As the post-mortem begins on Vice President Kamala Harris’ failed presidential run, many are pointing to a number of missteps — including her choice of running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“The choice of Walz was only one of many disastrous mistakes but symptomatic of one larger problem – the Democratic Party leadership is too scared to say no to the hard left progressive wing of the party,” Julian Epstein, longtime Democratic operative and former chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, said to Fox News Digital.
“This hard left opposes commonsense solutions that Gov. (Josh) Shapiro supports – charter schools for example. Or defeating terrorists rather than aping their talking points and positions, which allow them to stay in power and rearm for the next genocidal attack,” Epstein said. “It’s the hard left progressive wing that looks first to welfare and redistribution rather than economic growth, and to cultural extremism on migration and gender deeply out of touch with the American electorate. Walz was a really bad choice for sure, but their choice was part of a deeper problem.”
Rob Bluey, president and executive editor of The Daily Signal, said choosing Walz was a significant error in judgment.
“Historically, vice presidents have little impact on a presidential candidate’s fate,” Bluey said. “But in the case of Tim Walz, it proved to be a disastrous decision that doomed Kamala Harris from the moment she made it. Not only was Walz ill-prepared for the national spotlight and media scrutiny, but Harris passed over several better options. Given how little Americans knew about Harris or her policy positions, they were right to question her judgment on this big decision.”
It appears Democrats would have preferred a more moderate choice for the ticket. They would have rather seen Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro fill those shoes.
“One of the things that are top of mind is the choice of Tim Walz as vice presidential candidate,” Harris-Walz surrogate Lindy Li said. “A lot of people are saying tonight that it should have been Josh Shapiro. Frankly, people have been saying that for months.”
“I know a lot of people are probably wondering tonight what would have happened had Shapiro been on the ticket,” Li added. “And not only in terms of Pennsylvania. He’s famously a moderate. So that would have signaled to the American people that she is not the San Francisco liberal that Trump said she was.”
Walz received criticism on many fronts, including questions about his military service, ties to China, response to the George Floyd riots in 2020, and his policy agenda as governor, which have been deemed radical by some.
But Firehouse Strategies founding partner Alex Conant said Walz should not receive all the blame.
“Bigger issues were Trump’s well-run campaign, Biden’s unpopular record, and Harris’ lackluster performance as a candidate – and I’m not sure how she could have changed any of those things,” Conant said.
