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AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome 
to the "News Hour."

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The contenders for this 
November's presidential 
race are officially set.

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GEOFF BENNETT: Minnesota 
Governor Tim Walz is joining 
Democratic presidential

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nominee Kamala Harris 
as her running mate this 
November. And he's joining

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her on stage tonight at 
a rally in Philadelphia.

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AMNA NAWAZ: Walz is a familiar 
face in Minnesota and the halls 
of power in Washington, D.C.,

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but a relative newcomer 
to the national stage.

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Along a white picket 
fence in St. Paul,

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Minnesota today, a crowd 
gathers to send off Governor 
Tim Walz after getting the

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call from presidential 
nominee Kamala Harris to 
join the Democratic ticket.

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KAMALA HARRIS, Vice President of 
the United States (D) and U.S. 
Presidential Candidate: Listen,

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I want you to do this with me.

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GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), Vice 
Presidential Candidate: 
I would be honored, 
Madam Vice President.

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AMNA NAWAZ: The duo is 
up against the Republican 
ticket of former President 
Donald Trump and Ohio

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Senator J.D. Vance, who 
went after his newly 
named counterpart at a 
Philadelphia rally today.

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SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), Vice 
Presidential Candidate: Tim 
Walz's record is a joke. He's

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been one of the most far left 
radicals in the entire United 
States government at any level.

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(CHEERING) 
(APPLAUSE)

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SEN. J.D. VANCE: The reason 
I didn't say a whole lot 
about Tim Walz is because the

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Democrats have showed a 
willingness to pull a little 
switcheroo on us. So I

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don't even know if we're 
actually going to get Tim 
Walz out of this campaign.

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AMNA NAWAZ: Walz, a 
60-year-old father of two, is 
currently in his second term

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as Minnesota governor, with 
a 54 percent state approval 
rating in a July Morning

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Consult survey and a 
reputation for a relatable, 
some say, folksy approach.

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HOPE WALZ, Daughter of Tim 
Walz: I think we're going 
to go do the slingshot.

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GOV. TIM WALZ: Which I 
don't know what it is, and 
they're keeping it from me.

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AMNA NAWAZ: And though he's 
racked up a substantial 
political record over nearly

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two decades in public office, 
Walz hasn't been very well-known 
outside his home state.

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HOPE WALZ: Good job, dad.

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GOV. TIM WALZ: Oh, thanks, Hope.

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AMNA NAWAZ: In 2020, 
that began to change.

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GOV. TIM WALZ: Generations of 
pain is manifesting itself in

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front of the world. And 
the world is watching.

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AMNA NAWAZ: After a police 
officer murdered George 
Floyd in Minneapolis,

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Walz condemned the 
killing, and, days later,

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after some protests turned 
violent, called in the National 
Guard to respond to rioters.

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GOV. TIM WALZ: Everything that 
we believe in, these people 
are trying to destroy. So, if

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you are on the streets 
tonight, it is very clear, 
you are not with us. You 
do not share our values.

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And we will use the full 
strength of goodness and 
righteousness to make 
sure that this ends.

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AMNA NAWAZ: The right 
criticized his response 
as slow, and Walz himself

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later acknowledged the 
-- quote -- "abject 
failure" of that response.

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In 2023, after his party won 
control of the Minnesota House 
and Senate, Walz signed into

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law a laundry list of Democratic 
priorities, providing free meals 
to K-12 students, the largest

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child tax credit in the country, 
enshrining abortion rights 
into state law, increasing

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LGBTQ protections, legalizing 
marijuana, and granting 
voting rights to ex-offenders.

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His selection by Harris is 
seen by some as a nod to the 
party's progressive wing.

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JAKE TAPPER, CNN Host: Do 
you think your record is 
an asset to the ticket,

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or would it risk fueling 
Trump's attacks as you being 
a big government liberal?

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GOV. TIM WALZ: What a monster. 
Kids are eating -- eating 
and having full bellies

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so they can go learn. And women 
are making their own health 
care decisions. And we're

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a top five business state 
and we also rank in the 
top three of happiness.

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AMNA NAWAZ: But earlier in 
his career on Capitol Hill, 
he was known as a moderate.

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GOV. TIM WALZ: I intend to 
come here to Washington to 
provide authentic leadership.

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AMNA NAWAZ: In 2006, he flipped 
his Minnesota U.S. House seat 
from red to blue, becoming the

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highest-ranking enlisted 
veteran ever in Congress.

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Over six terms and a dozen 
years, he ranked among the 
most bipartisan lawmakers,

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supported ongoing operations 
in Iraq, while opposing 
more boots on the ground,

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pushed for a minimum wage 
hike and prescription 
drug cost negotiations,

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voted against President 
Obama's 2009 Wall Street 
bailout plan, but backed 
the Affordable Care Act.

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Before entering politics, 
Walz served 24 years with 
the Army National Guard, 
enlisting at the age

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of 17, alongside his day 
job teaching high school 
social studies and coaching 
football. In recent

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weeks leading up to his 
selection, Walz made a 
name for himself as a 
willing warrior for Harris.

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Are you what this ticket 
needs to be able to beat 
the Trump/Vance ticket?

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GOV. TIM WALZ: Well, I 
don't know about that, Amna. 
What I can tell you is,

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is that we will beat 
that ticket. This chaos 
that Donald Trump brings,

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this dystopian view of 
America, Kamala Harris' 
joy, you can feel it.

