Kamala Harris has selected a running mate in Tim Walz, Minnesota‘s current Democratic governor.
The announcement came just hours ahead of a fundraiser at Temple University in Philadelphia, where the two are slated to make their first public appearance together.
Prior to his tenure as Minnesota’s governor, Walz completed several terms in the House of Representatives, served in the U.S. Army and worked as a social studies teacher.
With just months until the 2024 election, Harris and Walz have a number of campaign stops planned as they fight to convince voters in swing states that they should back the Democrats in the presidential election. While Minnesota is not considered a swing state, Walz’s home state, Nebraska, apportions its electoral college votes by district, which could score the duo some extra clout.
His Midwesterner affect may be used to charm voters in tight battleground states, and his historical stances during his time as a politician may also be used in attempts to sway voters.
Walz on climate
In many circles, Walz has been considered a progressive governor, particularly after securing re-election in 2022. Like Harris, one of the issues he has been most outspoken about is climate change.
In February 2023, the governor signed into law legislation committing the state’s utilities to 100 percent clean energy by 2040. Along the way, those utilities will be required to show they’re making progress; by 2035, they must be able to prove that at least 55 percent of the energy they sell comes from renewable sources, whether that’s solar, wind, hydroelectric or biomass. If utilities cannot—or do not—meet the benchmarks set by the state, they have the option to purchase carbon credits.
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At the time, Walz reiterated his view that climate change is one of the most pressing issues politicians and citizens face.
“Climate change impacts lives and livelihoods in every corner of our state,” he said in a statement at the time. “Minnesota will continue to lead the way on combating climate change, and we’ll create clean energy jobs in the process. This bill is an essential investment in our future that will continue to pay off for generations to come.”
In May 2023, Walz signed a $2 billion bill that funded environmental priorities, which also included prohibitions on PFAS, often referred to as “forever chemicals.” It particularly affects carpets, children’s items and consumer goods. Come 2032, the state plans to completely ban PFAS use unless it is considered completely essential for health, safety or society and lacks alternatives.
The law is considered one of the nation’s strictest on the forever chemicals.
Austin Whitman, CEO of non-profit The Change Climate Project, said that level of granularity on a politician’s record can be promising, but noted “it’s anybody’s guess” whether Walz’s previous work on climate will translate into federal-level regulations if he becomes vice president.
Walz’s progressive climate stances have not been exclusive to his time as governor, despite the fact that he represented a largely rural district. Though he sponsored some bipartisan bills during his time in Congress, he also voted for many Democrat-led policies, including the American Clean Energy and Security Act. The legislation, which was never enacted, in part proposed national cap-and-trade legislation, which would have worked to limit greenhouse gas emissions or force companies to pay for them.
Whitman said that, though Walz’s climate stances may be more progressive than some of the other names that were in the mix as a potential vice presidential nominee, he doesn’t think that reality will hurt the campaign.
“They’re going to be smart in the messaging, and there’s no reason why going continuing along the same set of aggressive talking points around the importance of the clean energy revolution… would handicap them in the general election. All the folks who are really craving clear messaging around climate are going to respond well to it, and similarly, the way it’s presented is also going to appeal to swing voters,” he said.
Whitman said if Walz becomes vice president, using storytelling as a tool when it comes to climate issues will need to be a core tenant of the administration. For example, Whitman noted, Walz and Harris may be able to use the Biden administration’s legacy on climate to make forward movement in the future in a way the current administration has not yet capitalized on.
“[Walz] would be a fantastic messenger to talk about the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act, which is something that the Biden administration has done really poorly at—they passed hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of climate stimulus, and [have] gotten very, very little political benefit from it,” Whitman told Sourcing Journal. “He’s the kind of person who could really bring that home to folks in blue collar jobs around the country, and that would be a really important step forward—to celebrate the past accomplishments, while talking about the need for continued future emphasis on climate.”
