Minnesota
Harris picks Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for running mate
Vice President Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her vice presidential running mate, according to three sources with knowledge of the pick, adding a popular Midwestern state executive to the Democratic ticket as the party gears up to hold onto key Northern battleground states this fall.
In picking Walz, who’s in his second term and also served 12 years in Congress, Harris will have as her No. 2 someone with a proven record of winning over white working-class voters in Rust Belt states while also boasting a robustly progressive record.
Democrats will hope that mix of attributes helps a Harris-Walz ticket shore up support in the onetime “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan — longtime Democratic strongholds at the presidential level that Donald Trump flipped in 2016 and Joe Biden flipped back in 2020. This year, they’ve been seen as Biden’s, and now Harris’, most viable path to victory.
Walz, 60, had initially been viewed as a long shot in a field of vice presidential contenders that included rising party stars, some of whom have been mentioned as future presidential candidates, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Now Harris has chosen a governing partner who has leaned in at times to a folksy, Midwestern reputation while also proving to be a reliable attack dog against Trump.
Walz’s experiences earlier in his life, as a public school teacher and a member of the Army National Guard, could also buttress his ability to speak to different voting blocs — including veterans and organized labor — that Harris will need to win in November.
Walz, a Nebraska native, enlisted in the National Guard when he was 17 and served for more than two decades, with both domestic and overseas deployments. He later was a high school social studies teacher and football coach in Mankato, about 80 miles south of Minneapolis, before he won a congressional seat in a largely rural and agricultural district in 2006.
He represented Minnesota’s 1st District for 12 years before his successful run for governor in 2018. A 1995 reckless driving arrest in Nebraska, during which, an officer said, Walz had failed a sobriety test, came up in his campaigns for House and the governorship, but he was elected anyway. Walz called it a “gut check moment” in an interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune in 2018, saying he stopped drinking afterward.
Walz’s allies have spoken frequently about how his background representing rural communities is much needed in the party, noting that he won re-election in a red-trending district — one that was about evenly divided in 2012 but swung heavily to Trump in 2016 — and could help Democrats compete for some moderate or conservative voters skeptical of Trump this time around.
Walz also had the most Capitol Hill experience of anyone on Harris’ reported short list, with relationships in Congress that could help a new president move a legislative agenda.
As governor, Walz has overseen a bonanza of progressive policy accomplishments — particularly during his second term, during which Democrats have also controlled both chambers of the Legislature.
He has signed laws protecting abortion rights, legalizing recreational marijuana, restricting gun access and providing legal refuge to trans youths whose access to gender-affirming and other medical care has been restricted elsewhere. Progressives elsewhere have pointed to Minnesota as a case study in how to effectively use the power of a legislative trifecta to achieve policy priorities.
Walz also enacted laws expanding paid family leave, banning most non-compete agreements, providing universal school meals for students and capping the price of insulin in Minnesota (three years before Biden did it nationally) — a list of legislative wins his colleagues and supporters have said would translate nationally.
Walz doesn’t have the same degree of name recognition as many of his presumed competitors to be Harris’ running mate, though he spent a year leading fundraising efforts for Democratic governors as chair of the Democratic Governors Association. In recent days, Walz has turned up the publicity dial, trying out attack lines against Trump and Sen. JD Vance in a slew of media appearances.
In a late July interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” he ripped Trump and Vance as “weird,” gaining wider notice. Harris herself began using the “weird” line almost immediately.
Walz also explicitly used his media appearances to attack the GOP ticket by playing up his strong cultural ties to the middle of the country — and to demonstrate to Democrats how he would intend for the party to win over those voters.
“What I know is that people like JD Vance know nothing about small town America,” Walz said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on July 23. “My town had 400 people, 24 kids in my graduating class, 12 were cousins. And he gets it all wrong.”
“It’s not about hate. It’s not about collapsing in. The golden rule there is mind your own damn business,” Walz said, adding that Republican “policies are what destroyed rural America. They divided us. They’re in our exam rooms. They’re telling us what books to read.”
“And what I think what Kamala Harris knows is bringing people together around the shared values, strong public schools, strong labor unions that create the middle class, health care that’s affordable and accessible, those are the things,” Walz said.
