Why young, diverse voters should be excited about Tim Walz
For starters, one progressive advocate told me, even though they’re roughly 60 years old, they’re a generation younger than Biden and Trump, which represents a shift Democratic voters desired.

👋🏾 Hi, hey, hello! Welcome back to Once Upon a Hill. Vice President Kamala Harris and her new running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, will speak at a campaign event in western Wisconsin in a few moments before traveling to Detroit later today to deliver remarks at another.
The two stops are part of a sprint through the swing states this week to introduce Walz to the nation and flaunt the Obama-like energy of Harris’s candidacy in the face of former Donald Trump, who only has one public event this week.
Harris’s coconut-pilled supporters—from OG K-Hive cardholders to recent converts—are relishing at the Republican nominee’s befuddlement at how an election he thought he would win in a landslide six weeks ago after former President Joe Biden bombed the first debate is now virtually a toss-up almost three weeks following Biden’s decision to endorse his number two to be the next leader of the free world.
His usual combat weapons—racism, conspiracy theories, half-baked policy proposals—have yet to bork the Democrats’ momentum in part because the Harris campaign has done such a fantastic job bottling up the grassroots buzz into ads, messaging and merchandise that reflect the voice of the people.
More on that in a moment.
More than just memes 🥥🌴🇺🇸
Much of this enthusiasm has been powered by young, diverse voters who were in a huff about the prospect of a Biden-Trump matchup but now feel connected to the political process because of how seamlessly Harris and Walz tap into internet culture.
And the numbers bear this observation out.
A new Morning Consult poll found that Harris owns the largest lead for a Democratic presidential candidate over Trump in nearly a year at 48%–44%, a surge fueled by independent voters and voters under 35. More Black voters picked Harris over Trump in July than those who backed Biden in May and June. And the vice president has opened up a 22-point gender gap and attracted around seven percent more Latinos to her camp compared to Biden last month. And Democrats are breathing a sigh of relief that Black, Latino and younger voters have all jumped double digits in saying they’re definitely voting. And this data was collected before Harris announced Walz as her running mate.
But it’s beyond coconut trees, contagious cackles, diet Mountain Dew obsessives and camouflage hats, Markus Batchelor, national political director at the progressive advocacy group People For the American Way, told me during an interview yesterday afternoon while he was on the train en route to the Philly rally.
Batchelor said one of the reasons Harris and Walz resonate with young people is because, even though they’re roughly 60 years old, they’re a generation younger than Biden and Trump, which represents a shift Democratic voters desired.
“It also should be exciting to young voters, but also Americans at large, that it shows Kamala Harris’s commitment as the first major decision of her candidacy that she's looking for a governing partner—somebody who’s going to get things done for the American people,” Batchelor added. “Whether it’s been Gov. Walz’s service in the US Army Reserves, whether it was his extensive tenure in the United States Congress or his two terms as governor, he’s been a leader that has gotten things done and has brought people together. I think that that’s what Kamala Harris represents and I think she’ doubled down on that by bringing Gov. Walz onto the team.”
Walz has achieved in his state much of what Harris would pursue at the federal level, which will make her proposals feel real for voters who may fear how a second Trump administration would impact their lives.
“There are very few groups in this country that have not felt the sting of the far-right's attacks on our rights,” Batchelor said. “The Harris-Walz ticket represents a real commitment to the values that are going to be at the top of mind of voters when they go to the polls in November.“
Young voters demand authenticity from their elected officials, which Walz has in spades as demonstrated by his ability to humanize contentious policy issues.
“When you think about he and his wife’s personal story with IVF, he’s going to be a really good champion for reproductive justice. When you think about his connection to working-class Americans and his work to really expand opportunity for working people,” Batchelor said. “When you think about voters going to the polls, thinking about the economy, who's going to be able to put food on their tables and raise their wages? I think he's going to be a good partner in that.”
But as energizing as the Harris-Walz ticket may be, passing their agenda requires legislative power, which will require Democratic voters to support down-ballot candidates with the same exuberance as the two nominees at the top.
“While we got a lot done over the last three and a half years, we’ve also seen very clearly the difference that one or two votes in the House or Senate can make to stymying progress on things like codifying Roe advancing voting rights legislation,” Batchelor told me. “And so we need not only focus on electing Kamala Harris and Governor Walz, but we also need to focus on those down-ballot races.”
And while enthusiasm alone doesn’t win elections alone, it’s a major ingredient to electoral success.
“The good thing is that when there’s energy at the top of the ticket, that flows downhill,” Batchelor said. “And so our hope is that there’ll be more opportunity for us to bolster down-ballot races, to bring in key demographics, suburban folks, independent voters, to take us over the top in those key races as well this fall.”
Harris explains her choice, Walz goes after Trump
By the time roughly 10,000 attendees filed into Liacouras Center at Temple University in Philadelphia, outfitted with blinking wristbands that toggled between red, white and blue, plenty of sources had already told me how Harris and Walz shared a chemistry that elevated him among the rest of the finalists she interviewed.
But the two politicians didn’t have an extensive relationship prior to the veepstakes, so there was no guarantee the immediate rapport Harris and Walz enjoyed in private would translate under the bright lights.
From the moment Harris and Walz walked onstage to the sound of Beyoncé’s “Freedom,” it looked clear they were glad they chose to form a ticket that was so well-received from the base and well-equipped to take on Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio).
