The Politics of Joy, Part II

Tim Walz will super-charge an already high-energy, joyful campaign

Vice-President Kamala Harris made an inspired pick for her running mate with her telephone call this morning. Governor Tim Walz is an accomplished, down-to-earth, Midwestern governor whose pro-family reforms in Minnesota should be a model for our national agenda.

This morning, I talked with a friend who has known and backed Tim Walz since his run for Congress in 2006, flipping a red district blue. He was at a fund-raiser that Walz headlined Monday night in Minneapolis. He told me that after Minnesota Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith spoke, Walz brought the house to its feet with waves of cheers and laughter. My friend said that he thought of me when Walz said he wanted to bring the politics of joy back to campaigning.

The Politics of Joy

Walz (pronounced “Walls”) is the perfect complement to Harris. One example of his broad appeal is that he was immediately congratulated by Bernie Sanders, Joe Manchin, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez…and Larry Hogan! That’s right, the former Republican governor of Maryland, now running for U.S. Senate, said, “We had the chance to work together as fellow governors, and while we come from different parties, I have always appreciated his dedication to public service. I believe we need more governors at the national level because governors have to actually get stuff done.”

If you don’t know much about Walz (and who did three weeks ago?), I recommend his excellent talk with Ezra Klein a few days ago. Walz talked about how, with just a one-seat majority in the Minnesota House, he passed sweeping social reforms, including a child-tax credit, free school breakfasts and lunches, parental leave, protecting access to abortion, background checks for gun buyers and much more.

“Right now, Minnesota is showing the country you don’t win elections to bank political capital,” Walz said last year. “You win elections to burn political capital and improve lives.”

He doesn’t talk in wonky slogans. Maybe his twenty years of teaching high school history and social studies lead him to focus on economic reforms that make a real improvement in people’s lives. Klein asked him “If a Democrat is president in 2025 and there’s a governing trifecta, what do you think Democrats should pass first? What would make the biggest difference for people?”

Walz didn’t miss a beat. “I think paid family and medical leave. We’re the last nation on earth basically to not do this. It is so foundational to just basic decency and financial well-being. And I think that would start to change both finances and attitude — strengthen the family."

He went on, “If JD Vance is right about this: that we should make it easier for families to be together, then make sure that after your child’s born, that you can spend a little time with them. That’d be a great thing.”

How great is that? And he says it all with optimism and joy. Harris and Walz are the antithesis of “American Carnage.” While Trump and Vance lash out with mean, false attacks and smears, rousing their crowds with cries for retribution and revenge, Harris and Walz enthuse their supporters with hope, laughter and the vision of a better future. They bring decades of experience, accomplishments and high-energy to the campaign. While Trump seems to be mostly running his campaign on Truth Social, Harris and Walz will storm through seven states in the next five days.

The official Harris/Walz web site (yes, this hyper-efficient campaign has already changed the website and merch store) summarizes Walz’s record:

As Governor, Walz has done more to help middle class families get ahead than any other statewide leader in recent memory. He lowered the cost of insulin to $35 per month for many Minnesotans. He eliminated junk fees. And, he signed paid leave into law so that parents can take care of sick families without losing their job. Governor Walz stood up for fundamental freedoms and made Minnesota the first state to pass a law codifying abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe. He funded Minnesota police departments, putting more cops on the street and investing in body cameras, and established universal background checks for gun purchases. And, he worked across the aisle to pass a bipartisan infrastructure package.

Walz brings national security chops to the race as well. National Security Action says in its fact sheet:

Walz is a strong and outspoken supporter of U.S. aid to Ukraine. Last year, he joined a bipartisan group of governors who spoke with President Zelenskyy to express support for the Ukrainian people. Walz advocates for a strong U.S. foreign affairs budget to support U.S. diplomacy, economic cooperation, and cultural exchange programs. As Governor, he has sought to strengthen diplomatic ties between Minnesota and international partners, including Taiwan, on key trade and agricultural issues. Additionally, Walz is a vocal advocate for protecting democracy; he signed the Democracy for the People Act into law, which established automatic voter registration across the state, increased penalties for voter intimidation, and enhanced disclosure requirements for secretive foreign groups seeking to influence America’s elections.

Commentators are already call Walz a “Happy Warrior,” the moniker the Hubert Humphrey proudly carried. (Minnesota seems to have a knack for producing vice-presidents, with Walz joining Humphrey and Walter Mondale). What a refreshing change from the politics of the past and the daily MAGA doom and gloom, which yesterday including cheering a temporary stock market downturn, calling it the “Kamala Crash.”

Walz is no stranger to nuclear policy, either. My Minnesota friend was a strong backer of abolishing nuclear weapons and he talked with Walz often about this. It seems to have stuck. At the end of his interview with Klein, asked to name three books he recommends, Walz’s second pick was Eric Schlosser’s masterful nuclear history, Command and Control.

This is my kind of guy.

Everyone says this election will be close. And a lot can happen in 91 days. But the vibes of this campaign are extraordinarily promising. It is not crazy to envision a 320 electoral vote victory for the Democrats. That means winning not just the Rust Belt of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania but sweeping through the Sun Belt with North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada.

It is all in play now. The arrows are all pointing in the right direction. As my friend David Rothkopf says in his column today, “The Walz choice is pitch perfect, and seems certain to send the Democrats into their national convention in Chicago with momentum at their back and a November victory clearly in sight.”

Let’s go win this thing!