USA, Harris has chosen Walz as vice-president. What is behind the Dem move –

Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. Walz, 60, won a runoff against another governor, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. Analysts expected the choice to fall on a white man, to balance out the figure of a black woman of South Asian origin, and so it was. Born in West Point, Nebraska, Walz served in the National Guard for 20 years, worked in agriculture, manufacturing, and teaching. In 1996, he moved to Minnesota, where he worked as a social studies teacher. Elected to the House in 2006, defeating a local Republican Party bigwig, Gil Gutnecht, Walz was re-elected five times before leaving the House in 2019 after winning the governor’s race, also managing to defeat a Republican, Jeff Johnson.

Reconfirmed in 2022 to lead the state, Harris’s vice candidate stood out for his management of the emergency linked to the death of George Floyd, the African-American man killed during police arrest. With thousands of people taking to the streets to protest and the risk that the situation would degenerate, Walz had deployed the National Guard but also started a dialogue with the African-American community, managing to find an agreement.

In recent weeks, Walz has become popular for coining the term “weird,” meaning “strange,” “enigmatic,” referring to JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate. That term was picked up by Harris in her rallies, quickly going viral. Democratic voters now use the word “weird” to define the Trump-Vance duo and they do it in such an irreverent way that the tycoon protested, asking not to be called that way anymore. The request had the opposite effect: everyone, even those who were unaware of it, began using the term “weird” to refer to Republicans. Now the one who introduced that word into the electoral campaign is entering the presidential race. The initials of Harris and Walz also carry with them a subliminal reference to the White House, in English White House, but that is certainly not the reason why the governor of Minnesota was chosen: he is popular for his empathy with voters, his ability to speak to rural America. Shapiro has long been the frontrunner but has paid for his criticism of the pro-Gaza student protests, his Jewishness, and his openness to funding private schools. An embarrassing precedent has also emerged in recent days: Shapiro has been accused of covering up for months a sexual harassment case involving a representative of his administration. For Harris, who presents herself as a champion of women’s rights, running with Shapiro would have been too much.