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Kamala Harris Picks Minnesota Governor Tim Walz For V.P. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired August 06, 2024 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[11:02:06]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Good morning, everybody. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Wolf Blitzer is on assignment.

We begin with major breaking news. Vice President Kamala Harris has tapped Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her vice presidential running mate. Moments ago, Walz responded to the news, saying it's the honor of a lifetime and he's -- quote -- "all in."

Also new this morning, we're learning about why Harris landed on the Minnesota governor, including his background as a high school teacher, football coach and military veteran, his record and executive experience, their strong rapport, and his ability to draw a stark contrast with Donald Trump. He's been using the term weird a lot. We will be talking about that.

In fact, it was Walz who did popularize that phrase Trump is weird. That was quickly embraced by Democrats. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Keep hammering on these guys. This idea of calling them out for who they are, shrink them. Is he a danger to society? Yes. Is he a danger to women's health? Yes. Is he a danger to world peace? Yes. But don't give him more credit than he needs. He's just a strange, weird dude.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: CNN has a team of reporters covering Kamala Harris' vice presidential pick.

Jeff Zeleny and M.J. Lee are live in Philadelphia, where we will see a rally later on today featuring the Democratic ticket. Eva McKend joins me here in Washington.

M.J., let me go out to you first. You have been covering Kamala Harris quite a bit. What does this say about Kamala Harris that she has selected Tim Walz to be her running mate?

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, the days of anticipation are finally over, and the new Democratic ticket is Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. The campaign has been quickly turning out new logos, new T-shirts, new

posters to prove exactly that. And over the last hour, the Harris campaign, of course, has been also busy informing supporters of the vice president's choice. They have been sending out text messages and e-mails.

And this last tweet from Kamala Harris I think really does boil down her choice of Tim Walz as her running mate. She wrote in this tweet: "As a governor, a coach, a teacher and a veteran, he's delivered for working families like his. It's great to have him on the team. Now let's get to work."

The vice president did, of course, make that important phone call to the Minnesota governor earlier today. And I am told that in that brief phone call, she did inform him that she still believes that they are the underdogs, but that she also thinks that they can have a winning economic message that is aimed at the middle class and also a winning message when it comes to protecting freedoms.

So that certainly gives you a sense of the core themes and issues that the Democratic ticket is intending to really hammer home away at in the coming months as they approach November's Election Day. And this, Jim, is a process that has really unfolded in an extraordinarily condensed timeline.

It was only 16 days ago that President Biden dropped out of the 2024 race. And at the end of the day, we are learning that, for Kamala Harris, this came down to several assets that she believed were undeniable to the Minnesota governor, for example, the executive experience that he has had in Minnesota, particularly on issues aimed at the middle class and working-class families, like on paid leave, on gun safety, on reproductive rights, free lunch offered to school children.

[11:05:23]

ACOSTA: Yes.

LEE: That was a huge draw. The compelling biography that Tim Walz has, remember, he is somebody that they are trying to use to really take aim at voters in the blue wall states, and they are going to be emphasizing, as we have already seen in the last hour, the fact that he served in the Army National Guard, the fact that he was a teacher and a football coach, that he was born in a small town in Nebraska.

Those things are all going to factor in. And last of all, and probably one of the most important things that we are going to be talking about is just the personal chemistry that she thought that she had with the Minnesota governor throughout this process. We know that she was looking for someone that she could mesh well with, that she just liked, and that she believed that she could trust.

And, certainly, that was a big factor in -- at the end of the day, when it came down for her to make that decision. We know that it came down to three finalists at the end of the day, perhaps even two by the end of yesterday, and, at the end of the day, that ended up being a huge, important factor for the vice president.

ACOSTA: Absolutely, M.J. Thanks so much.

And let me go out to Jeff Zeleny. He's also there in Philadelphia for us.

And, Jeff, we have learned that Harris was impressed by Governor Walz's presence. He had sort of a joyful presence, a folksy charm to him. We were talking with Amy Klobuchar in the last several minutes. She talked about how he knew his way around a hunting rifle, knew his way around a football tailgate, that he brings a lot of those sort of necessary heartland components to this campaign that maybe Kamala Harris did not.

Is this a balancing of the ticket, do you think?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jim, there's no doubt it is a balancing act. It is a balancing of the ticket. We will see how voters sort of react to that, but that is clearly, in biography and in geography, what this ticket is.

Now, it's also -- in addition to his biography, it's his record from his time as now a progressive governor, but was a moderate member of Congress, elected back in 2006 in a Republican district. But it's that full picture that the Harris campaign really seized upon, and the vice president, I'm told, found him authentic. She found him warm.

