Who Is Tim Walz? The Man Who Memed His Way Into Becoming Kamala’s V.P.

Kamala Harris has chosen her running mate, and it’s Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

Harris announced the decision Tuesday morning. “As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he’s delivered for working families like his,” she stated. “It’s great to have him on the team.”

It’s a fun announcement, given both Walz’s progressive credentials and how savvy he is with his attacks on Republicans. He has effectively criticized Donald Trump and J.D. Vance in TV interviews, even venturing into enemy territory on Fox News. And he’s credited with first inspiring Democrats’ “weird” attacks on Trump and the GOP, giving the party one of its most effective attack lines in years.

Walz’s internet presence has also led his supporters to turn him into incredible meme content.

He may even be a bigger Diet Mountain Dew fan than Vance.

So who is Walz?

As governor of Minnesota, Walz was in office when George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police in May 2020. He signed into law police reform legislation banning “warrior” training, restricting the use of choke holds by police, and introducing new de-escalation training for police as well as training on how to respond to people with autism and mental health issues. The bill also created an independent unit to investigate police-involved deaths and a community relations advisory council.

Last year, Walz signed into law a child tax credit plan for Minnesota, one of the most generous state plans in the country, which he said could reduce child poverty in the state by 33 percent. It was passed thanks to Walz presiding over a Democratic trifecta, with the party holding both the Minnesota House and Senate. This also allowed abortion protections, free universal school meals, paid family leave, and safeguards for gay and transgender people to become law in the state.

Before becoming governor, he served in Congress from 2007 to 2019, endearing himself to his Democratic colleagues. Several Democrats in Congress, including Nancy Pelosi, have spoken well of Walz in recent days.

“He was a great member of Congress. The people I know in Minnesota tell me he’s a great governor.… But more importantly, he’s a good guy,” said Representative Jim McGovern last week. “He’s down to earth, he’s the real deal, there’s nothing phony about him, and he calls ’em as he sees ’em, and he tells it like it is, and I appreciate the candor.”

In the past year, Walz has taken a relatively conciliatory approach to voters and protesters upset over Israel’s brutal war on Gaza, even with his record of pro-Israel advocacy in Congress.

“These are voters that are deeply concerned—as we all are. The situation in Gaza is intolerable.… We start bringing these folks back in, we listen to what they’re saying—that’s a healthy thing,” Walz said. On the campus protests, he said students “need to be able to express opinions” but also expressed concern for the safety of Jewish students on campus.

Walz’s personal story is also compelling. He grew up in rural Nebraska and served in the National Guard for 24 years, and was deployed to Europe after 9/11. He earned several commendations, including the Army Commendation Medal and two Army Achievement Medals. With a bachelor’s degree from Chadron State College in Nebraska, he taught for one year in China and later was a public school teacher in Alliance, Nebraska, and then in Mankato, Minnesota, his wife Gwen’s hometown.

While teaching geography in Mankato West High School, he served as the school football coach, taking the team to its first state championship in 1999. He also was the faculty adviser for the school’s first gay-straight alliance.

It looks like the Harris campaign recognized all of these achievements, and saw Walz as the best choice to win in November.

This story has been updated.

Elon Musk’s pro-Trump political action committee is in hot water after the North Carolina attorney general’s office announced Monday that it is looking into the group’s collection of personal data.

A complaint was made to the state election board claiming that Musk’s America PAC collected personal data instead of its promised goal of helping people register to vote. Specifically, the PAC asked website users for data such as their ZIP code, address, and a phone number in order to help them register to vote. But if the person lived in a battleground state, they were never actually registered to vote. Only those who lived in states not considered competitive were redirected to their state’s voter registration pages.

“Our office is aware of this issue and is looking into it,” said a spokesperson for the North Carolina attorney general’s office Monday. North Carolina’s inquiry follows another investigation announced Sunday by Michigan’s secretary of state over identical allegations involving Michigan residents.

“Every citizen should know exactly how their personal information is being used by PACs, especially if an entity is claiming it will help people register to vote in Michigan or any other state,” a spokesperson for the Michigan office said in a statement to CNBC.

“While the America PAC is a federal political action committee, the Department is reviewing their activities to determine if there have been any violations of state law. We will refer potential violations to the Michigan Attorney General’s office as appropriate,” the statement added.

Along with North Carolina and Michigan, users in Georgia and Wisconsin who accessed the PAC’s website also weren’t redirected to their states’ voter registration pages.

