Senator Amy Klobuchar on Vice President Harris picking Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate (2024)

NPR's A Martinez speaks with Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) about Minnesota Governor Tim Walz joining the White House ticket.

A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:

Vice President Kamala Harris has announced he's chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. Harris and Walz are expected to make an appearance at an event in Philadelphia this evening. Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota backed her home state's governor to join the Democratic ticket, and she joins me now to discuss. Senator, one of the things when I ask someone what makes a great VP candidate, they always say three words - do no harm. But Senator, you know Tim Walz, how can he actually help Harris' campaign?

AMY KLOBUCHAR: Well, I hope we have a lot higher standard than that. Tim Walz is someone who can govern, who brings people together in our state in his red plaid shirt - Democrats, Republicans, Independents. He represented a rural district for years in Congress, was one of only two Democrats elected there in 100 years. On the ag committee, veterans committee, Armed Services, grew up in a little town in Nebraska on a farm and signed up for the Army National Guard at age 17. So what Kamala Harris has done here with her leadership, has brought someone in that she can trust.

I know him. He's a good friend. My mother-in-law brought them a Parmesan chicken dinner when their son was born. That's how far back we go. My husband's hometown is where Tim taught high school football. But she's brought someone she can trust and then someone who can lead and someone who understands the Midwest and rural America. So that is, I think, a very big deal when it goes when you look at other people's background for these jobs, not a lot of vice presidents have stood in a deer stand in 10 degree weather in Minnesota.

MARTÍNEZ: Not many. I would imagine that, yeah, not many on that list. What do you know about his personality? And you're friends with him. What do you know about his personality that maybe no one else knows?

KLOBUCHAR: Just that he is exceedingly optimistic, and we need that in our country right now with that dark cloud of Donald Trump constantly cutting people down and trying to divide. Tim got us through the pandemic in a big, big way in terms of always being an optimist, always looking to the future and what was ahead. He is also someone who's thoughtful and a nice person, cares about people, and it's just something about him and some people say, well, I haven't heard of him. Well, maybe that's because he's just been doing his job for all these years. Maybe because he came from a humble background and didn't think when he was growing up he wanted to be in politics.

He was a high school geography teacher. I just think that kind of different background right now and genuine Tim Walz, who speaks without notes, who's as blunt as can be, but also as positive as can be is exactly what the country needs right now. Kamala Harris had really the foresight to think, this is someone different, that maybe not everyone knows, but he is someone that's a seasoned leader and can get things done for this country.

MARTÍNEZ: Mentioned Tim Walz doing his job, and that may be a reason why people don't know about him nationally. What are some of the main policy initiatives that he has championed in Minnesota that you might expect the campaign to be talking about while they're on the trail?

KLOBUCHAR: Sure. So, you know, the first thing is he took our state in a big way through that pandemic and stabilized things. We're now sixth in the country by CNBC rates for doing business. So he gets that mixture of standing up for workers, which he's done time and time again and working with business. We have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. And I think right now in the economic times that we're in, that's really important. Secondly, he's someone that has stood up for civil rights and for women. He is someone that made sure that we enshrined in law a woman's right to make her own decisions about her healthcare. He believes that women should make that and not politicians.

MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. Senator, thank you for sharing your thoughts on Tim Walz.

KLOBUCHAR: Well, incredible to be on, and you're going to have fun getting to know Tim Walz. Thanks, everyone.

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