Kamala’s VP Pick Is a Win for Republicans

Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz accepted his party’s nomination to be their candidate for vice president. While he pitched himself as a moderate Midwesterner, Conservatives should be ecstatic over this choice. Walz’s radical policies mark Kamala as an even more polarizing figure and hurt her chances to win swing states.

Tim Walz will not help Kamala Harris

Leading up to the announcement, rumors suggested that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was a lead contender for Harris’ VP pick. Shapiro has a lot of things going for him. He is young (51), popular, and broadly viewed as a moderate. In addition, adding Shapiro to the ticket would help Harris make headway in tight battleground states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Likewise, Mark Kelly of Arizona offers moderate support in a crucial swing state. Either man would have helped Harris broaden her electoral map, which is why Harris’ pick of Gov. Walz is so puzzling on its face. Walz is not young (60), he is not a moderate, and he will not help Kamala Harris in a competitive state.

For rioters, surgical mutilation, and hormonal poisoning

I was born and raised in the Midwest and lived just outside Minneapolis during the George Floyd riots, so I got a firsthand look at Tim Walz’s governing tactics. It’s an understatement to say that he does not align with Harris’ image as a law and order prosecutor. Walz took a hands-off approach to the violence that followed the death of George Floyd and did not send in the National Guard until a full day after Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey requested them on the evening of May 27, 2020. Worse, the National Guard waited to restore order until early on the morning of May 30, hours after violence had started and the third straight night of violence had taken place. In all, these riots resulted in roughly $2 billion in damages. When it comes to swing states, Kamala cannot expect Walz’s radical policies to help.

Transgender policy is another issue on which Gov. Walz takes a radical approach. Last April, he signed a bill turning Minnesota into a sanctuary state for transgender kids. Not only does the law legalize such procedures for minors, but it requires that the state of Minnesota block any individuals who would return children who are fleeing states where these types of medical procedures are illegal. Polls show that Americans overwhelmingly oppose puberty blocker use on children. This law again demonstrates Walz to be on the fringes of what the American public supports.

Swing States look for moderates

Candidates need to appear moderate in swing states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to appeal to the broadest spectrum of voters. By picking someone so radical on transgender policies, Kamala loses any hope of gaining moderate conservatives. Republicans can cast the Harris-Walz ticket as being on the most radical end of an unpopular issue.

If Harris had picked Shapiro as her running mate, her ticket would have someone who has high approval ratings in a swing state with 20 electoral votes. Had she chosen Kelly, the same would be true in a state with 11 electoral votes. With Walz, Harris chose someone from a state with 10 electoral votes but is not a swing state at all. In fact, no Republican has won the state of Minnesota since Richard Nixon in 1972.

Elections are won by running toward the middle and appealing to moderates. Tim Walz does neither. In this regard, Tim Walz is doing Kamala Harris no favors in her matchup with Donald Trump. While Walz may energize some on the radical left, a contentious election victory relies on winning over moderates in swing states. Even in his home state of Minnesota, where local pride is a cultural feature, the only conservatives who will celebrate his addition to the national ticket will be those who hope to see Harris fall.

This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.