Why did Kamala Harris pick Tim Walz? Watch CNN coverage

Kamala Harris posts call of her call to Gov. Tim Walz to tell him her vice presidential pick All right. The Harris campaign has just released a video of her phone call this morning to Governor Tim Walz, telling him that he is her running mate. Let's listen to. Hi, this is Tim. It's Kamala Harris. Good morning governor. Good morning, Madam Vice President. Listen, I want you to do this with me. Let's let's do this together. Would you be my running mate? And let's get this thing on the road? I would be honored, madam Vice president. the joy that you're bringing back to the country, the enthusiasm that's out there. it'll be a privilege to take this with you across the country. Well, let me tell you, I have just the utmost respect for you. I have really enjoyed our work together. And you understand our country. You have dedicated yourself to our country in so many different and beautiful ways. And we're going to do this. We're going to win, and we're going to unify our country and remind everyone that we are fighting for the future, for everyone. So let's get out there and get this done, okay? Let's do it. Do the work in front of us. Let's win this thing. That's right. All right, buddy, I'll see you soon. Take care. Thank you. Okay. Yeah. Bye. And off walls was shortly after that two. Philadelphia. We saw him deplane wearing that same black t shirt. we suspect, though, he will change before this event in Philadelphia with Kamala Harris. In the meantime, his military background is a key part of his resume, something that he is bringing to this ticket that could help win the support of veteran voters and people who value having a veteran on the ticket. Come November, according to the campaign's website, walls enlisted in the Army National Guard at the young age of 17. He served for 24 years, and he retired in 2005 as a command sergeant major. It is one of the military's highest enlisted ranks. Walz later went on to serve in Congress, where he was on the House Armed Services Committee and the Veterans Affairs Committee, later becoming the top Democrat on that committee. While in Congress, Walz was an advocate for veterans. He introduced legislation to help reduce military and veteran suicides. The Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act passed both the House and the Senate unanimously, and President Obama signed into law in 2015. Joining us now to talk more about this. We have CNN military analyst and retired Army Lieutenant General Mark hurtling. Sir, thanks for being with us. I think it's always very interesting to see for you as a veteran, for any veteran, Retired US Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling talks to Brianna Keilar about the military background Gov. Tim Walz brings to the ticket for me as a, military spouse, 20, a veteran on a ticket here. And he's 24 years. what do you think about this? Why is this a big deal? Well, it's an element of character, Brianna. It is part of who the individual is, no matter how long they served or are, in what position they serve. If you say someone has volunteered in a professional force like we have right now, it says that they're willing to provide some selfless service to something bigger than themselves. So when you're talking about, Governor Walz, the fact that he served for 24 years, and was an NCO during that entire period, going from private, to his final position was as a command sergeant major of an artillery battalion in the Minnesota National Guard. That just shows the kinds of things he's done. And by the way, because it was the National Guard, you're talking about a citizen soldier role. What I mean by that is, you know, you know, this being the spouse of an active duty service, soldier, that's a profession that takes your your full devotion and your full time for someone that joins the National Guard. They are back and forth between their military requirements and their duties and their civilian requirements and jobs. So it puts even an additional burden on individuals who decide to serve as part of the the the National Guard force of either the Army or the Air Force. Yeah, I'm so glad you mentioned that. Because for people in the guard, and in the reserve, it really is, so much trickier to navigate as they're weaving in and out of civilian life. in the House of Representatives, Walz was the highest ranking enlisted soldier ever to serve in Congress. Of course, we should note that JD Vance, was a marine veteran, is a marine veteran. He served four years, including in Iraq, as a enlisted combat correspondent. talk a little bit about the being enlisted and why that is significant, how that will resonate with voters. Yeah, yeah, I don't want to get into the politics of it, Brianna. But truthfully, when you're talking about an individual who served for 24 years from private to a position as a sergeant major in a battalion, you're talking about going through a whole lot of wickets. they they advanced to their early stages of being a sergeant. Then their