Picking Walz doesn’t come without risks. While his selection underscores Democrats’ effort to aggressively go after Midwestern voters, he doesn’t bring a specific battleground state advantage: Minnesota hasn’t gone red in a presidential race since 1972.
In addition, as Walz’s stock has risen in recent days, critics have reintroduced questions about his governing record. They include concerns over a delay calling in the National Guard as protests engulfed Minneapolis following the murder of George Floyd by city police officers in May 2020, as well as the fact that the biggest pandemic fraud case in the U.S. happened under his watch.
Another presumed liability for Walz’s VP chances early on had been his role as a co-chair of the Democratic National Convention rules committee — a job that, in the chaotic days after Biden dropped out of the race, led him to help Harris quickly become the party’s presumptive nominee.
Any potential criticism over a conflict of interest was largely rendered moot when precisely zero high-profile competitors challenged Harris for the nomination.
Walz told reporters that “anybody [who] wants to put their name in” to be nominated” can do so.
Could a UCLA baseball team that’s perfect in Big Ten play get better?
Bruins coach John Savage thinks so, which is a frightening prospect for the rest of a seemingly overmatched conference.
While Savage’s top-ranked Bruins completed a three-game sweep of Minnesota on Sunday with a 5-2 victory at Jackie Robinson Stadium — stretching their Big Ten winning streak to 21 games — he said there’s more upside to be realized.
“Offensively, we just really couldn’t get a lot going,” Savage said after his team went 1-for-5 with runners in scoring position and stranded six baserunners. “We just weren’t able to put a lot together, but when that pitching and defense shows up every day, it gives yourself a chance to win, and that’s kind of what we did all three games, really.”
Those elements were so good Sunday that they overshadowed Roman Martin’s solo homer in the third inning and Will Gasparino’s two-run shot in the sixth.
Bruins left fielder Dean West made three superb catches — two leaping and one diving — and four relievers combined to give up only one run in 4 ⅔ innings. Closer Easton Hawk needed only six pitches to record a 1-2-3 ninth inning while notching his third save in as many days.
Savage credited Minnesota’s pitching after the Golden Gophers (22-17 overall, 5-13 Big Ten) held the Bruins (36-3) to an average of five runs during the series and said many of his team’s offensive struggles were situational.
“We have very, very good offensive players — some of them are in … little ruts right now, but that’s OK,” Savage said. “These guys play a lot and get a lot of at-bats; there’s a lot of ups and downs.”
When it comes to UCLA’s conference record, it’s all been up.
What it means
UCLA’s sweep is further evidence that the Bruins aren’t getting complacent because of their record.
“This culture is really solid, and these guys truly believe in one another and they’re playing for the team,” Savage said. “We’re very fortunate to have this group, and so they love playing together, so there’s no complacency and there’s no reason to because we haven’t done anything; I mean, you’re 36-3, that’s great, but at the end of the day it’s about getting better and playing your best baseball the next 75 days.”
Turning point
Spotting a dominant team an early lead is never a good idea.
That’s what happened when the Bruins struck for two runs in the bottom of the first inning.
West led off with a single to center field, took third on Roch Cholowsky’s double to left and scored on a balk. With one out, Martin hit an RBI infield single off the pitcher’s glove. UCLA was up 2-0, and the Golden Gophers could never catch up.
Did you see that?
Minnesota did not like it when Gasparino admired his home run by lingering in the batter’s box before commencing his trot around the bases.
There was consensus in both dugouts because Savage also didn’t care for it.
“I thought he probably stayed in the box a little too long for me,” Savage said. “That’s kind of not who we are, and they didn’t like that; I wouldn’t like that either, really.”
MVP
West saved multiple extra-base hits with his catches.
Which was his favorite?
“Probably the diving one,” West said. “I think that was the coolest one. I got to leave my feet and make a play on it.”
Up next
The Bruins will open a five-game stretch of nonconference games when they host Hawaii on Tuesday evening at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Of the many terrible roster decisions Minnesota sports teams have made over the past 30 years, the worst of the bunch may have been trading Randy Moss to the Raiders for the No. 7 pick in the draft and linebacker Napoleon Harris.
Why are we bringing up a trade that happened 21 years ago? Because the New York Giants traded defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence to the Cincinnati Bengals for the No. 10 pick in this week’s NFL Draft. It was the first time a non-quarterback has been traded for a top-10 pick since the infamous Moss trade in 2005.
