Kamala Harris has chosen Tim Waltz as her vice president, and the Minnesota governor is the most likely partner to complement her in the historic and difficult race for the White House.
Walz was shortlisted along with several other Democratic Party figures who were thought to be able to broaden Harris' appeal as she battles Donald Trump.
Seeking to make history as the first female president, Harris — already a trailblazer as the first woman and the first black and South Asian vice president — has little time before Election Day on Nov. 5.
The expectation had always been that Harris would pick a white man to balance the slate — and a Democrat who could help counter Republican attacks that she is too left-leaning.
Walz fits that description as a 60-year-old Midwesterner with a folksy manner from a state that could be light years away from the coastal elites of California, where Harris hails from, or the East Coast.
He will also appeal to progressives, having championed popular Democratic Party policies, including legalizing cannabis and increasing worker protections.
The pair will hit the campaign trail immediately, embarking on an intense five-day tour of battleground states, starting in Pennsylvania.
The latest University of Massachusetts Amherst presidential poll released shows Harris leading Trump nationally by three points -- 46% to 43% -- compared to Trump's four-point lead over Biden in January.
In the swing states that decide the Electoral College race in the US election, Harris is in line with Trump, who shocked the world with his victory in the 2016 presidential election, but in 2020 was defeated by Biden.
Choosing a vice presidential running mate is the first major test for Harris in her bid to become the country's leader.
"That tells you about her thought process," Amy Walter, a pollster at the Cook Political Report, told CBS News.
Now, Harris and Walz will face the first test of their field game as they make a cross-country tour this week from Philadelphia to Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada. Tropical Storm Debbie forced the postponement of a stop in another state, Georgia, and, according to media reports, in North Carolina.
Pennsylvania is part of the "blue wall" that carried Biden to the White House in 2020, along with Michigan and Wisconsin. That was one of the main reasons why many expected Harris to pick that state's governor, Josh Shapiro, over him.
Former astronaut and current senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and Kentucky governor Andy Beshear were also included in the list of vice presidential candidates.
Trump has been on a political high for the past month after surviving an assassination attempt at a rally and then using the Republican convention to emphasize his image as an energetic man against the physically frail Biden.
But after Biden's dramatic withdrawal and Harris' jumpstart, he's trying to reorient himself.
At a rally last Saturday in Georgia, Trump called Harris a "Marxist" and a "radical left-wing freak," saying she would cause an "economic disaster."
Three days earlier, he had shocked many by telling an audience of black journalists that Harris had "become black" for political expediency.
While Biden has often attacked Trump as a threat to democracy, given his unprecedented refusal to accept his loss in 2020, Harris' team has honed a sharper — more meme- and collage-friendly — line built around vilifying Trump and his election. to Vice President JD Vance as "weird."
Harris' campaign said Trump was "afraid" to debate her after he declined a previously scheduled televised debate on ABC while saying he would be willing to debate her on Fox News, a network that has been supporting him for years. | BGNES