competencies allow them to get promoted to the various ranks of sergeants. I posted that this would be an interesting dynamic as part of his personality on Twitter this morning, and I had a whole lot of people coming back to me saying, exactly what is a sergeant major? What is a master sergeant? So it was interesting to me, how few people realize that that hierarchical structure, which is the military, that big pyramid of going from one of many to a few that are selected at the top levels is a tough wicket to get through. So, then Sergeant Major was, as a battalion artillery battalion commander in the Minnesota Guard, rose to the very top, and he was appointed to a position which very few people hold now in. In all truth, though, when he left the military, as I understand it, he was not in that position and he didn't complete the qualifications for a command sergeant major. So he retired as a master sergeant. But even in that, 24 years of service in the NCO corps, the backbone of our military, the people in our military that make stuff happen. And when you're in that role as a sergeant major, I can share this. Having served with 11 different sergeants majors in in my role as a commander. They are tough. They know what they're doing. They speak truth to power. No one intimidates them from private up to general. They are the ones that are the enlist. Brianna Keilar talks to former presidential candidate and Trump campaign surrogate Vivek Ramaswamy about Kamala Harris’ VP pick When it comes time to vote, the economy will be on the minds of many voters in both. parties are certainly well aware of that as they are making their pitch on the campaign trail, which includes two hours from now in Philadelphia, when Vice President Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz make their first appearance together. I want to bring in former Republican presidential candidate and Trump campaign surrogate Vivek Ramaswamy to join us. you tweeted that this pic was a massive gift to Republicans. Why do you think that? Well, the reality is, I'll be the first to admit the last couple of weeks, Brianna, have not been great for Republicans. This gives us the opportunity to reset. I think there is a fundamental contradict in how they're pitching walls. On one hand, they're presenting him as a midwestern unifier. On the other hand, this is the guy who just called 70 plus million people in this country just plain weird. The reality is, his progressive policies are going to cause Democrats to lose a lot of centrist voters. And the reality is, if Democrats do lose this election come November, I think this will be the moment they look back to as a moment of soul searching to say they passed over Josh Shapiro, somebody who likely could have delivered Pennsylvania because he's Jewish. That's going to be a moment for deep soul searching for the Democratic Party come November. But in the meantime, this is exactly the reset that Republicans needed. And I think it's progressive policy record hopefully refocuses this presidential race where it should be on policy and on those merits. I think Republicans are going to be successful. I think he specifically called JD Vance and Donald Trump weird. just to be clear, he seemed to go out of his way to be clear that he wasn't calling all Republicans weird. Although I certainly understand people are weird. he he said that. I'm just saying what he said, that he was trying to make clear that he wasn't saying that about all Republicans. But certainly I understand why Republicans would seize on that. it seems that the attack line from Republicans is going to be to make him out. We've seen this from the ad that's come out sort of a radical. And I wonder what that means. What does that mean to a middle class voter who says that the economy or immigration is the most pressing issue in their mind? Look, I think immigration and the economy are the two most pressing issues in this election, hands down. But the dirty little secret in this race is of the candidates in the tickets who are actually up there right now. Donald Trump is actually the moderate when it comes to policy on this race. The funny thing, Brianna, is, if you think about criticisms of Republicans dating back 20 years, supposedly extreme positions on abortion, on gun control, on interventionist foreign wars like Iraq. Look at Donald Trump's positions, he believes, against a national abortion ban. That's a position that defies much of the Republican Party relatively moderate posture on issues like gun control against the Iraq war and against fighting foreign wars that don't advance American interests today. So if this comes down to actual policy, if Republicans are able to make this about our own policy vision, seal the border, grow the economy, and rampant violent crime in this country, including of the kind that played out in Minnesota under Waltz's leadership in 2020 during the BLM riots. Stay out of World War three increased prosperity for all Americans. I think that's going to be a formula for a decisive victory for