Minnesota traded Moss for the Raiders’ first-round pick, Harris, and a seventh-round pick on March 2, 2005. The Vikings used the No. 7 pick on wide receiver Troy Williamson, who never panned out in the NFL. He had 24 catches for 372 yards and two touchdowns as a rookie, 37 receptions for 457 yards and zero touchdowns in 2006, and just 18 catches for 240 yards and one touchdown in 2007.
Williams led the league with 11 dropped passes in 2006. Minnesota traded him to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a sixth-round pick after the 2007 season, where he played in 10 games over two seasons and totaled just eight catches for 64 yards. He was cut before the start of the 2010 season, and that was a wrap on the former South Carolina speedster’s NFL career.
Moss didn’t put up jaw-dropping numbers with the Raiders for two seasons, but he set an NFL record with 23 touchdown catches in 2007 with the New England Patriots. He caught 47 touchdowns in 48 regular-season games with the Patriots from 2007 to 2009.
Whether it was trading Moss to the Raiders, the Timberwolves sending Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics — or drafting Ricky Rubio AND Johnny Flynn over Steph Curry — or the Twins cutting David Ortiz and watching him become one of the greatest players in MLB history with the Boston Red Sox, Minnesota sports teams have a long history of making terrible decisions.
The Bengals, meanwhile, gave up the 10th overall pick for one of the best defensive tackles in the league. They’ll likely get great production from Lawrence, while the Giants are now under pressure to get the 10th pick right. New York also holds the No. 5 pick in Thursday’s first round of the draft.
By the way, the Vikings had two picks in the first round of the 2005 draft. After taking Williamson, they used the No. 18 pick on defensive end Erasmus James. He was just as much of a bust as Williams, playing in 23 games in three years with the Vikings. He had four sacks as a rookie, but injuries wiped out most of his 2006 and 2007 seasons before he was traded to Washington for a conditional seventh-round pick.
James was cut by Washington in December 2009, marking the end of his NFL career.
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Kirill Kaprizov had a goal and two assists, and Ryan Hartman had a goal and an assist for the Wild, who are the No. 3 seed in the Central Division. Wallstedt made 27 saves in his Stanley Cup Playoff debut, and Zuccarello had three assists.
“I was definitely nervous,” said Wallstedt, a rookie. “I think it shows that it means something to you. I like a little bit of nerves. I think it’s something good. There were definitely some nerves throughout the day and then a little bit extra rolling into the game. But after the national anthem was over and the first couple pucks started coming, you’re good.
“I wanted to play and I felt like I have been going good. I was a little surprised (to get the start). But I was very excited as soon as I got the news. I just wanted to make sure I was ready today.”
Jason Robertson scored, and Jake Oettinger made 23 saves for the Stars, who are the No. 2 seed in the Central.
“We didn’t deserve to win,” Dallas forward Mikko Rantanen said. “I think two power-play goals for them, two a little-bit bounces for them where we had guys in the right spot. Just even keel. Playoffs are like this. Sometimes you lose a game, you can feel like you’re done. But that’s the mentality you need to have, you’ve got to reset and learn from mistakes.
“First 30 minutes, we didn’t win enough battles. They were just that little bit stronger in the battles and that’s why they were able to make us defend more than we want to. Just got to be stronger.”
Game 2 is here on Monday (9:30 p.m. ET; FDSNWI, FDSNNO, Victory+, ESPN, TVAS2, SN360).
“We prepped for a couple days coming into this one. Now, we will gather information from this game and continue to move forward,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said. “For me, it’s game to game and day to day. We want to continue to get better. We won and they [Dallas] lost. It’s not so much being satisfied where you’re at or that’s what it is. We need to continue to find ways to get better.”
Eriksson Ek gave the Wild a 1-0 lead at 5:35 of the first period on the power play. He scored on a one-timer from the left hash marks to finish a tic-tac-toe passing play with Zuccarello and Boldy, who found an open Eriksson Ek with a pass from the goal line.
“I think every team in the playoffs talks about not getting too high or too low. Just enjoy every day and each game and then we will go from there,” Eriksson Ek said. “I think we played pretty good today. The next game is a new game, so we just have to do it over and over every game. We know they are probably not the happiest with that game, so I am sure it’s going to be hard next game.”
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