Key highlights
Tim WaltzDemocratic presidential candidate’s newly appointed vice presidential candidate Kamala Harrisfacing his Republican rival as vice presidential candidate J.D. Vancefrom the front in a speech Philadelphia The 60-year-old Minnesota governor was introduced by Governor Harris at a rally on Tuesday after announcing his nomination earlier that day. Shortly after, Walz took to the stage to attack J.D. Vance, accusing him of writing the controversial foreword to Project 2025. He claimed that “Silicon Valley billionaires” funded Vance’s career.
“J.D. Vance literally wrote the foreword to the Project 2025 plan,” Waltz said, adding sarcastically that “like most people I know who grew up in the Midwest, J.D. studied at Yale.”
Waltz added that Vance “was funded by Silicon Valley billionaires and wrote a best-selling book trashing that community. No way! That’s not what the Midwest is about. I can’t wait to debate him, if he’s willing to get up off the couch and show up to debate.”
Walz, a military veteran turned teacher, entered politics and rose through the ranks of the Democratic Party by championing some of its key policies. A year into his second term as Minnesota governor in 2022, he passed a bill that essentially lifted all restrictions on abortion and access to reproductive health facilities in the state.
Harris announced him as her running mate after the Democratic National Committee formally endorsed her presidential nomination through a virtual voting process ahead of the in-person Democratic National Convention, which runs from Aug. 19 to 22.
“I’m proud to have asked @Tim_Walz to be my running mate,” Harris said in a post on X. “As a governor, coach, teacher and veteran, he’s committed to working families like my own. I’m thrilled to have him on the team. Now, let’s get to work.”
