These Are Tim Walz's Greatest Strengths As Possible Kamala Harris Running Mate: Chris Cillizza

3 months ago

On "Forbes Newsroom," DGA Group Senior Adviser Chris Cillizza spoke about the strengths Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) could bring as Vice President Kamala Harris's running mate.

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Transcript

00:00Let's talk about Governor Tim Walz, who wasn't even a part of the original conversation when

00:05it was coming down to VP picks, which seems like months ago, but really it was only two

00:09weeks ago when Biden dropped out. He then made that viral comment about calling Republicans

00:14weird. And it seems like the Harris campaign really held on to that. And that is their

00:19strategy going forward. Just calling J.D. Vance weird, different Republicans weird.

00:24Now he is in the top two. So what are some pluses and minuses for him?

00:30Sure. He's from Minnesota, the Midwest. The election will come down to Pennsylvania,

00:35Wisconsin, and Michigan, period. That's what happened in 2020. I think that's what will

00:41happen again in 2024. So if you have someone who can speak that language, who is seen as a

00:46credible voice, who can campaign actively in Michigan and Wisconsin in particular,

00:52I think that's an argument for him. The other thing too is he has a pretty impressive resume.

00:58Again, like Mark Kelly, served in the military, small town rural upbringing, was a football

01:04coach, won a Republican House district when he was in the U.S. House, has been elected and

01:10reelected as governor of Minnesota. So there's a lot there, but I actually think you hit on it.

01:15If you think about it, weirdly, Democrats have struggled to find a message that really

01:22kind of resonates as it relates to Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, particularly Trump.

01:27They've tried a million different things and it hasn't really worked. But the weird thing

01:32did work, at least for a week. And so I think they're thinking, the Harris people thinking is,

01:38is this guy a messenger who can kind of break through and solve the riddle that Hillary Clinton

01:45couldn't, that no one in the Republican primary could either in 2016 or 2024, which is how do you

01:51beat Donald Trump from a message perspective? And maybe walls that sort of, you know, unlock that

01:57lock. That's a really interesting point, because if someone were to be insulted, I think they would

02:03rather be called weird than a threat to democracy. I mean, a threat to democracy does carry a lot of

02:09weight, except in this instance, weird seems to be doing the trick. Why do you think that is?

02:15So, I mean, I've spent more time than I'd like to admit publicly thinking about just this is,

02:21you know, why do these things like Donald Trump calling the 2020 election fraudulent when there's

02:26no evidence that it was the January 6th riot at the U.S. Capitol? All of it. Why are those things

02:32not things that motivate voters against him? I think the answer is that it's sort of baked

02:37in at this point that voters, whether it's the, you know, the 34 felony convictions,

02:44convictions, whether it's the bankruptcies, whether it's the stuff he said about elections

02:48and election fraud, they sort of like, well, that's Trump. You know, it just kind of like,

02:54well, we kind of already knew that about it. And it's hard to break through that sort of

03:01feedback loop. The weird thing, again, weirdly to me, seemed to do that. Now, it worked for a week.

03:09You know, who knows? You know, and it worked largely against J.D. Vance, a little less so

03:14against Donald Trump. But, you know, I do think you never know what resonates with people. What

03:21I can tell you, I mean, I wrote and talked about this regularly when Joe Biden was still a

03:25candidate. Joe Biden wanted to make the election about capital D democracy. Democracy is on the

03:30ballot. You know, whether it's the 2020 election, January 6th, other things Donald Trump has said

03:36about being a dictator just for one day, although that this is really what the election is about.

03:40Voters weren't responding. The Democratic base liked that message, but they were already going

03:44to be for whoever the Democratic nominee is. The issue is swing voters. And I don't think

03:49swing voters were particularly motivated by that.

These Are Tim Walz's Greatest Strengths As Possible Kamala Harris Running Mate: Chris Cillizza

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