Republicans. If there's anything that I see as a risk in this choice of Waltz as VP for Republicans, it's that we get distracted by his own progressive policy record that Republicans need to remember. We need to offer our own vision, not just criticize the other side. Shapiro would actually be a much more difficult target for Republicans to criticize. He's far more moderate, would have been a far more moderate pick than Walter would have been when it comes down to policy. But because they've chosen Waltz, I think this is a great opportunity for Republicans to refocus this election on policy, on what is our vision, irrespective of what the other side puts up. And if we do, I think we're going to be successful this November. I do want to note we just saw that arrival there, in Philadelphia. Vice President Harris, just the tail end of that arrival. as you said, Donald Trump is the moderate in this. obviously, he's the one who put in place the justices who overturned row. That is going to be a very big issue. I wonder if you think that JD Vance, for instance, has more appeal to non-college educated white voters or to suburban women? And why? Then walls. Well, I think the reality is, when it comes to voters making their decisions at the ballot box, this is going to come down to who's at the top of the ticket. Donald Trump versus Kamala Harris. Look, JD Vance is a friend. So maybe I'm biased, but I think he's one of the most thoughtful people we've had on the actual ticket for vice presidency. In either party with an actual affirmative vision of his own. He's taken on issues and had the courage to take on an issue like America's declining fertility rate. It's 1.6 to well below the replacement rate. That's something that politicians that is working for him child. So I think JD governor waltz on. Well, look, I think the reality is you look at a lot of what his record of what he said in the past during the BLM riots. Look at his own family members goading them on and failing to bring the National Guard on for three days. You could look back at the policy records and find something that either side's not going to love about the other side's vice presidential or presidential candidate. It was two days. I will I will note that he was criticized. He was criticized in a bipartisan way by the Minnesota Senate for what he did. But I do just want to note that it was two days. But you did say, that you think that that would be on the third day. Do you think that what JD Vance I mean, is that what the ladies. Look, what I believe is if you could airlift the most a salable thing that someone has said from either side, you're going to find a lot worse from Kamala Harris or Joe Biden. But the reality is, you said this, and I agree with you. If this comes down to immigration and the economy, that's where this election lands, then I think when it comes to a policy record and a policy vision, Donald Trump and JD Vance have the undoubted advantage, especially after choosing Waltz today. He's somebody who's talked about even building a ladder over the border wall. When you think about what that means for Americans today. You see rampant crime spreading across this country. We don't want to see a repeat of what happened in Minneapolis and Saint Paul in the summer of 2020 under Wallace, as a governor in cities across this country. That's not what we want from the vice president of the president of the United States. So my advice to Republicans is this we have to focus on our own vision. I think it is a trap we can fall into to just criticize the other side. My message to the Republican Party has been for a little bit. Forget about the other side and offer our own vision for the United States of America. And if we do that, I think we're now in a strong of a position as we've been. Thankfully, for Republicans, Kamala Harris didn't select Josh Shapiro. She went the other way. This provides an opening that resets the race after admittedly a rough couple of weeks for Republicans. I'll be the first to admit that this now actually gives us the reset we needed. And I think this is going to shake up the race in the next couple of months. Yeah, we're going to see how this shakes up. Obviously, it's going to be, a big couple of weeks ahead of a week. Rama Swamy, thanks for being with us. We appreciate it. Kamala Harris speaks at her first rally after announcing Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate I stand before you today to proudly announce I am now officially the Democratic nominee for president of the United States. And so now we got some work to do. We need to move to the general election and win that. And to all the friends. Listen, we also need to level set. We are the underdogs in this race. But we have the momentum. And I know exactly what we are up against. Governor Tim Walz and the great state of Minnesota. So to those who know him best, to those who know him best, Tim is is more than a governor to his wife, Gwen. He is a husband to his kids, Hope and Gus. He is a dad to his fellow veterans. He is