhaps the most critical swing state of them all. Walz comes a from a state that Dems will surely win, but would very likely be an effective campaigner in neighboring Wisconsin, in Michigan, and in Pennsylvania. He gives off an appealing regular guy vibe with his background as a school teacher and a winning high school football coach, and he manages better than the other two to translate complex contemporary issues into terms that resonate with large audiences.

Each has negatives. Kelly is seen as having a record on labor that may give union members pause. Also, were he to leave the Senate while he would be replaced in the short-term by a Democrat, his departure would trigger an election to replace him full-time in 2026 and given Arizona politics, that race could go either way which is a risk Democrats in the hotly contested Senate might not wish to take. Shapiro was very one-sided in his response to the protests about Israel’s actions in Gaza, likening the protestors at one point to members of the KKK.

Walz…well, let me see…the National Review thinks he was not a good governor. Of course, the National Review is a a right wing rag that dead fish would refuse to be wrapped in, but still, as with any active governor, Walz’s opponents have issues with him.

In terms of intangibles, well, Kelly is a freaking astronaut and his wife is the closest thing we have to a saint in American politics. Shapiro, in the words of neighboring governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan “gets shit done.” And the camera and the tubes of the Internet love Walz who was one of the first to pick up on a comment by Harris and popularize calling the GOP weird. He also did an adorable video with his daughter about going on a ride at the Minnesota State Fair that, in my eyes, should have qualified him to be an astronaut.

There were other excellent candidates on Harris’ list including the aforementioned Whitmer (I loved the idea of an all-woman ticket and Whitmer is one of the true superstars in the Democratic Party), Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (who is the reigning champion of responding clearly and effectively to critics of Biden-Harris Administration policies on Fox and elsewhere), Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear (a rising star), and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (a key voice from a purple state who announced this week he was withdrawing from contention).

I have yet to receive a call from Vice President Harris asking my opinion about her running mate. However, if I did get such a call, I would have two pieces of advice. First, pick the one you feel most comfortable with as a partner, the one whose views you will most value having in every critical situation. Second, I would say you can’t go wrong with any of the picks.

She would then probably say, “Stop weaseling around. Who do you think I should pick?” And I would say, “Walz. Pick Walz. He is not only the anti-Vance, but he is the one of the candidates who best captures and would amplify the vibe of the campaign as it has emerged. Indeed, he has played a bigger role helping to shape that vibe in the past week than the rest of the other VP prospects added up. He has shown himself very capable of being an attack dog when needed. And he just gives off a vibe of decency and service…one that suggests a younger, more energetic, funnier Biden. And after all, that kind of combination worked pretty well in 2020.”