Harris had a pretty straightforward assignment: Explain to the American people why she chose Walz from a pool of qualified men who, as I wrote on Monday, each would have brought something valuable to the ticket.
“So here’s the thing: Since the day that I announced my candidacy, I set out to find a partner who can help build this brighter future. A leader who will help unite our nation and move us forward. A fighter for the middle class. A patriot who believes as I do in the extraordinary promise of America. A promise of freedom, opportunity and justice—not just for some, but for all. Pennsylvania, I’m here today because I found such a leader.”
And although Walz has spent the past 17 years in public office, Harris leaned into the other titles besides governor and congressman he’s known by—husband, dad, teacher and coach—and how the experiences each has provided will help him meet the moment if elected as her governing partner.
When she did speak about Walz the politician, she did so to explain how he would help her nationalize several of the policies he’s signed into law in Minnesota, from expanding access to the Affordable Care Act and codifying the right to abortion care to passing voting rights legislation and expanding gun rights.
Once Harris turned the mic over to Walz, he described his rural upbringing and service in the National Guard and as an educator whose students encouraged him to run for Congress in 2006.
And he added “mind your own damned business” to “we’re not going back” to the campaign’s go-to catchlines when speaking about abortion rights and later spoke about how his daughter, Hope, was conceived with IVF.
When he pivoted from his personal story, he slammed Trump for prioritizing his interests over the American people’s. He also called the former president and Vance weird, reprising the one-word insult that propelled him into the national conversation several weeks ago. The comments show that Walz can be a strong attack dog without coming off as rude or mean, which is one of the reasons Harris will remain a joyful warrior on the trail. (On a related note, Walz had this to say to Harris at the top of his remarks: “Thank you for bringing back the joy.”)
“I can’t wait to debate the guy,” Walz said of Vance. “If he’s willing to get off the couch.”
But he was sure to end on a unifying note.
“Minnesota’s strength comes from our values, our commitment to working together to see past our differences, always willing to lend a helping hand,” he said. “Those are the same values I learned on the family farm and tried to instill in my students. I took it to Congress and to the state capitol. And now, Vice President Harris and I are running to take those very values to the White House.”
“Disconcerting levels of array”
What yesterday also proved, though, is that enthusiasm snowball extends beyond the grassroots to across the national Democratic political spectrum.
With one decision, Harris further united a party that viewed November’s election as a funeral 41 days ago but would now unleash their voters to the ballot box today if they could.
Seriously, consider this: The Walz announcement got thumbs-ups from former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and former senior Biden administration officials like Ambassador Susan Rice, who led up the president’s Domestic Policy Council for over two years. Several House and Senate candidates who were concerned Biden would drag down their odds of victory embraced the governor as the ideal Robin to Harris’s Batman. The same goes for members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who were ten toes down for Biden’s reelection until the moment he ended his candidacy. And you know the mood is festive when the men who lost the veepstakes immediately rallied around the winner as Sen. Mark Kelly(D-Ariz.), Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-Pa.), Gov. Andy Beshear (D-Ky.) and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg did.
I’m a Congress guy, so I was stunned by one particular dynamic: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez(D-N.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.V.)—two of the most influential ideologically distant lawmakers in recent history—celebrated the announcement as a win for their respective movements.
“Dems in disconcerting levels of array,” AOC said on X.
That’s for sure.
The Biden factor
Amid the lovely vibes, it’s important for Democrats to remember they wouldn’t be possible without President Biden’s willingness to be a team player in the face of an intensifying pressure campaign from members of his own party to end his reelection bid.
White House spokesperson Emilie Simons said Vice President Harris called Biden ahead of her official announcement that she selected Walz as her vice presidential nominee. (According to Simons, Biden also spoke with Walz to congratulate him on his selection.)
Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed the president received the call at the White House but did not know if he did so in the residence or the Oval Office.
Jean-Pierre said Harris sought Biden’s advice during the veepstakes.
“They are a strong team together. She is a critical partner to this president. She has been for the last three and a half years,” she said. “And they have discussions regularly of both domestic and international importance. And this situation was no different.”
As gobsmacked as some Democrats are with the unity and enthusiasm Biden’s sacrifice and Harris’s candidacy have generated, the president is unsurprised.
“The president made his decision because he knew what needed to be done. He said that in his letter. He said that in the Oval Office address,” Jean-Pierre said. “He talked about passing the baton. He talked about unifying the party and he believed the action that he took would unify the Democratic Party.”
The person Biden ultimately passed the baton also inspired his confidence.
“He also knew from the moment when he picked the vice president to be his running mate back in 2020, he said very recently, it was the best decision that he’s made,” Jean-Pierre added. “And it was the best decision that he made because he knew that she would be ready to lead on day one and has been a critical partner with him in the last three and a half years. He’s not surprised that she was ready to go.”
The question now is how early and often Biden will campaign for the woman he hopes will be his predecessor. Biden could be helpful in shoring up support among older white folks and other voting blocs and coloring in some of the lines for voters on
the role she’s played in some of the consequential moments of his presidency.
He’s likely to want to deliberately choose his spots, similar to former President Barack Obama, to guarantee maximum impact without overshadowing Harris and distracting attention away from the contrast she and Walz are attempting to draw between Trump and Vance.
Biden will headline the first night of the Democratic National Convention. The country will likely receive the first taste of how the president could end up discussing Harris on the campaign trail so that’s a speech to look forward to.
Do you have questions about the election? Drop me a line at michael@onceuponahill.com or send me a message below to get in touch and I’ll find the answers.