Kamala Harris VP pick live: Tim Walz selected as running mate

Vice President Kamala Harris released the following statement regarding her choice of running mate.

I am proud to announce that I’ve asked Tim Walz to be my running mate.

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.

He grew up in a small town in Nebraska, spending summers working on his family’s farm. His father died of cancer when he was 19, and his family relied on Social Security survivor benefit checks to make ends meet. At 17, he enlisted in the National Guard, serving for 24 years. He used his GI Bill benefits to go to college, and become a teacher. He served as both the football coach and the advisor of the Gay-Straight Alliance.

I share this background both because it’s impressive in its own right, and because you see in no uncertain terms how it informs his record. He worked with Republicans to pass infrastructure investments. He cut taxes for working families. He passed a law to provide paid family and medical leave to Minnesotan families.

He made Minnesota the first state in the country to pass a law providing constitutional abortion protections after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and as an avid hunter, he passed a bill requiring universal background checks for gun purchases.

But what impressed me most about Tim is his deep commitment to his family: Gwen, Gus, and Hope. Doug and I look forward to working with him and Gwen to build an administration that reflects our shared values.

Whether you are a supporter, a volunteer, a donor, a member of our staff, or your name is on the ticket: you are part of the people-powered campaign that is going to defeat Donald Trump.

We are going to build a great partnership. We are going to build a great team. We are going to win this election.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who was also in the running as a potential running mate for Kamala Harris, has released a statement recommitting to completing his term in office and offering his “enthusiastic support” for the vice president and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

“My life in public service has always been motivated by my family and my faith. Since I first ran for State Representative 20 years ago, I’ve been called to serve because I want to leave our community, our Commonwealth, and our country better off for our children – and because my faith teaches me that no one is required to complete the task, but neither are we free to refrain from it.

“Nearly two weeks ago, Vice President Harris asked me to work with her team to complete the vetting process to be considered as her running mate – and following those conversations, on Sunday, I was grateful to have the opportunity to speak with the Vice President directly about her vision for the role and the campaign ahead.

“As I’ve said repeatedly over the past several weeks, the running mate decision was a deeply personal decision for the Vice President – and it was also a deeply personal decision for me. Pennsylvanians elected me to a four-year term as their Governor, and my work here is far from finished – there is a lot more stuff I want to get done for the good people of this Commonwealth.

“Serving as the 48th Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the highest honor of my life – showing up in your communities, listening to and learning from you, and then working across the aisle to get stuff done and deliver results for you. In just 19 months, we’ve made a meaningful, positive impact in peoples’ lives, and I’m proud of how Americans all across the country have taken notice of what we’re accomplishing here in Pennsylvania. I’m excited to continue working to protect and advance real freedom, deliver good schools, safe communities, and economic opportunity.”

“Vice President Kamala Harris has my enthusiastic support – and I know that Governor Tim Walz is an exceptionally strong addition to the ticket who will help Kamala move our country forward. Lori and I consider Tim and Gwen to be good friends of ours and we are excited for them and for the country to get to know the great people we know them to be. Over the next 92 days, I look forward to traveling all across the Commonwealth to unite Pennsylvanians behind Kamala Harris’ campaign to defeat Donald Trump, become the 47th President of the United States, and build a better future for our country.”

United Auto Workers union says Governor Tim Walz “doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks the walk” on supporting working-class Americans.

Santiago Mayer, the executive director of Gen Z-led group Voters of Tomorrow, says Minnesota Governor Tim Walz “will continue to champion our top priorities” in joining Kamala Harris as her running mate on the Democratic Party ticket.

“Governor Walz has dedicated his life to educating and empowering young people as a teacher and public servant. He has delivered the resources that young Minnesotans need to thrive, such as tuition-free college and universal school meals. His leadership and unwavering support for LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive freedom, and equity benefit all Americans, including rural and working-class youth. Gen Z knows Governor Walz will continue to champion our top priorities and fight to deliver a brighter future for us when he is vice president.

“Governor Walz gets bonus points for articulating exactly how young Americans feel about Donald Trump and JD Vance: They are weird. Trump and Vance are weirdly fixated on taking away freedoms from Americans and weirdly obsessed with culture wars. They also just act really, really weird. Instead, Gen Z trusts Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to advocate for us and move our generation towards the future we deserve. We are excited to fight for young Americans alongside the Harris-Walz Administration.”

Trump Campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt has released the following statement on Kamala Harris’s choice of “Radical Leftist Tim Walz” as her running mate:

“It’s no surprise that San Francisco Liberal Kamala Harris wants West Coast wannabe Tim Walz as her running-mate – Walz has spent his governorship trying to reshape Minnesota in the image of the Golden State. While Walz pretends to support Americans in the Heartland, when the cameras are off, he believes that rural America is ‘mostly cows and rocks’. From proposing his own carbon-free agenda, to suggesting stricter emission standards for gas-powered cars, and embracing policies to allow convicted felons to vote, Walz is obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and wide. If Walz won’t tell voters the truth, we will: just like Kamala Harris, Tim Walz is a dangerously liberal extremist, and the Harris-Walz California dream is every American’s nightmare.”

The Sierra Club, the US’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental group, welcomes Kamala Harris’s decision to pick Governor Tim Walz as her running mate.

Executive director Ben Jealous said in a statement: “Like Vice President Harris, Governor Walz knows that climate change is the existential threat of our time. In his time serving in Congress and as Governor, he has worked to protect clean air and water, grow our clean energy economy, and see to it that we do all we can to avoid the very worst of the climate crisis. The Harris-Walz ticket is one that understands the fight before us, isn’t afraid to tackle climate change head-on, and will continue to build upon the legacy of the Biden-Harris administration moving forward. We welcome Governor Walz to the ticket and look forward to doing all we can to support the Harris-Walz campaign through November.”

New York progressive Democratic Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has praised the “excellent decision” by Kamala Harris to select Tim Walz as her running mate.