Sergeant Major Walz. To the people. To the people of southern Minnesota. For 12 years he was Congressman. To his former high school students, he was Mr. Walsh. And to his former high school football players, he was coach. So? So. And in 91 days. The nation will know Coach Walz by another name. Vice president of the United States. Gov. Tim Walz gives first speech as part of Democratic ticket And. Thank. Wow. Thank you. Philadelphia. Thank you, Madam Vice President, for the trust you put in me. But maybe more so. Thank you for bringing back the joy. I'm thrilled to be on this journey with you and Doug, this incredible journey and Pennsylvania. I know you know this, but my God, what a treasure you have in Josh Shapiro. Holy hell. Can this guy bring the fire? He can bring the fire. This is a visionary leader. Also, I have to tell you, everybody in America knows when you need a bridge fix. Call that guy. And I think sometimes we forget. And you see people a little one dimensional. But seeing a guy who cares so deeply about his family, a man with compassion, vision. And I have to tell you this. I know this from experience. There is no one you would rather go to a Springsteen concert in Jersey with than him and not God. Ruth's. And I can't wait for all of you and America to get to know my incredible wife, Gwen, a 29 year public school educator. Don't ever underestimate teachers. And our two beautiful kids. Hope and God's. I couldn't be prouder to be on this ticket. And to help Vice President Harris become what we all know is very, very good for us to think about. Next president of the United States of America. From her first day as a prosecutor, as a district attorney, attorney general of the great state of California, a United States Senator and vice president of the United States. Vice President Harris has fought on the side of the American people. She took on the predators. She took on the fraudsters. She took down the transnational gangs. She stood up against powerful corporate interests. And she never hesitated to reach across the aisle if it meant improving people's lives. And I want all of you to hold this. And don't ever underestimate the power of this. She does it all with a sense of joy. I know a little something about that commitment to people. I was born in West Point, Nebraska. I lived in Butte, a small town of 400, where community was a way of life. Growing up, I spent the summers working on the family farm. My mom and dad taught us show generosity towards your neighbors and work for a common good. My dad served in the army during the Korean War and with his encouragement, at 17, I joined the Army National Guard. For 24 years, I proudly wore the uniform of this nation. The National Guard gave me purpose. It gave me the strength of a shared commitment to something greater than ourselves. And just as it did from my dad and millions of others, the GI Bill gave me a shot at a college education. My dad was a teacher. My brothers and sisters and I followed in their footsteps. Three out of four of us married teachers. What we do. For nearly 20 years, I had the privilege of teaching high school social studies and coaching football. Including winning that state championship. Don't ever close the yearbooks. Don't ever. But it was my students. They encouraged me to run for office. They saw in me what I was hoping to instill in them a commitment of common good, a belief that one person can make a difference. So in 2006 2006, I took a leap and I ran for Congress. And because high school teachers are super optimistic, I was running in a district that had won Democrats since 1892. Well, my neighbors graced me with an opportunity to represent them in the United States House of Representatives. I'm proud of the work we did there together. I worked across the aisle on veterans issues, on agriculture, and on ways to grow rural economies. I learned the art of compromise without compromising my values. And now, as governor of the great state of Minnesota, I bring those experiences to bear in tackling the challenges that are facing our great state. Minnesota's strengths comes from our values, our commitment to working together to seeing past our differences, to always being willing to lend a helping hand. Those are the same values I learned on the family farm and tried to instill in my students. I took it to Congress and to the state Capitol, and now Vice President Harris and I are running to take those very values to the white House. Now Donald Trump sees the world a little differently than us. First of all, he doesn't know the first thing about service. He doesn't have time for it because he's too busy serving himself. Again and again and again. Trump weakens our economy to strengthen his own hand. He mocks our laws. He sows chaos and division. And that's to say nothing of his record as president. He froze in the face of the Covid crisis. He drove our economy into the ground. And make no mistake, violent crime was up under Donald Trump. That's not even counting the crimes he committed. You know is a some