Kamala Harris’ VP Pick Is the Best We Could Have Hoped For

(Joe Lamberti/AP Photo)

As I’m writing, the news just broke earlier this morning that Kamala Harris is picking Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her running mate. This is good news! A big part of why it’s good news, perhaps the primary reason even, is because it means we avoided the most likely alternative: Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, who has analogized pro-Palestine protestors to the KKK and supported punishing companies that boycott Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank. That he was one of the top two contenders is… not great. Nor is the fact that, reportedly, it was Shapiro’s personal ambition that ultimately cost him a spot on the ticket, rather than his virulently anti-Palestinian record. But whatever the case, Shapiro will not be on the ticket and Walz will, and that’s a win.

Branko Marcetic of Jacobin did, I think, a pretty good job covering what Walz has done as governor, and why he’s a solid choice for VP. With the help of Democratic majorities in both houses of the state legislature, some genuinely significant reforms have been made in Minnesota: universal free school meals, free public college tuition for families making under $80,000 a year, the most generous child tax credit in the country, major investments in education and child care, a ban on noncompete clauses in worker contracts, and paid family and medical leave, among other measures. Even with a divided state legislature, Walz managed to get through “one of the toughest wage theft laws in the country[.]” It’s not a very high bar, but from what I’ve gathered Walz may genuinely be one of the best, if not the single best, sitting governor in the country. Additionally, Walz has a greater personal familiarity with China than many other US politicians, and has emphasized the importance of US-China cooperation on issues like climate change — a positive contrast with a lot of the anti-China rhetoric coming from both parties.

He also seems closer to being a normal guy than most politicians at the national level. He is the first person to be on a Democratic presidential ticket without having attended law school since Jimmy Carter, for instance. He was a high school geography teacher and football coach before he got into politics. He doesn’t even own stock. Photos of him at the state fair, for instance, don’t feel like the desperate attempts of one of the They Live aliens to appear normal, which is more than can be said for many other politicians. 

This does appear to be a much better choice than Obama made in 2008, for instance, when he “balanced the ticket” by choosing Joe Biden — an establishment politician with a heinous record which he has since added considerably to. Balancing her image as a California liberal, Harris managed to pick someone who both has a sort of heartland appeal and isn’t some utterly depressing concession to the party’s “moderate” establishment. 

But if Tim Walz is the best we could have realistically hoped for, that’s still a testament to the shortcomings of the Democratic Party. Returning to Marcetic’s article, he notes:

To be sure, there were limits to his progressivism. Walz, proud of having never used his veto, first deployed it… for the most ignominious of reasons: to kill a minimum wage and worker protection bill for Uber and Lyft drivers, and halt a separate pair of bills giving nurses a say in staffing levels (which was watered down to a student loan forgiveness measure for nurses) and creating a health care affordability board that could penalize providers and insurers for too-high costs. Walz vetoed both after businesses threatened to pull out or withdraw investment from the state.

Despite significant action on climate, Walz’s approval of the Line 3 oil pipeline and tolerance toward pollution by farmers have earned him criticism from environmental groups. And, as governor when the murder of George Floyd occurred, he presided over a heavy-handed response to protests and ultimately enacted only limited police reforms before pouring more money into police departments. Back when he served in Congress, Walz also introduced a resolution calling for the government to quickly relinquish its ownership interests in GM and Chrysler (acquired as part of the auto bailout) and to not “unduly intercede” in any of the companies’ management decisions, staking out a firmly pro-capitalist, anti-socialist stance on the issue. 

Walz was, in fact, a relatively moderate congressman who shifted leftward after becoming governor. That he did so is good, of course, but it does raise the question of whether that stance will last once he’s out of Minnesota state politics and back in D.C. Minnesota, it’s worth noting, has the longest ongoing streak of voting for the Democrat in presidential elections, and is the only state Ronald Reagan failed to carry both times. So not exactly a microcosm of American politics as a whole.

It is hard not to reminisce back to a time that was just four and a half years ago but feels, politically, like a different era completely. In late 2019 and early 2020, the left’s (apparently realistic) hope was that Bernie Sanders would be the Democratic nominee. Now, less than half a decade later, it’s a victory when the number two spot on the ticket goes to a politician who, whatever his merits, is hardly a part of the Bernie Sanders/Squad wing of the Democratic Party. 

It would also be remiss to not bring up Israel/Palestine here. Walz has certainly struck a more conciliatory tone than Josh Shapiro, praising the uncommitted vote movement during the Democratic primaries as “civically engaged.” But neither he nor Harris has said anything to indicate they would represent some major break with Biden’s policies. It should be the most basic moral litmus test imaginable at this point to take the position that Bernie Sanders has (belatedly) taken: an end to arms transfers to Israel while the slaughter in Gaza continues. But it’s a test the Democratic presidential ticket has yet to pass. And I’m not holding my breath. 

With all the good vibes and enthusiasm going on around the Democratic ticket right now, it’s also hard not to think back to 2008 and how that ended up turning out. Depending on whether you’re a liberal or someone further left (like me), you’ll probably lay the blame in different ways. But pretty much all of us can agree that Hope and Change didn’t quite pan out how we were dreaming of. 

The fact that Harris picked Walz over Shapiro is good. If it signals that the era of Clinton-Obama neoliberalism is over, that’s even better. But let’s not let the desperation for some good news in the world of politics tee things up for more disappointment and heartbreak.