The choice of Tim Walz signals the direction in which Harris wants to take the United States, writes ‘s U.S. correspondent Iida Tikka.
Iida TikkaYhdysvaltain correspondent
WASHINGTON. The selection of Kamala Harris as the vice presidential candidate is pretty good news for Finland.
If Harris happened to win the election, he would become vice president Tim Walzgovernor of Minnesota.
The state is Finland’s partner state, with which there is close cooperation. Several Finnish officials have met Walz.
In theory, Finland could therefore have a significant friend in the White House. But can Tim Walz push Harris’s presidential campaign that far?
The choice of the vice presidential candidate is precise tactics influenced by many factors.
Of course, the most important thing is that the candidate is capable of carrying out the duties of the president if necessary. Another important factor, which in Washington is believed to have greatly influenced the choice of Harris, is the personal chemistry between the presidential candidate and the vice presidential candidate.
It is difficult to say anything about Harris and Walz’s personal chemistry at this point, but Walz is a very experienced politician. He represented Minnesota in Congress for more than ten years, after which he was twice elected governor of the state.
Still, Walz’s choice as a vice presidential candidate was a surprise to many Americans. Walz is a bold choice, maybe even a risk.
In terms of the campaign, the vice president it is often hoped to be able to appeal to those groups of voters for whom Harris may be a hard-to-approach candidate. For this reason, in the finals, many believed that Harris’ choice would fall on the governor of Pennsylvania To Josh Shapiro.
Pennsylvania is an important swing state that Harris must win to win the election. Shapiro, on the other hand, is a popular governor who has won more Republican voters than other Democrats in the state in previous elections.
Walz, on the other hand, is from Minnesota, a state that has always voted Democrat. But things are not that simple.
Walz is from a rural area, and he has worked as a teacher for decades and was a member of the National Guard. So he has to identify with exactly the midwestern urban voters that Harris is trying to get behind. Shapiro, an East Coast lawyer, would not be as approachable.
Walz also speaks in a folksy way – he was the Democrat who first came up with the call Donald Trump and his vice presidential candidate JD Vance as “strange” politicians.
Since then, other Democrats have also used the word, but in their mouths it has sounded like school bullying. Walz made it sound like honest wonder.
That’s what makes Walz a risk choice, so in the end there is no electoral map. That’s the message of the campaign.
Minnesota has had the so-called trifecta of Democratic power during Walz’s second term. This fancy word refers to the fact that both the state house of representatives, the senate, and the governor’s office have been held by Democrats.
It has meant that state legislation has been very progressive. Walz has focused specifically on employee protection, including sick leave rights and minimum wages.
In issues related to identity politics, such as the protection of trans rights, Walz has been very liberal. Even so liberal that some of the moderate Democrats I’ve talked to are suspicious of Walz.
Which is where Walz’s weakness comes from. It is easy for Republicans to attack him by painting Walz as a radical leftist.
However, that has not stopped Harris, who communicates with his choice to the voters in which direction he wants to take the United States. That direction is towards Nordic politics.