of us. Some of us are. Some of us. Some of us in here are old enough to remember. I see you down there. I see those old white guys. Some of us are old enough to remember. When it was Republicans who were talking about freedom, it turns out now what they meant was the government should be free to invade your doctor's office. In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and their personal choices that they make. Even if we wouldn't make the same choice for ourselves, there's a golden rule mind your own damn business. Jamie, you have some great new reporting about the the process, the vetting process CNN’s Jamie Gangel reports on the vetting process for Gov. Tim Walz and a CNN panel reacts #cnn #News that Tim Walz went through and the conversations that he had, including this moment on the teleprompter. So most people don't know this yet, but one of the things that Tim Walz confessed when he had his vetting was he said to the team, if you pick me, I have to share something with you. I've never used a teleprompter before. I don't use them in. Had a big sigh of relief when he told them what the big news was. Yeah, if you have to have a vulnerability that is that was one that you want. and he said, you're going to have to get me a teleprompter. You're going to have to get someone to teach me how to do it. And our colleague underneath has reporting that in the hours before that speech, guess what? They had a teleprompter backstage and he was practicing with it. I just want to add, someone texted me, he reads Republican, and I think that is the reason I was told by people who were familiar with the vetting that he was a favorite candidate, because he may not be governor Shapiro of Pennsylvania, but they feel he will connect and attract voters. in Michigan, in Wisconsin, in Georgia, in North Carolina, that his Midwestern nice will play elsewhere. I also just want to say about that speech, it's one of the reasons that Harris picked him. That's his superpower. He is authentic. He knows how to deliver even a tough line with a smile wit the line of the night, I thought, was when he said, let's be clear, crime was up under Trump. That pardon paraphrasing. But then he turned and he said, and that's not even counting the crimes he committed. It brought down the house. Okay. So let's ask, Republicans are former Republican still Republican, Republican support for the right about I'm still very much no, no, no, I was looking I was looking at a list. You can't say we're looking at these, these pictures. I was looking at a list. the whole idea of his appeal. you know, we see in here the Trump campaign, JD Vance, I mean, they're going, full steam ahead on saying he's a progressive and he's too liberal and so on and so forth. Is that going to fly when he delivers lines the way he does, when he looks, the way he looks, when he has the background that he does so listen, this was a flawless rollout for all intents and purposes, and I have a feeling that Donald Trump was feeling pretty confident this morning when governor Josh Shapiro was not the pick. Somebody who was a moderate, that they were a lot more afraid of running against. But they shouldn't get too confident with this choice because Mike wall, yes, has a progressive record that they're going to attack them for hands down. They're going to. But to Jamie's point, he reads like a normie uncle dad white guy in the Midwest. And I think that he's somebody who can play in those critical swing states Wisconsin, Michigan, his home state of Minnesota, but also in Pennsylvania. And then he's boosted by the fact that a moment for Josh Shapiro knocked it out of the park at the kickoff of this and made very clear he's going to be out campaigning for this ticket. So it's not like it was a net loss that you didn't get the Shapiro factor. This was a very, very strong event. However, there are flaws of Mike Walsh. There's a reason that I was one of the first name I'd like to say like him with the Republican. Yeah. there are, there are, there are things that are going to be really re litigated, like the, the riots in the summer of 2020, his slow walking calling out the National Guard, something that's been a vulnerability and that Republicans have called out Kamala Harris for. but he know I think they're prepared for what the attacks are. And if they stick to this script tonight, it will work. And it's got as you come in. One of his friends, told me this morning that his his superpower is how normal is he? I mean, I don't know, I don't know this guy. I mean, is it normal to let your biggest city and your state burn while you're the governor for four days, destroying thousands of businesses, hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage while you do nothing, is it? Does it sound normal? Is it normal for your wife to say she opened the window so she could let the smell of tire fires waft in, so they could take in the smells of this radical chaos and anarchy on the streets of Minneapolis? I don't I don't do you any of that is normal. I look at this through