5 potential running mates for Kamala Harris

By Ryan Foley, Christian Post Reporter Friday, July 26, 2024

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz

Unlike most other individuals widely viewed as running mate contenders, Walz has experience serving in both the U.S. Congress and at the state level.

Walz represented Minnesota's 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives for 12 years. After narrowly surviving his 2016 reelection bid as Trump carried his district, Walz mounted a run for governor in 2018 and won the Democrat primary.

He won the 2018 gubernatorial election by double digits and won reelection in 2022 by only 7.7 percentage points. While he strongly overperformed Democrat Hillary Clinton's 1.6 percentage point margin of victory in the 2016 presidential election in his first gubernatorial bid, he closely matched Biden's 7.1 percentage point margin of victory in the 2020 election in his re-election bid.

Walz's electoral success in Minnesota could be seen as an asset by the Harris campaign as they seek to keep Minnesota's 10 electoral votes in the Democrat column for the 13th consecutive presidential election. During his tenure as governor, Walz signed legislation making Minnesota a sanctuary state for people seeking abortions and gender transition surgeries for minors from states where the procedures are banned.

Walz also approved a measure excluding faith-based colleges and universities from the state's dual enrollment program. This program allows students to obtain no-cost college credit for collegiate-level work completed in high school while simultaneously receiving high school credit. Amid a lawsuit, the state agreed not to enforce the law.

However, the battle to ensure faith-based colleges can participate in the dual enrollment program continues. Such institutions insist that the state is targeting them because they have statements of faith that they require all students to abide by.

The state contends that participation in the dual enrollment program would make the schools state actors because they receive state funds, and therefore, the statements of faith are unconstitutional.