Asked about the role of Walz as Harris’ supporter, Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said, “Walz is obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and wide.”
“He’s doing masculinity the right way,” said Cameron Landin, 20, a delegate from Georgia who saw Walz at a Hispanic Caucus meeting on Monday.
“He is playing a supportive role to Vice President Harris, to the whole party, by bringing in energy, while not necessarily trying to take over and dominate,” he added.
On Wednesday, as he accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination, Walz paused for a moment to take it all in and then said: “Thank you, first of all, to Vice President Harris.
Some men say Walz – who at 60 is around six months older than Harris – is less an evolution than a return to the norm.
Democratic Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said Walz is modeling behavior that he thinks will become increasingly commonplace.
“We can be wingmen and real men too,” he told Reuters at a breakfast for Wisconsin delegates on Monday.
Reporting by Andrea Shalal; additional reporting and writing by Heather Timmons; additional reporting by Nandita Bose; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Michael Perry
WASHINGTON, Aug. 21, Reuters – At the time, U. s. According to two people with knowledge of the interview process, Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, asked Vice President Kamala Harris, “How can I help?” during their interview for the Democratic presidential ticket.
They claimed that a major factor working in his favor was that he was more concerned with helping her than he was with finding out how much influence he would have in the position.
In the weeks that have passed, Walz has worked to improve Harris’ reputation on the campaign trail by praising a woman who has been mocked by her Republican opponent Donald Trump and some of his followers for “bringing back the joy” to the U.S. s. politics.
Democrats who support him say he is a shining example of what it means to be a modern-day man—a man who can be at ease reporting to a woman, use his “white privilege” to support women of color and advance reproductive rights, and still enjoy hobbies like fishing, hunting, and car maintenance.
Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt responded, “Walz is obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and wide,” when asked about Walz’s role as Harris’ supporter. “.
However, Walz’s advocacy for women, especially Black women, is part of his appeal to the political left in this election where women, especially younger ones, are endorsing the Democratic Party and abortion rights are a hot topic in the polls, according to Democratic strategists.
Upon seeing Walz at a Hispanic Caucus meeting on Monday, Georgia delegate Cameron Landin, 20, said, “He’s doing masculinity the right way.”. “He’s not necessarily trying to take over and dominate, but rather he’s bringing energy to the party and Vice President Harris, helping them both out,” he continued.
The 1950s soul group with a lead singer and male backup vocalists was dubbed “She’s Gladys Knight and he’s the Pip” by Sheletta Brundidge, a podcaster and newspaper columnist from Minnesota. Black women in America have never received more support than that from him when he claps for her. decades. “. .
Walz took a moment to process the news on Wednesday before saying, “First and foremost, thank you to Vice President Harris,” after accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination. I appreciate you asking me to be a part of this amazing campaign and for your confidence in me. “.
Repeating Harris’ name, he continued to list the policies that Harris would seek if elected, from drug price reductions to tax breaks for middle class families to protection of individual liberties.
Some historians caution that if Walz becomes the first woman in the White House, her seemingly unrestricted support of Harris might require some modification.
As Joel Goldstein, an emeritus professor at the Saint Louis University School of Law and author of two books on the vice presidency, put it, “someone who can walk into the Oval Office and tell the president that she or he is wrong,” is another indispensable requirement for the job.
APPEAL POLL.
Walz’s image is frequently compared to that of Ohio Senator JD Vance, his Republican opponent for the vice presidency, who stated in 2021 that the U.S. S. was led by “a bunch of childless cat ladies,” a reference to Harris and other Democratic leaders.
He posed the question, “How does it make any sense that we’ve turned our country over to people who don’t really have a direct stake in it?,” which incited people without children and others to take to social media in opposition.
In Pennsylvania, a battleground state, a Quinnipiac University survey of voters revealed that, following Harris’s selection of Walz as her running mate, 59% of her supporters expressed greater enthusiasm for the ticket, in contrast to 43% of Trump and Vance supporters. There was no gender breakdown in the poll.
Studies consistently demonstrate that women register to vote and turn out to the polls more frequently than men. The Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University reports that over 68 percent of eligible women reported voting in the 2020 presidential election, compared to 65 percent of eligible men.
In four other swing states—Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and North Carolina—the most recent New York Times/Siena College poll found Harris leading Trump by 15 points among likely female voters (55 percent to 40 percent). Among men, Trump’s lead was comparable.
There are men who argue that Walz, who is 60 months Harris’ senior, represents more of a return to the status quo than an evolution.
Rick Wilson, a former Republican turned anti-Trump political strategist who cofounded the Lincoln Project, said, “It’s much more of a tradition model of American masculinity which isn’t the showy hyper-performative idea of these MAGAs who photoshop Donald Trump on a ripped guy with an eight-pack and worship it.”.
Last week, Walz drew thunderous applause when he brought up the significant similarity between his state and Nevada: both states have female senators. After that, he introduced Harris with a warm speech, bowed down, and moved aside.
According to Democratic Governor Tony Evers of Wisconsin, Walz is setting an example for conduct that he believes will spread more widely.
At a breakfast for Wisconsin delegates on Monday, he told Reuters, “We can be wingmen and real men too.”.
Reporting by Andrea Shalal; additional reporting and writing by Heather Timmons; further reporting by Nandita Bose; editing by Michael Perry and Rosalba O’Brien.