the lens of decision making. And in two cases they've showed us who they are. Kamala Harris absolutely bowed down to the radical left in her party by not picking Shapiro, who is Jewish. There was a nasty campaign run against him. Everybody knows it. No one wants to admit it, but everybody knows it. And she talked about it, and she and she wound up choosing the person who was not Jewish and not as talented and not from the state that she has to win. He did a nice job tonight. Everybody can see why he was the best choice, but she couldn't do it because the party is somewhat awash in antisemitism and and for and for Walz. When he did what he did during the riots, to me it was him saying, I don't have the strength or the character to stand up to this anarchy. So in two big decision points for this ticket, they've showed us they will always bow down to the radical left. So I think if you if you want to talk about normal to the normal people in this country, bowing down to the radical left is not normal. It shouldn't be normal and it should be a flashing red light. to the normies of America, that this is not the ticket for you. You know, one of the big issues in this election is a woman's right to choose. And guess what? Kamala Harris got a choice to make, and she got to make the choice who was going to be her running mate and who she was going to go into the next 90 days and maybe the next four years and maybe the next eight years. You don't get to tell her who she has to run with. She gets to choose that. That's what leaders do. There's no way you can say Tim Waltz is radical because he wants to feed kids. He doesn't want kids to go home. You know who are who gets hungry is white kids, black kids, brown kids. Poor kids get hungry. That doesn't discriminate. That's not it. That's not true. But that's not that's Tim Walsh's policy. That's not a radical. He said it was radical to let Minneapolis burn. You agree? What? But let's go back to 2020. If you want to have a contest about who's more radical, you know, it was radical troops out to clear protesters out in front of the white House so he could have a Donald Trump, could have a photo op. Want to know what's radical? Not telling people on January 6th to stop that you lost the election and that Trump, his own Vice president, Mike pence, who won't come in a football field length of him right now, that's radical. That's who your guy is. I'll take him off any day. There should have been there should have been troops on the streets of Minneapolis immediately. It was burning window. Let me just let me just say one thing before you come in. And that is because you brought up Josh Shapiro. Yeah. We have been talking about the fact that there was a campaign against him ugly. That was clearly, I want to say it because based on the fact that he was Jewish, he doesn't have any different, policy ideas than the other people. However, I don't think we have any evidence that that is why she didn't pick him. In fact, if you watched him tonight and I want to stay on the people who are on the ticket, but if you watched him tonight, he is top of the ticket. Energy? Yes. Not VP energy. There's no way in my this. No way that I don't know. Jamie has been reporting on this and I have some visibility into this. Yes, I think there was a real, I don't think he was excluded for, that reason. I'm not sure he was excluded at all. I think there was a mutual, meeting of the minds as to whether this was the right fit for him. with her. I appreciate it as the only. Oh, no. No, you're here, but just let me. Oh, yes. Oh, but I appreciate your, I I'm, you know, anti-Semitism is something that a lot of us have faced in different ways and my family has faced and so on. I don't like to see it exploited. here, one of the things that separated this rally from a Trump rally is it felt very wholesome. It felt very positive. It wasn't just a series of sort of appeals to hate and division and, grievance and, so I think, you know, I mean, I understand the talking point. I'm sure we'll hear more if you hear me. One second. Scott. Scott. Scott. One moment. I hate to be. I think it's important to add to that. Two things that we have from our reporting. One is that even going into this election, Josh Shapiro had some, let's just say, hesitancy or questions about whether he wanted to be the number two. Yep. you may remember that three weeks ago, there were a lot of people who were not sure that Kamala Harris was going to be the most exciting ticket. It feels very different now. He is someone who has ambitions to run, and he was looking at down the road. And we have new reporting tonight from our team that in fact, when he went into his vetting meeting and also in his in person meeting with Harris, he made it very clear what kind of vice president he wanted this to be. It was much more of a two for the price of one. He wants to be in the room. He wanted to have, a real saying these things. there are sources we've talked to who feel that in those meetings, Shapiro sort of set the stage not to be.