Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks at a news conference at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul in August 2023. Steve Karnowski/Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate, wagering that a former red-district congressman with a progressive streak can help her win over working-class voters in battleground states needed to beat Donald Trump in November.

CNN and the Associated Press reported Tuesday morning that Harris had selected Walz, ending weeks of speculation about who would run alongside her this fall.

In picking Walz, 60, Harris is elevating a relatively unknown second-term governor from a state that hasn’t voted for a Republican for president in more than 50 years, passing over swing state contenders such as Arizona U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Harris and Walz will kick off a tour of battleground states Tuesday evening with a rally in Philadelphia.

Initially seen as a second-tier candidate for the job, Walz vaulted to the top of the list of possible prospects after spending weeks defending Harris on the cable news circuit, going viral in the process for his off-the-cuff messaging style. He’s credited with reframing the party’s attack on Republicans from an existential threat to democracy to these “really weird people” for their positions on issues such as abortion and book bans.

A national Democratic audience took to Walz’s blunt, fast-talking style and his “Minnesota nice” way of slamming Republicans, gaining supporters for the vice president job in labor unions, current and former members of Congress, progressive leaders, and Gen Z activists like Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor David Hogg.

“The entire country is about to see why their friends from Minnesota can’t stop bragging about Governor Walz,” Minnesota DFL Party Chair Ken Martin said in a statement. “By picking a servant leader born and raised in a small town who has dedicated his career to protecting freedoms and lifting up working families, Vice President Harris has chosen the perfect foil for JD Vance and his politics of resentment.”

Walz brings demographic balance to the ticket, and his personal and political résumé provides a contrast to Harris, a former U.S. senator and attorney general from California.

Walz grew up in rural Nebraska, enlisted in the Army National Guard at 17 and eventually moved to Mankato, Minnesota, where he taught geography and coached the high school football team. He toppled longtime Republican U.S. Rep. Gil Gutknecht in 2006 and represented a largely rural, conservative southern Minnesota district in Congress for a dozen years before running for governor in 2018.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz applauds as President Biden speaks at Dutch Creek Farms in Northfield, Minn., in November 2023. Andrew Harnik/Associated Press

His first term in office was tumultuous, battling the dual crises in the COVID-19 pandemic and the riots and widespread damage following George Floyd’s killing by a former Minneapolis police officer. After-action assessments found there was a breakdown in communication between government officials, including Walz. Republicans are already attacking the Harris-Walz ticket for what happened in Minneapolis in 2020.

“He demonstrated that he was completely unwilling to take on the progressive wing of this party. He was frozen for three days and would not seek the assistance of the National Guard,” said Minnesota GOP Party Chair David Hann, who also called Walz “the most partisan governor that we’ve had in my memory.”

Despite the criticism, Walz was handily reelected to a second term alongside narrow Democratic majorities in the Legislature. Using a $17.5 billion budget surplus, they spent billions of dollars on schools, infrastructure and other programs while passing a long list of progressive priorities such as marijuana legalization, universal school meals, paid family and medical leave, and ambitious new clean energy standards.

Walz’s profile started to rise after that session as he touted Minnesota Democrats’ progressive agenda on the national stage. He took over as chair of the Democratic Governors Association last year and campaigned on behalf of the Biden administration as a surrogate.

His star rose precipitously after Biden dropped out of the race, showcasing his messaging style during apparent auditions for the vice president job. He attacked Republicans for talking about the “freedom to be in your bedroom, freedom to be in your exam room, freedom to tell your kids what they can read.”

“That stuff is weird,” Walz said on MSNBC – messaging the Harris campaign and other Democrats have started to echo on the campaign trail. Walz told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he does believe Donald Trump is a threat to women’s rights and democracy, but that messaging also “gives him way too much power.”

“Listen to the guy,” Walz said. “He’s talking about Hannibal Lecter and shocking sharks and whatever crazy things pops into his mind.”

In his appearances on cable news, Walz has also tried to create a contrast between himself and Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, criticizing him as a Yale-educated venture capitalist who’s out of touch with working-class voters. He’s called out Vance’s vote against in vitro fertilization protections in the Senate, telling his own story of using fertility treatments with his wife, Gwen, to conceive his daughter, Hope.

Harris faced an accelerated timeline to choose her running mate after Biden’s exit from the race in late July. She needed to make her vice president pick ahead of a Wednesday deadline to get on the ballot in Ohio.

Walz’s ascension to the ticket leaves questions for Minnesota. Under the state constitution, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan would become governor if Walz resigns, but he’s not on the ballot in Minnesota this fall, meaning he could wait until after the November election to step down. Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Nation, would become Minnesota’s first woman and first Native American governor.

The president of the state Senate would then become the state’s lieutenant governor. The state Senate is currently tied 33-33 pending a November special election to replace former state Sen. Kelly Morrison, who is running for Congress. If Democrats retain control, Senate President Bobby Joe Champion would become Minnesota’s first Black lieutenant governor.