Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) revealed in a recent interview that he gave former Vice President Kamala Harris a candid warning before joining her presidential ticket.
“I said about 90 percent of the time, I can be really good, but about 10 percent of the time, I can be a train wreck because I’m speaking from the heart, like a teacher sitting in a teachers lounge or a laborer sitting at the break table,” Walz shared with New York magazine when asked about his role on the campaign trail with Harris.
Harris’s decision to choose Walz as her vice-presidential candidate elevated him to the forefront of national politics.
“I thought they would choose the district attorney and the teacher over the hedge-fund manager and the billionaire,” he remarked.
Despite their combined efforts, the Democratic ticket of Harris and Walz was ultimately defeated by the Republican duo of President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance.
Reflecting on the loss, Walz suggested that their campaign lacked the boldness needed to inspire and galvanize voters, which may have played a key role in the outcome.
“Maybe we’re not aspirational,” Walz said, speaking frankly about the Democratic Party’s approach.
In the same interview, he acknowledged that while he advocated for progressive reforms, those efforts did not necessarily translate into meaningful economic prospects for college-educated individuals seeking to get ahead.
“I heard this from someone who said, with Democratic go-to messages, basically to Black men, these Democratic politicians led with ‘We restored felon voting rights,’ and the Black men said, ‘But we’re not felons, we’re MBAs looking for capital,’” he told New York magazine.
“The restoration of felon voting rights is important — I did that in Minnesota — but it’s not aspirational. With Donald Trump, everything’s gold-plated and he’s hanging around with these stars, and I don’t know if we do enough of that.”
Walz also said that Democrats have faced challenges with voter engagement for multiple election cycles, well before last year’s race. He added that Harris had little time to shape the campaign after President Biden unexpectedly exited the race.
“Well, I won’t critique the campaign. They need to do what they need to do, but I don’t think Vice President Harris got to be bold. We were dealing with a short runway. That was that one election,” he said.
“I think it would be foolish for us to take a ton of lessons from that because this has been going on for several cycles, certainly since 2016, that we are really struggling to broaden our appeal and energize folks.”
As Walz has continued to speak openly about areas where the party must evolve, Harris has remained largely out of the spotlight, opting instead to sign with a leading talent agency—a move mirrored by other former Biden administration figures.
There is also growing speculation that Harris may be eyeing a future run for California governor in 2026, as the Democratic Party looks to position strong contenders ahead of the 2028 presidential race.
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