We are getting our first sense from the Harris campaign how they would like to brand Governor Tim Walz. Let's take our first look at this new TikTok video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALZ: ... like J.D. Vance know nothing about small-town American. It's not about hate. It's not about collapsing in. The golden rule there is mind your own damn business.

Their policies are what destroyed rural America. They have divided us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So, my guess is, we will hear a lot of the "Mind your own damn business."

ACOSTA: Yes.

ZELENY: That is a central theme of what he has said for quite a long time, you know, as much as he says weird, which he's been talking about also, I'm told, for several years, but it just now, of course, has become part of this lexicon.

But, Jim, look, the bottom line here is how they mesh is certainly important, but how he defends her record and perhaps how she defends his record over the next three months or so is going to be central to this. But she is coming here to Philadelphia tonight. But, tomorrow, her

second stop on this battleground tour is to Western Wisconsin, which shares a media market with the Twin Cities, so almost going home to Governor Walz's home state, in the shadow of it, no doubt.

ACOSTA: Yes.

ZELENY: But they believe that he will be a key campaigner in these -- in the key Midwestern states and even in Western Pennsylvania, similarly, the places that J.D. Vance also will be campaigning for the Trump campaign -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes, it's going to be a battle for the blue wall.

And, Jeff, you were warning me yesterday that this campaign was going to be heading almost to Tim Walz's backyard. So you were right on the money there, Jeff.

ZELENY: That's right.

ACOSTA: I don't know what that TikTok video soundtrack was. To me, it sounded like something from "Phineas and Ferb," but that is why they call it a vibe election. And perhaps we just don't relate, but interesting stuff there from the Harris campaign.

ZELENY: Perhaps we won't.

(LAUGHTER)

ACOSTA: All right, Jeff, thanks a lot.

And Eva is with me here.

Eva, I mean, we're seeing Trump and J.D. Vance going after Tim Walz already. You have been out on the campaign trail with Kamala Harris. I mean, they are excited about this pick, that they were looking to keep the energy going, keep the excitement going. And there were some concerns, I suppose, that maybe Josh Shapiro wasn't going to do that.

But Tim Walz does that. And we saw -- you can see that in that TikTok video we were just showing a few moments ago.

OK, I do want to -- pardon me, Eva, for saying this, but we are seeing outside the home of Tim Walz there in Minnesota the motorcade is starting to roll. So that is something we're going to be keeping our eyes on.

But, Eva, your thoughts.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I spent the morning working the phones, talking to my sources in battleground Georgia.

[11:10:00]

And they told me that they are really excited about this pick, that they believe he has broad appeal, that he connects well with labor and working-class people.

And something LaTosha Brown mentioned to me -- she is the co-founder of Black Voters Matter -- she said that it's clear to her that he would be comfortable serving under a woman. So that is something that went into the calculation here.

But really, across the board, you are hearing activists celebrate this. They describe it as a unifying choice. I spoke to a woman in Georgia, and she told me that he's also a care champion, that he cares a lot about a whole host of progressive issues.

And then also they're looking at his legislative record and accomplishments in his state, that he has been able to make progressive policies palatable to conservative audiences. But he's also really leaned in on this weird framing, Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes.

MCKEND: Let's take a listen.

ACOSTA: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALZ: Listen to the guy. He's talking about Hannibal Lecter and shocking sharks and just whatever crazy thing pops into his mind. And I thought we'd just give him way too much credit.

When you just ratchet down some of the scariness or whatever and just name it what it is...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: So, you see Jim there, they're hoping to get a lot more of that on the campaign trail, just really plainspoken and maybe connect to some of the voters that Democrats have lost in recent cycles.

ACOSTA: Yes, no question about it.

And, funny enough, I mean, you were mentioning Donald Trump there a few moments ago. There is a TRUTH Social post from him. And there are just two words, and it says "THANK YOU!" in all caps with an exclamation point.

I mean, so Trump, who is not usually at a loss for words or insults when it comes to his opposition, we're not seeing that from him so far. So perhaps the Trump campaign, they're still trying to formulate what they want to say about Tim Walz at this point.

MCKEND: Any choice that she would have made, they would have picked apart her running mate.

ACOSTA: Of course, yes.

MCKEND: So, ultimately, the decision was hers and she had to choose someone that she was comfortable with and feels as though she can make -- he can make an effective case for the ticket on the campaign trail.

ACOSTA: Yes.

MCKEND: And he has been doing fund-raisers. He's been doing get-out- the-vote events in his state in recent days.

And many Democrats that I speak to say that he's just a really strong, effective messenger.

