Walz had been on a shortlist with a string of other Democratic figures seen as broadening Harris’s appeal as she sprints into the contest against Donald Trump.
Aiming to make history as the first woman president, Harris – already a trailblazer as the first female and first Black and South Asian vice president – has little time before Election Day on November 5.
The choice was first reported by CNN early on Tuesday morning. Expectations had always been that Harris would pick a white man to balance the ticket – and the kind of Democrat who can help counter attacks from Republicans that she is too far to the left.
Walz fits that description as a 60-year-old Midwesterner with a folksy manner from a state that could be light years from the coastal elites of California, where Harris comes from, or the East Coast.
He will also appeal to progressives after having championed popular Democratic policies, including cannabis legalisation and increasing worker protections.
The duo will hit the campaign trail immediately, launching an intense, five-day swing through battleground states beginning on Tuesday in the biggest prize, Pennsylvania.
Fresh from securing the official Democratic nomination overnight, Harris can now head to the national convention in Chicago in two weeks in total control of her party.
It has been a remarkable journey for Harris, who only entered the race last month when President Joe Biden withdrew, bowing to mounting concerns over his mental acuity and ability at 81 to serve a second term.
In a campaign that is barely two weeks old, the 59-year-old former prosecutor has obliterated fundraising records, attracted huge crowds and dominated social media on her way to erasing what had been Trump’s growing lead in polls over Biden. The latest presidential poll by the University of Massachusetts Amherst released on Monday has Harris leading Trump nationally by three points – 46 per cent to 43pc – compared to a four-point lead for Trump over Biden in January.
In the swing states that decide the Electoral College contest in US elections, Harris is neck and neck with Trump, who shocked the world with his 2016 presidential victory but was beaten by Biden in 2020.
Picking a vice presidential running mate was seen as the first big test for Harris in her bid to become the country’s chief executive.
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