So on Tuesday all our speculating about who VP Harris’ running mate would be came to an end, and I am so very happy to say that her choice was also my first choice, Minnesota governor Tim Walz. I had been firmly in the Mark Kelly corner until I saw this interview Walz gave 2 weeks ago:
That was the moment I knew he had to be her running mate—because he so easily said the thing that we’ve been saying for at least the weeks following the Vance pick, and most likely even before that: these people are weird.
After the buzz of the initial announcement on Tuesday, people started saying that Walz is “Minnesota nice”. I lived in Minneapolis for a couple of years, and I can tell you that Walz is not Minnesota nice.
Minnesota nice is rooted in a deliberate refusal to engage with people you disagree with or that you have a beef with. A Minnesota nice driver might smile and wave at you after you’ve cut them off, but inside their car they are insulting you, if not outright cursing you.
At its heart, Minnesota nice is about being resolutely passive-aggressive. I cannot tell you how much I hate passive aggressiveness. Tim Walz though is not passive-aggressive. He is someone who speaks directly about the person or thing he is discussing. For example, this from his introduction to the wider Democratic electorate on Tuesday evening:
“Mind your own damn business” is not Minnesota nice. It is a direct refutation of Republican nonsense. And it’s 100% what the Democrats need to do to win this election. VP Harris’ first speech as the presumptive nominee was defiant and she read the crowd and began chanting “We’re not going back” along with her audience. In that moment Harris recognized what people want: someone to lead an actual fight against TFG and all of his bullshit.
Walz understood that too, and his on air auditions were pitch perfect, as was his formal introduction on Tuesday. I couldn’t help but think back to one of the 2020 presidential debates when Joe Biden finally just said to TFG “Will you shut up, man?”.
VP Harris gave us our hope back a few weeks ago. Today Tim Walz brought the best weapon against buffoons: mockery. I thought this tweet summed up her choice perfectly:
Kamala is so funny because she said "Ima show y'all" and picked a 60 year old Joe Biden as her VP and everyone is eating it up lol
— I Smoked RFK Jr's Bear (@BlackKnight10k) August 6, 2024
I’ll close with a song about what I think the Harris/Walz ticket has: authenticity.
I am 100% with you on Minnesota Nice being a polite name for passive aggressive. My family is originally from there, I went to grad school at the U of MN and the actual nicest people in Minnesota are from Iowa (and now I find out, Nebraska).
I’m originally from New England and the passive-aggressiveness blew me away.
I lived long enough in Minneapolis to experience the Minnesota Nice thing. I think you have see it in action to really get it. Thanks for bringing this up so a lot of folks know the difference.