ACOSTA: Yes, and sort of in the way that Kamala Harris burst onto the stage, Tim Walz to some extent has done that in Democratic politics.

I mean, he went from somebody who does not have high voter recognition -- we were showing this in a poll in the previous hour -- to somebody who is the vice presidential running mate. So that indicates some political skills.

MCKEND: It does. It does.

ACOSTA: Yes. Yes.

MCKEND: And that he was in a House district for a long time that traditionally Republicans represented.

ACOSTA: Yes.

And I think, just in the last couple of seconds -- we can show this to our viewers one more time -- that motorcade was leaving where Tim Walz was staying.

Let me go out to Whitney Wild, who is live for us out there in Minnesota.

And, Whitney, help us paint the scene for our viewers. And I know one thing that we should note to our viewers is that this is not the governor's mansion. And please correct me if I have that wrong, that this is a house that is owned by the University of Minnesota or something like that, because the governor's mansion is under renovation.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, right.

ACOSTA: So, it's a long roundabout way of saying that that's the house he's living in right now. And that's where he's been departing from in just the last couple of minutes.

WILD: Right. That's right.

Just a few seconds ago, we saw three suburbans come out. They flipped on the lights, and that's usually the telltale sign the protectee is inside and on the move. Where's he going? That's what we're trying to find out.

So you just saw me put my phone down. I'm working the phones to try to figure out where he and his team are going at the moment. What we know is that there wasn't anything on the public schedule, so nothing that we expected him to go to today. But, clearly, there is a movement here, Jim, and the energy around here is electric.

When we saw him pull out, the crowd started cheering. It's a very big moment here in St. Paul. neighbors are very excited. This is a huge moment for the state of Minnesota as well. And when I talk to voters here, they say they are looking forward to the rest of the nation learning about him what they already know.

And what they say really seals the deal for them is that he's authentic. He's a regular guy, but he's not a pushover, that he's a fighter. And then one woman also used the word steady. Minnesota has seen some extremely turbulent times when he was in his first term as governor here.

He ushered the state through the riots following George Floyd's murder, COVID. There have been some really tough times for this state. And what one woman I spoke with said was that he was a steady voice in a time of real upheaval. And that is what they're excited for voters all around the country to learn about him as well, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Whitney Wild, thank you very much.

M.J. Lee, Jeff Zeleny, Eva McKend, thanks to all of you as well.

We're going to continue to follow our breaking news this hour, new details on why Tim Walz emerged as Kamala Harris' running mate. And we're going to show you that motorcade leaving the governor's house just a few moments ago.

[11:15:03]

Stay with us. We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:20:09]

ACOSTA: All right, back to our breaking political news. Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her vice presidential running mate.

And his message to this morning, he is all in. And now former President Barack Obama is weighing in, saying in a statement -- we can show this to our viewers -- "By selecting Tim Walz to be her vice president from a pool of outstanding Democrats, Kamala Harris has chosen an ideal partner and made it clear exactly what she stands for.

"Like Vice President Harris, Governor Walz believes that government works to serve us, not just some of us, but all of us. That's what makes him an outstanding governor. And that's what will make him an even better vice president, ready on day one."

Let's bring in CNN's senior political commentator Van Jones.

Interesting that Barack Obama would use that phrase there ready on day one. That one is strike -- standing out to me from the 2008 days, when Hillary Clinton was saying she was ready on day one. VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

ACOSTA: I'm going too far down the rabbit hole.

JONES: No.

ACOSTA: But I did want to ask you, Van, I mean, one of the things that is very interesting about Barack Obama in all of this is that he chose Joe Biden, obviously, was his running back in 2008.

And Tim Walz kind of feels like to me sort of like a Joe Biden-like choice.

JONES: It's a very similar pick. And I think it's very important, Obama, when he's pointing out that ready on day one, that was a dig against him. So it's good for him to bring that back around.

ACOSTA: Right.

JONES: But it's a real dig against J.D. Vance, who ain't ready at all. This dude's not ready even to get through a speech.

But he's also pointing to something I think is important to point out. Look at the embarrassment of riches in the Democratic Party. There were half-a-dozen or more Democratic governors and senators that were ready that people were excited about.

And you compare that level of excitement on our side to a Republican Party that coughs up a fur ball of J.D. Vance that even the president himself -- even Trump himself is not excited about this guy. And so that gives you a sense, you have a Democratic Party that is excited, that's fired up, that has an abundance of talent.

But also don't forget that this is about Kamala Harris and her leadership and her steady hand. She got thrown this loose ball very late in this process, and she has conducted this campaign masterfully. She marched through this process well. She kept this thing secret until it came out today.