Walz on labor and trade
During his political tenure, Walz has been widely regarded as a friend to unions of varying types.
In 2023, he signed into law provisions for paid family and medical leave for nearly all employees in Minnesota—both those working in private and public sectors. That law will take effect in January 2026 and will mandate that, as long as an employee was hired at least 90 days before their leave, their job will be protected.
Walz also signed into law a controversial bill protecting workers’ rights, following similar bills out of New York and California. The law requires employers to provide written quota requirements that shows workers how their performance is tracked and measured, as well as transparency around the potential consequences they may face if they miss those quotas.
And though Amazon was not explicitly mentioned in the text of the bill, some of the laws passed in response to workers’ wellbeing in warehouses has come as a result of reports that Amazon’s worker injury rate has been above national averages.
That tough-on-Amazon stance could reflect that Walz’s commitment to workers runs deeper than big dollars, as could Walz’s commitment to gig workers—in 2024, he enacted legislation mandating raises for rideshare drivers in the state, despite big dogs like Uber and Lyft threatening to stop operating in Minnesota.
Walz’s efforts toward protecting workers don’t end there. As of July 2023, Minnesota was among the growing number of states that prohibits the enforcement of noncompete agreements. Walz signed that law into action despite major companies lobbying against the bill.
And, unlike many other governors throughout the U.S., Walz has taken an active role on trade policy, even if sometimes just for Minnesota. During his tenure as governor, he has taken trade-specific trips to Australia, Finland, the United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and Norway.
In Australia, for instance, the governor worked to set the groundwork for increased exports from Minnesota into the continent. In South Korea and Japan in 2019, the governor set the tone that, despite a Donald Trump presidency and uncertain sentiment around its repercussions on trade in Asia, his administration remained steadfast in its commitment to a strong relationship with the countries.
Walz on technology
Governor Walz’s track record on technology has not been as aggressive as Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who was said to be Walz’s closest competitor in the Veepstakes.
While Shapiro put forth an Executive Order on artificial intelligence‘s use in state agencies and even penned a first-of-its-kind partnership with OpenAI to give state employees access to generative AI, Walz has been a bit slower to react to the emerging technology.
Walz did sign legislation in 2023 that puts forth criminal violations for nonconsensual deepfakes. That’s an issue which seems to be close to fashion models’ hearts as generative AI improves the quality of the digital replicas and threatens the work they do unless monitored appropriately.
As Harris’ running mate, it’s likely that Walz would continue to support putting safeguards into place when it comes to AI, said Michelle De Mooy, director of the Tech & Public Policy Program at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy.
“Walz doesn’t have a long and storied history on technology, but he does have some, so what I think will happen is he will be mostly in line with the Biden-Harris administration, which is to say mostly…pro investments in technology, alongside regulation,” she said.
Harris, during her time as vice president, has called for more stringent regulation of the technology, backed President Joe Biden’s Executive Order on AI and has worked with AI industry leaders on voluntary commitments for safe, transparent development of large models.
“As history has shown, in the absence of regulation and strong government oversight some technology companies choose to prioritize profit over the wellbeing of their customers, the security of our communities and the stability of our democracies,” Harris said last year. “One important way to address these challenges—in addition to the work we have already done—is through legislation, legislation that strengthens AI safety without stifling innovation.”
Because of Harris’ history in Silicon Valley, she has handled much of the tech-related policy for the current administration. De Mooy said, if Harris and Walz win the election, she’d expect Walz may take a back seat on technology to start.
However, given that AI and other emerging technologies have started to touch sustainability and labor—two areas Walz has shown a particular penchant for—he may take a more active role later on, should he be elected.
“To the extent that [Walz] is working on climate change, he will come into contact and be working with tech companies at some point. All of these sectors are so intermingled at this point, that my guess is he will maybe start to be a part of [the tech] conversation, regardless of whether that’s his mandate or not. That would be my hope, too, because all of these sectors are so closely tied now,” De Mooy told Sourcing Journal.