How Kamala Harris Trusted Her Gut and Picked Tim Walz
The ambitious Josh Shapiro asked about his role as vice president. The battle-tested Mark Kelly was already seen as a third option. And the happy-go-lucky Mr. Walz promised to do anything for the team.
Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. ...Polls had been conducted. Focus groups had been commissioned. Records reviewed. And the upshot, Ms. Harris was told, was this: She could win the White House with any of the three finalists by her side.
It was the rarest of political advice for a political leader at the crossroads of such a consequential decision. ...
She could pick whomever she wanted.
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For Ms. Harris, it was an instinctive reaction to an instant connection [with Tim Walz] rather than a data-driven exercise that many had expected would elevate Mr. Shapiro, the popular governor of Pennsylvania, the nation’s most important battleground state. ...
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Mr. Shapiro had privately appeared more circumspect about the vice presidency, according to multiple people familiar with the selection process, asking about his role and responsibilities. ...
In contrast, Ms. Harris would later describe Mr. Walz — who explicitly told her not to pick him if he could not help her win — as “joyful” and willing to do anything for the team.
“He’s just so open,” Ms. Harris marveled privately after her meeting with Mr. Walz, according to one person with knowledge of her comments. “I really like him.”
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Mr. Shapiro was a favorite of many insiders, with a rhetorical flourish reminiscent — some say too reminiscent— of Mr. Obama. 👈🙋♂️
But Ms. Harris and her advisers saw strengths in Mr. Walz’s low-profile biography, according to people close to the process. They believed he had potential appeal to the blue-wall states...
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As Ms. Harris was deliberating, she saw something else, too: an affable potential governing partner with deep relationships on Capitol Hill and in statehouses nationwide. Mr. Walz currently serves as chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.
“It says to the heartland of America, ‘You’re not a flyover zone for us — we’re all together in this,’” Representative Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker, said in a brief interview on Tuesday.
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Nathan Barankin, who served as Ms. Harris’s top aide in the Senate and as her chief deputy attorney general in California, said the truncated timeline had worked to her benefit.
“Having unbounded time can lead to analysis paralysis,” Mr. Barankin said. “There is nothing about this campaign that can tolerate that.” 👈 👏
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Mr. Shapiro was described as asking more questions about his role and what his powers and authority would be as vice president. And compared with the others, he seemed less certain about taking the position.
Later on Sunday, Mr. Shapiro made a follow-up call, according to two people familiar with the conversation, to ask further questions of a Harris adviser.
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“We’ve got 91 days,” Mr. Walz said. “My God, that’s easy. We’ll sleep when we’re dead.”
