Harris' running mate Tim Waltz: Coming from rural America, what is his attitude towards the crypto industry?

Original title: Five things to know about Tim Walz

Original author: STEVE KARNOWSKI, JOHN HANNA, Associated Press News

Original translation: Bitpush BitpushNews

Vice President Kamala Harris has decided to choose Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate. After Biden decided to withdraw from the presidential race, the 60-year-old Democrat and veteran has been in the spotlight through a series of outspoken TV shows. He made Minnesota a bastion of liberal policies, and this year, Minnesota became one of the few states to protect fans from buying tickets to Taylor Swift concerts and other live events online.

Something you need to know about Waltz:

Waltz is from rural America

It would be hard to find someone who more vividly represents America's heartland than Waltz. Waltz was born in West Point, Neb., a city of about 3,500 northwest of Omaha. He joined the National Guard and worked as a teacher in Nebraska.

In the 1990s, he and his wife moved to Mankato, in southern Minnesota. There, he taught social studies and coached football at Mankato West High School, including leading the team to the first of the school's four state championships in 1999. He still mentions his union membership there.

Waltz served in the Army National Guard for 24 years, rising to command sergeant major, one of the highest enlisted ranks in the military, but because he did not complete all of his training before leaving, his welfare rank was set at staff sergeant.

He has proven his ability to connect with conservative voters

In his first run for Congress, Waltz defeated a Republican incumbent. That was in 2006, when he defeated six-term Rep. Jill Gutknecht in a largely rural congressional district in southern Minnesota. Waltz tapped into voters' anger at President George W. Bush and the Iraq War at the time.

During his six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, Waltz has championed veterans' issues.

He has also shown a down-to-earth side through social media video posts with his daughter, Hope. Last fall, they tried the Slingshot ride at the Minnesota State Fair after talking about fair food and their daughter's vegetarianism.

He can help Harris win in key Midwestern states

While Waltz isn’t from the key “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, where both parties say they need to win, he’s right next door. He can also ensure Minnesota remains in Democratic hands.

That’s important because former President Trump portrayed Minnesota as a hot state this year, even though the state hasn’t elected a Republican to statewide office since 2006. A Republican presidential candidate hasn’t won the state since President Richard Nixon’s landslide victory in 1972, but Trump has campaigned there.

When Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton decided not to seek a third term in 2018, Waltz ran on a “One Minnesota” theme and won the office.

Waltz also speaks with ease about issues that Rust Belt voters care about. He has been a champion of Democratic causes, including union organizing, workers' rights and a $15-an-hour minimum wage.

He has experience dealing with divided government

In his first term as governor, Waltz faced a legislative divide between the Democratic-led House and the Republican-controlled Senate, which opposed his proposals to increase funding for schools, health care and roads by raising taxes. But he and lawmakers reached compromises that made the state's divided government still appear productive.

In his second year as governor, bipartisanship became more difficult as he used the governor's emergency powers to close businesses and schools during the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans fought back, forcing some agency heads out. Republicans also criticized Waltz for what they saw as his slow response to sometimes violent unrest in 2020 following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

Things got easier for Walz in his second term after he defeated Republican Scott Jensen, a nationally known vaccine skeptic. Democrats took control of both legislatures and, aided by large budget surpluses, paved the way for the state to take a more liberal course.

Walz and lawmakers rolled back nearly all of the state's past restrictions on abortion that had been enacted by Republicans, protected gender-affirming care for transgender youth and legalized recreational use of marijuana.

Democrats rejected Republican requests to use the state budget surplus for tax cuts and instead funded free school meals for children, free public college for students whose families make less than $80,000 a year, paid family and medical leave programs and health insurance regardless of a person's immigration status.

He’s good at making political points with his voice

Last month, Waltz called Republican candidate Trump and running mate JD Vance “weird” in an interview with MSNBC, and the Democratic Governors Association, of which Waltz is chairman, expanded on this point in an article on X. Waltz later reiterated this description on CNN, citing Trump’s repeated references to the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter from the movie “The Silence of the Lambs” in his campaign speeches.

The term quickly became a theme for Harris and other Democrats, and it may become a slogan for this destined to be strange 2024 election.

Also, Waltz is known for taking a tougher approach to the crypto industry.

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