Harris picks Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate
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00:00Breaking news out of the United States with vetting on borrowed time and the
00:05speculation swelling, Kamala Harris said to unveil her choice of running mate in
00:11her bid for the White House. Let's cross to Fraser Jackson. Fraser, several media
00:16outlets including the Associated Press and CNN now reporting that it's
00:21Minnesota Governor Tim Walz who's got the nod. Yeah and it seems that you know
00:28that was a bit of a surprise almost because we knew it was down to him and
00:32Josh Shapiro but most analysts suspected it to be Josh Shapiro because of the
00:37fact that he is so popular within the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania but
00:42it appears that it hasn't been once again officially confirmed yet but
00:45various sources close to the campaign telling various outlets including CNN
00:51and AP and others that Kamala Harris has made her decision and it's the
00:55Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. Now the reason for that likely is because he
01:00offers something which is a broad appeal in that blue wall state that the
01:05Democrats are hoping to win to get the path back to the White
01:11House that 270 electoral votes needed and Tim Walz is going to be somebody who
01:15is likely to appeal to those voters who voted for Barack Obama but then Donald
01:21Trump and were unsure about Joe Biden because of his age or various other
01:26reasons they think that they can get those voters back on board with a
01:30pick like Tim Walz who will be able to appeal to those voters in Michigan,
01:35Wisconsin and even Pennsylvania as well. It must be said I think most
01:41people were looking at Josh Shapiro because that 19 electoral college votes
01:45that Pennsylvania has are very key to winning the White House once again. It
01:51quite often is referred to as the tipping point state because without
01:55winning Pennsylvania there are very few parts to 270 which Kamala Harris would
02:00have. She would have to basically barnstorm the rest of the battleground
02:04states in order to counterbalance those 19 votes but you know Tim Walz does also
02:10have appeal in that state as well. He is somebody who appeals to Middle America.
02:15He's a veteran. He's a former House congressman. He was in the House for 12
02:19years. He's also got the nod from people like Nancy Pelosi, like Bernie Sanders
02:24so not only the progressives but more also the stalwarts of the Democratic
02:28Party so you can understand why she has decided to choose him because he's also
02:33the less divisive candidate. There was some worry that Josh Shapiro would
02:39maybe alienate some voters on the tickets because of his views towards the
02:44Israel-Hamas war but Tim Walz is a much more kind of Joe Biden kind of
02:50character and also somebody that the campaign has relied on in the last
02:54couple of weeks to be out there and getting the message out. He has been
02:57across media for the last couple of weeks giving appearances on networks
03:01like CNN, like MSNBC and he's also the person that came up with the current
03:07strategy of naming Donald Trump and other Republicans like him weird. That is
03:13something that the campaign has taken and has run with and is now using to
03:17their success. So it's a very understandable pick and I think most
03:22Democrats will say that whether it was Walz or Shapiro they would have been
03:26happy but much more of a kind of Joe Biden type character that Kamala Harris
03:31has gone for here. Kamala Harris who's got a campaign stop planned in
03:38Philadelphia later. Yes so I'll be heading to that. I think we actually
03:44might be the only foreign news outlet that's being allowed into that rally so
03:47there's quite a good news for us there but Kamala Harris will be
03:52appearing at this rally in Philadelphia with Tim Walz. It was
03:57scheduled to be the first stop on this battleground tour that the two will now
04:02go on over the course of the next four days where they will hit up all of those
04:06battleground states Wisconsin, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina as well. So it
04:13is, we were told not to read into the fact that it was in Pennsylvania
04:17obviously the home state of Josh Shapiro the other person who was in contention
04:20for this running and it appears that that was some good advice not to read
04:24too much into that because indeed she has gone the other way. But Minnesota not
04:29really a battleground state. It is in some respects, it is a thin
04:33margin that the Democrats are holding on to there but a lot of analysts are
04:36saying that if you're in trouble in Minnesota you're definitely in
04:40trouble elsewhere. So Minnesota not necessarily a battleground state but
04:45what the governor Tim Walz has learned during his time as governor there in
04:50his now two terms he is hoping to bring to that ticket to sell to the other
04:55people in those battleground states and that is also why Kamala Harris
04:59wanted it on the ticket as well. Fraser Jackson reporting live. Many thanks for
05:03that update. We'll be crossing over to you after we have confirmation on that
05:09news that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is Kamala Harris's running mate.