Kamala Harris announced her choice of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate on Tuesday, a decision that has excited Democrats from all corners of the party.
While the pick appears to be a bid to unite the Democratic Party heading into a crucial week of campaigning in key states, Harris’s selection of Walz could also signal a shift from President Joe Biden’s stance on Israel’s war in Gaza.
Walz offers Harris a strong counterpoint to the Republican vice presidential pick J.D. Vance. Like Vance, Walz is a small-town Midwesterner, but he has built a political career in the progressive wing of Minnesota’s Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party. Walz’s matter-of-fact tone in his criticism of conservatives in TV appearances launched the former schoolteacher and football coach to a new level of popularity in recent weeks.
But it’s also worth focusing on what Walz is not, said James Zogby, especially around the war on Gaza and pro-Palestinian protests in the U.S. Zogby, founder and president of the Arab American Institute, contrasted Walz with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was widely reported to be the other frontrunner for Harris’s running mate, and believes that rejecting Shapiro in favor of Walz bodes well for Harris’s approach to the world.
“What we have is somebody who will do no harm, who is not going to step on the fact that the vice president is trying to turn a corner,” Zogby told The Intercept. “This is not going to be the policy of Joe Biden — she’s made that clear in a number of ways, even though she can’t break from her boss. But we have every indication that she is going to turn a corner, and [Walz] does not impede that corner turn — Shapiro on the other hand would have become an issue.”
Shapiro has received criticism from the progressive wing in the party for his aggressive responses to campus protesters who were advocating for schools to divest from Israel. In some cases, he aligned with Republicans in Congress who were calling for a crackdown on student protesters. Shapiro has also said he would sign a state bill that would withhold state funding to any institution that boycotts or divests from Israel. The Philadelphia and Pittsburgh chapters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations wrote a pointed letter to Shapiro for failure “to recognize the structural root causes of the conflict” and to “intentionally ignore the civilian loss of life in Gaza” soon after the war began.
Walz, who has the support of prominent progressive members from his state, Rep. Ilhan Omar and Attorney General Keith Ellison, showed a softer approach to protesters critical of Israel’s war that aligns more with Harris, Zogby noted.
“With regard to demonstrators on college campuses, [Walz] said that he respected the empathy they’ve demonstrated for the suffering of people in Gaza, which is pretty much what Harris has said as well,” Zogby said. “He didn’t call them ‘KKK,’ right? He didn’t call the National Guard to start arresting people. And he’s been in very close contact with the ‘Uncommitted’ people in the state,” referring to the anti-war movement that protested Biden’s handling of the Gaza war through voting in Democratic primaries.
Several weeks after October 7, Zogby spoke with Harris and urged her to “say some things that would give Palestinians hope.” Days later, during a Hispanic Heritage Month event in the White House Rose Garden, Harris seemingly headed Zogby’s concerns and mentioned the war in Gaza, recognizing Palestinian suffering, as well as their right to self-determination, something even mainstream Democrats, including Biden, had been hesitant to say at the time.
“I didn’t expect her to do it that night,” Zogby recalled. “And she got an ovation from this Hispanic Heritage Month crowd, and it sunk in that this is an issue that resonates with people.”
A March poll from the Pew Research Center showed nearly half of adults under 30 opposed providing military aid to Israel. And half of all Americans were in favor of sending humanitarian aid to Palestinians.
Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy and former foreign policy adviser for Sen. Bernie Sanders, said the issue of Palestine and Israel continues to divide Democrats, which he said is mirrored by the debate between pro-worker and pro-business constituencies in the party. He also said Harris’s choice of Walz speaks to where she stands on these dividing issues.
“It’s impossible to know exactly what calculations were made and what issues mattered the most,” Duss said, referring to the Walz selection.
It is evident that within the Democratic Party, there is a growing group of individuals who are taking the issue of Palestinian rights more seriously than in the past. This constituency needs to be engaged with and their perspectives need to be acknowledged.
By choosing Walz over Shapiro, Harris is demonstrating that she is listening to this particular movement within the party, according to Duss. He also highlighted Harris’s previous statements regarding the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza and her recent remarks after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as indications of her increased attention to Palestinian issues.
Duss emphasized the importance of Harris and Walz clarifying their stance on Gaza and Palestine in the future, despite Walz aligning with the traditional Democratic position on the matter. Beinart, on the other hand, expressed uncertainty about the role that pressure from pro-Palestinian groups may have played in Harris’s decision.
Beinart mentioned the significance of Harris and Walz potentially advocating for conditioning U.S. military aid to Israel, a policy that Biden opposed during his 2020 campaign. He noted that such a shift in policy would indicate a change in the party’s politics.
Walz’s progressive track record as governor, particularly in areas such as labor rights and education, has garnered praise. His antiwar stance during his time in Congress, including his opposition to military intervention in Syria and support for repealing the Authorization for Use of Military Force, has also been noted.
Overall, Harris’s selection of Walz and his progressive background signal a continuation of the Democratic Party’s shift towards post-neoliberal policies. The influence of the pro-Palestine movement within the party, although still facing challenges, is unprecedented and may be indicative of changing dynamics within the Democratic Party. Please rewrite this sentence for me.
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