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AMNA NAWAZ: Going viral 
by branding the opposing 
ticket in this way.

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GOV. TIM WALZ: Well, it's true. 
These guys are just weird.

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AMNA NAWAZ: The Harris/Walz 
campaign will spend the next 
week touring swing states,

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with stops in Pennsylvania, 
Wisconsin, Michigan, 
North Carolina, Arizona, 
and Nevada, as it

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introduces the country to a new 
national political player and 
potential future vice president.

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One of the biggest 
challenges for the 
Harris/Walz campaign will be

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introducing Governor Walz 
to the American people.

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Our new PBS/NPR/Marist poll out 
today shows that 71 percent of 
Americans don't know who he is.

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For more on the Minnesota 
governor, I'm joined now 
by Twin Cities PBS reporter

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Mary Lahammer. She's 
been following Walz's 
career for some 20 years.

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Mary, good to see you. 
Thanks for joining us.

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MARY LAHAMMER, Twin 
Cities PBS: Thank you.

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AMNA NAWAZ: So you were 
outside his home earlier 
today as the news broke.

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Tell me a little bit about what 
you heard from people out there.

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MARY LAHAMMER: Yes, it was 
an interesting environment.

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An organic crowd developed. 
There were folks walking 
their dogs out on a 
morning run, a walk,

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and decided to stay, and 
they actually got to see 
him depart in the motorcade,

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and just started cheering 
for him out of the blue.

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And then talking to 
them afterwards, they're 
excited. Minnesotans 
like to play an outsized

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role in national politics. 
They're kind of proud of 
it. I think people are 
learning the statistic

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that if Walz wins three 
out of the last six 
Democratic vice presidents 
will be from Minnesota.

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But as your poll shows, 
he's got to introduce 
himself to the nation.

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AMNA NAWAZ: He does have 
an uphill battle there. 
The vast majority of

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Americans don't know 
who he is or don't know 
what to think of him.

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So the campaign, as we 
know, is already working to

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set that narrative with videos 
like this they released today.

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GOV. TIM WALZ: I coached 
football and taught social 
studies for 20 years. And

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I tried to teach my students 
what small-town Nebraska 
taught me, respect, compromise,

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service to country. And so 
when I went into government, 
that's what I carried with me.

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AMNA NAWAZ: So, Mary, you have 
covered him for some 20 years.

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What's the headline here 
for what people need to 
know about who is Tim Walz?

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MARY LAHAMMER: Yes, I 
will go back to his very 
first run for office.

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And I remember some trusted 
sources saying you got to get 
down to this rural Republican

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district where this football 
coach is actually making a race 
of it and eventually flipped the

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seat. I went back and studied 
that debate and tried to 
kind of ascertain how much he

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has changed. And it was 
interesting to me to see 
that he is still kind

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of -- was the fearless, 
self-effacing, but aggressive, 
quick kind of his feet.

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So he's been able to debate and 
really pivot for a long time,

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but introducing himself to a 
national audience will be new. 
He's used to the Minnesota press

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corps. He's done a lot 
of national news, and 
was even surprised. In 
our recent interview,

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we discussed how that 
Republicans are weird 
phrase, how we kind 
of coined that phrase.

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And he was almost 
embarrassed, saying, oh, 
gosh, shucks. I wasn't 
trying to be mean about it.

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So we will see how those 
Midwestern tendencies go 
on the national stage.

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AMNA NAWAZ: So, Mary, some 
folks are hailing his selection 
here as a nod to progressives

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of the Democratic Party. But I 
had a Dem source tell me earlier 
today that he's actually much

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more moderate than many in 
the media make him out to 
be. What do you make of that?

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MARY LAHAMMER: It depends 
which office you're talking 
about. When he was a member

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of Congress from a rural 
previously Republican district, 
he was much more of a moderate.

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Then, when he became governor 
for the state and his lieutenant 
governor, Peggy Flanagan,

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definitely took him in more 
of a progressive stance. And 
then he got an all-Democratic

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legislature, so ended up 
passing just a very large list 
of highly progressive items.

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So, some folks say, was it a 
bait-and-switch? He originally

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ran on this concept of one 
Minnesota. We are still 
probably rather divided here.

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AMNA NAWAZ: Well, he 
is relatively popular 
at the state level,

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right? He has a 54 percent 
approval rating in Minnesota. 
What do his critics there say

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about him? And could any of 
those become vulnerabilities 
on the national stage?

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MARY LAHAMMER: Yes, a 
good portion of his time 
in office as governor

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has been in front of a divided 
legislature. He recently had 
the all-Democratic trifecta.

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But before that, he had 
a lot of critics, and 
he had a hard road in

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divided government. Minnesota 
is a state, four Democrats, four 
Republicans in Congress. We're

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slightly purple. And folks 
here are very critical of 
his time during the pandemic

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in particular. We had a lot 
of lockdowns. Of course, we 
had the riots following George

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Floyd's murder and were very 
critical of him being slow to 
send the National Guard out.

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Also, during the pandemic, we 
had the largest fraud in the 
Feeding Our Future fraud case. I

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think the governor will probably 
be talking about the fact 
that those cases have been

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brought to justice, and 
there have been convictions 
in both of those instances.

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AMNA NAWAZ: Big week 
for Minnesota. We

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know you will be covering his 
career moving forward as well.

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That is Mary Lahammer of Twin 
Cities PBS joining us tonight.

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Mary, thank you. 
Good to see you.

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MARY LAHAMMER: Thank you.