Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate in the 2024 presidential election, according to CNN.
Harris will hold a rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday, where Walz is expected to attend.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported that the Harris campaign sought vetting materials from Walz, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan and Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg had also been widely mentioned as possible contenders.
Who is Gwen Walz, the wife of Harris’ new running mate?
Before he got his start in politics, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, chosen on Tuesday to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, was a longtime educator – just like his wife.
Gwen was born in Glencoe, Minn., and grew up in western Minnesota alongside her three sisters. After graduating from Gustavus Adolphus College and the University of Minnesota in Mankato, Minn., Gwen settled in Nebraska, where she met Tim.
Two years after the two got married, Gwen moved back to Mankato, where the couple lived until Tim was elected as governor in 2018, and they moved to the state’s capital, Saint Paul.
Gwen Walz has taught in public, alternative and migrant schools, as well as prisons. She also served as an administrator and coordinator at Mankato Area Public Schools, a school district in the congressional district her husband represented from 2007 to 2019.
Her first public event as Minnesota first lady was a rally in support of voting rights restoration for felons. She has also toured state prisons and helped recruit an assistant commissioner working to install a new college curriculum behind prison walls, among other things, according to a report from Minnesota Public Radio.
“Gwen understands that corrections must be an inclusive component of our education system, and by expanding opportunity, our state can dramatically reduce recidivism rates and most importantly, transform lives,” reads her official biography page.
Tim Walz’s 2 Kids: All About His Daughter Hope and Son Gus
The couple first met while they were both teaching in western Nebraska, not far from Walz’s hometown. Shortly after they met, they started a summer trip to China for their students and traveled there nearly every summer through 2003, per Gwen’s official bio.
peaking with the Star Tribune, Walz noted that he and Gwen named their first child Hope to reflect their IVF journey together. After seven years of trying, Walz recalled the happy moment Gwen revealed she was pregnant.
“I said, ‘Not again,’ ” Walz recalled. “She said, ‘No, I’m pregnant.’ It’s not by chance that we named our daughter Hope.”
Walz’s experience with IVF has greatly impacted the policies he’s passionate about as governor. “Gwen and I have two beautiful children because of reproductive health care like IVF. This issue is deeply personal to our family and so many others,” he wrote in February in reaction to the Alabama ruling which declared that frozen embryos are children, jeopardizing the future of IVF in the state.
CNN
people.com