Donald Trump is not known for his devotion to the truth, but the former US president was probably correct last week when he said the importance of vice-presidential nominees was exaggerated. This week’s announcement of Minnesota governor Tim Walz as Kamala Harris’s running mate should therefore be treated as consequential but not determinant in the race for the White House.
Nevertheless, the choice offers further evidence of the strategy being pursued by a campaign which, despite being assembled in a matter of days following Joe Biden’s withdrawal, has barely put a foot wrong.
The key to that strategy has been consolidation. Harris first regained the ground which Biden had lost following his disastrous debate performance. She has since gone on to reclaim support and rekindle enthusiasm among key parts of the Democratic base, particularly black voters, the young and progressives. At some point she will need to reach out to undecided and independent voters, but the approach so far has paid dividends, putting her back in contention in an election which only a month ago seemed lost.
The choice of Walz further reduces the risk of internal divisions over the war in Gaza, which could have been reignited by the selection of Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, a strong supporter of Israel. Walz also has the backing of key voices on the party’s left such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Ocasio Cortez.
An Irish man in California: what I did first notice was how people talk about themselves. Compared to the typical older Irish man
‘I can walk in the streets, not afraid. The vibe of Dublin city just leads me to feel very comfortable here’
Your EV questions answered: How do plug-in hybrids work in practice and do they make sense for your pocket?
‘You see drivers watching matches on laptops, people eating breakfast cereal, putting on make-up, shaving’
Some Republicans have already welcomed the nomination as an opportunity to ramp up attacks on what they describe as a radical leftist ticket. Those attacks will be blunted by Walz’s no-nonsense Midwestern demeanour and backstory. But his performance as governor during the violence that followed the 2020 police killing of George Floyd in the Minnesota city of Minneapolis will certainly come under sustained criticism.
Harris and Walz are now undertaking a tour of battleground states in advance of the Democratic National Convention, which takes place in Chicago from August 19th. The plan is clear: maintain the momentum which has driven them back to parity with Republicans, and hope for a post-convention opinion poll bounce to propel them into the lead by Labour Day on September 2nd, when the national campaign traditionally begins.
Meanwhile, Republicans, for now at least, continue to flail. Trump dismayed his party by launching a personal attack on Georgia’s popular Republican governor Brian Kemp and his wife at an Atlanta rally last weekend. Similar internecine squabbling in 2020 delivered the state to Joe Biden, along with two Democratic senate seats, and it is possible that the same could happen again. At some point, however, the party will refocus its efforts in pursuit of a victory that still seems tantalisingly within reach for both sides.