History suggests that running mate picks create a lot of sound and fury that rarely signify much. Kamala Harris’s selection of Tim Walz is by no means trivial. But it would be a shock were he to transform the dynamics of a close election.
The risk of that still belongs to JD Vance, Donald Trump’s number two, who has broken records by plunging deeper into negative ratings since his announcement. Minnesota’s governor, now the Democrats’ vice presidential candidate, offers a cheerful antidote to Vance’s dystopian musings. Walz is precisely the folksy type with whom people could imagine having a beer.
His selection nevertheless tells us a lot about what Harris is thinking — and the identity-balancing that Democratic politics demands. Much like Joe Biden signalling in 2020 that he was seeking a black woman to balance his demography, Harris made no secret that her shortlist consisted of white men.