I'm starting to love Walz, despite being dubious at first. I think he's a wonderful person with lots of experience who will be able to draw in a good number of rural voters. Plus, he has a wonderful sense of humor, which to me is a big plus for a politician. I was so happy to see so many NYTImes commenters praising him this morning after an editorial written by a woman who grew up in rural America!
I agree with you. He's a very convincing, sincere and charismatic progressive. I don't think that he will upstage Harris. He is a very safe pick. He has my vote. But Harris has my vote also. However, he dosn't expand the base. My vote was already in the bag. But if Harris wants to win, we need to expand the vote. The dems needs millions more votes than republicans to win the Presidency. Kelly and/or Shapiro would have expanded the vote and shored up some her weaknesses.
From what I've read so far, I think he has the potential to expand the Dem base. A lot of independents seem pleased with him and he did win a rural district as a member of Congress quite a few times, one that later went for Trump. He comes from a modest, rural background and can relate to the rural folks a lot more than Trump or Vance can.
Moderates and independents in the central parts of the country, are sick of the so called liberal coastal elites who often belittle them. Plus, as Trump gets crazier by the day, more people who were not sure who they would vote for, seem to be turning away from him. I doubt the hardcore members of the cult will listen to reason, but those who were double haters or undecided or low information voters might find they can relate to somebody like Walz.
Still, he's not at the top of the ticket, so it's really up to Harris to keep people energized. VP candidates rarely make much difference when it comes to who wins the race, but Walz is far superior in so many ways compared to Vance that he might be able to help draw in more needed votes. I read some comments by progressives who said they wouldn't vote if Shapiro was chosen due to his support of Israel. I think that's childish, but they are very happy with Walz, so that's a good thing. I will never understand voters who base their vote on one issue or something they don't like. The job of the presidency is complicated, so competency should come first, or country over party as quite a few Republicans for Harris are now saying.
I don't understand how anyone can vote for Trump. My sister told me that the ultra wealthy in her area in NJ have huge Trump banners and American flags flying across the front of their mansions. We know that's all about greed and tax breaks. But, the lower and middle class white folks who struggle to pay their bills aren't going to benefit from voting for Trump. I'm hoping more of them will realize they've been manipulated by a grifter or will consider that Harris and Walz have a lot more things to offer them. It's all going to be about voter turnout. That's how Biden won in Georgia in 2020. I know quite a few people who voted for the first times in their lives in 2020, so they could vote against Trump. Harris has energized a lot of this type in Georgia, so if they all vote, we will have a chance of turning Georgia blue again in 2024, along with some other states. Trump keeps saying that Harris and Walz will turn the US into hell. As usual he's projecting.
And when Trump said he believes that Biden is going to claim to be the nominee during the Democratic convention and push Harris out of the way, I had to wonder why his supporters didn't see his insanity or early signs of dementia.