People are excited about it. Listen, there is a breath of fresh air blowing through this country because of Kamala Harris stepping up, raising her hand and leading us forward. And this is her first major pick, and, right now, it's a home run in the Democratic Party.

ACOSTA: Well, and, Van, I mean, you and I were talking about this in the previous hour, and there's this conversation about, who does this satisfy in the Democratic coalition?

Is it progressives? And perhaps it is showing some affection for progressives with the Tim Walz pick. But at the same time, I want to show this to our viewers. Joe Manchin, who recently left the Democratic Party and toyed with the idea of time and again that he might run for president and has presented himself as a moderate for long, long time, he has put out a statement saying this. JONES: Wow.

ACOSTA: "My friend Governor Tim Walz will bring normality back to the most chaotic political environment that most of us have ever seen."

JONES: Wow.

ACOSTA: "All of the candidates were strong and any one of them would have been a great pick, but I can think of no one better," this is Joe Manchin, "than Governor Walz to help bring our country closer together and bring balance back to the Democratic Party. Governor Walz is the real deal. I look forward to continuing to work with him to bring normalcy back to Washington."

Van, that is somebody from the political center saying that.

JONES: Hey, listen, the Republicans are going to have a hard time, listen, when you got this level of unanimity in the party behind Kamala Harris and now behind her vice president.

And why? I mean, you got to remember -- people haven't talked about this enough -- this is a governor who was the top-ranking enlisted soldier ever voted into Congress. He's a soldier. He's a football coach. He's a high school teacher. He is Mr. Relatable, Mr. Huggable, all these different things. He's cuddly.

But he's going to be very, very hard for Republicans to paint in a negative light. Something...

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: Yes.

And he's also getting on a plane. I don't mean to interrupt you, Van, but he's -- we're showing this to our viewers right now. He's about to board a campaign plane to join Kamala Harris.

JONES: The happiest plane in America right now is getting boarded.

And it's -- look, it's joy versus doom and gloom. It's a fresh face, it's fresh voices, it's new approaches, it's a positive populism versus a campaign of doom and gloom and negativity and the same old, same old.

And, look, it took a lot of guts for Kamala Harris to say, you know what, everybody says, go with the swing state governor, do this, do that. You have got somebody that was lighting up the grassroots just by being himself. And she said, you know what, I'm going to go with the authentic guy. I'm going to pick a governing choice.

[11:25:02]

Don't forget, this guy has served at every level of government. He's been in Congress. He's been a governor. He's served in the military. So she made a governing choice, as much as she made a campaigning choice, but it's also a brilliant campaigning choice. ACOSTA: Yes.

And, Van, when I was talking with Amy Klobuchar in the previous hour, she made mention of when Tim Walz goes out and speaks in front of a crowd, usually doesn't use notes, can just speak off the cuff, is comfortable out hunting with the guys or out at a football tailgate, that he just kind of brings that sort of Midwestern folksiness to this ticket.

JONES: Yes.

ACOSTA: So it is sort of a blending of personalities here.

JONES: Yes.

And you made the point about Barack Obama, President Obama. It's a very similar dynamic. Barack Obama was a superstar's superstar. And yet there was a sense you got to balance that off with somebody who's going to be that steady hand that we were familiar with and that we know.

And so you put Joe Biden there, and he brought that kind of energy. Kamala Harris is also a superstar. This governor is not as well-known, but he brings that same energy, that same kind of, every day, we got with lunch pail Joe Biden, middle-class Joe Biden.

So you have got -- you're rewriting that same thing. Now, it feels -- it's starting to feel like 2008. I know people don't -- you're supposed to say that, because, oh, and it's a whole new thing. It's got the 2008 vibe. People are excited.

And you wait until you put those two on stage together. You're going to feel something you haven't felt in a long time. It's been too depressing. Politics has been too depressing. It's been too divisive. It's been too negative. It's been too nasty.

This is a guy, he's not going to be nasty. He's going to take the fight forward, but he's not going to be nasty about it. It's going to be fun to watch.

ACOSTA: Yes. And, obviously, the other side is going to try to define Tim Walz before he is defined. So we will see. They have got a lot of work on their hands on the Democratic side as well.

JONES: Yes.

ACOSTA: Van Jones, as always, thanks so much. Really appreciate it.

Kamala Harris picking Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to her running mate. You just saw the governor, we think, boarding the campaign plane just a few moments ago to join Kamala Harris in Philadelphia for a rally that is going to take place later on this afternoon at 5:30 p.m., roughly, there in Philadelphia.

We're going to stay on top of all of this. Stay with us. You're watching breaking news of the vice presidential pick right here on CNN.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)