Musk and his PAC are supporting Donald Trump in the 2024 election over Vice President Kamala Harris, with the tech mogul reportedly feeling slighted after President Biden didn’t invite Tesla, Musk’s car company, to a 2021 electric vehicles summit. Musk has been pro-Trump ever since then, advocating for Trump’s anti-immigration policies in line with his own conspiracist beliefs in the racist “great replacement theory,” which claims immigrants are being imported to replace white people. Musk is an immigrant to the United States.

Donald Trump is determined to blame Monday’s stock market dip on Kamala Harris, even if that means having a meltdown posting a dumb new nickname for her over and over again.

On Monday, Wall Street had its worst day in nearly two years, as the S&P 500 fell 3 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 1,000 points. As markets plunged, Trump began insistently posting on Truth Social, deeming the poor market performance a “KAMALA CRASH!” or “KAMALA KRASH.”

“STOCK MARKETS CRASHING. I TOLD YOU SO!!!” wrote the former president and convicted felon. “KAMALA DOESN’T HAVE A CLUE. BIDEN IS SOUND ASLEEP. ALL CAUSED BY INEPT U.S. LEADERSHIP!”

In reality, there’s no way that the poor performance of the stock market can be placed squarely on Biden or Harris. There seem to be plenty of reasons for the crash, including a disappointing jobs report and concern that the Federal Reserve didn’t lower interest rates fast enough. Some are blaming the Bank of Japan hiking interest rates, while still others are blaming the hasty move to invest in artificial intelligence and other technologies without proof of their value. But many economic experts say that the U.S economy remains strong.

“Of course there is a massive market downturn. Kamala is even worse than Crooked Joe. Markets will NEVER accept the Radical Left Lunatic that DESTROYED San Francisco and California, as a whole,” wrote Trump on Truth Social, whose value has also been tanking. “Next move, THE GREAT DEPRESSION OF 2024! You can’t play games with MARKETS. KAMALA CRASH!!!”

Under President Joe Biden, real wages have rebounded since the pandemic and overall job growth has improved greatly. In June, 16 Nobel Prize–winning economists warned that reelecting Trump would reignite inflation.

But perhaps Trump’s meltdown isn’t about the economy at all, and instead is just a failed attempt to get a derogatory nickname for Harris to stick.

Donald Trump’s former lawyer Jenna Ellis, who played an active role in his campaign’s attempts to use fake electors to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, is now cooperating with Arizona prosecutors in that state’s election fraud case.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced Monday that Ellis had signed an agreement with the AG’s office to cooperate with their investigation in exchange for charges being dropped.

“This agreement represents a significant step forward in our case,” Mayes said in a statement. “I am grateful to Ms. Ellis for her cooperation in our investigation and prosecution. Her insights are invaluable and will greatly aid the State in proving its case in court.”

Previously, Ellis was one of 18 individuals, including Rudy Guliani, charged with trying to overturn Arizona’s election results. Ellis had been charged with nine felonies, including fraud, forgery, and conspiracy prior to the agreement. Ellis’s deal with prosecutors is going to be bad news for some of Trump’s biggest allies, both in the state of Arizona and nationally.

It’s the second such deal Ellis has struck in investigations over fake electors. In 2023, Ellis agreed to cooperate with Fulton County, Georgia, prosecutors, which led to her losing her law license in Colorado after pleading guilty to election fraud charges as part of the agreement. However, she still remains active in Republican politics, most recently complaining about the removal of strong anti-abortion language from the GOP platform at the Republican National Convention.

This story has been updated.

Nicknaming President Joe Biden “Sleepy Joe” doesn’t seem to be looking so good for Donald Trump now that he’s the old man in the race.

A Morning Consult poll published Monday revealed that voters are suddenly viewing Trump as the decrepit candidate after Biden dropped his campaign. Americans are apparently far more likely to describe Vice President Kamala Harris as healthy, mentally fit, and a strong leader than the 78-year-old Republican presidential nominee.

According to the poll, 71 percent of respondents agreed that Harris was “in good health,” while 52 percent said the same about Trump—6 percent fewer than believed the same about Trump when Biden was the presumptive Democratic nominee.

The number of respondents who thought that Trump was “mentally fit” for the job also dropped. Roughly 64 percent of respondents believed that Harris was mentally fit, while just 48 percent believed the same about Trump—a 5 percent drop from before Biden withdrew.

Meanwhile, the number of respondents who believed that Trump is too old for the job rose. Whereas just 12 percent of polled Americans believed that the 59-year-old vice president was too old to be president, 51 percent thought that Trump had aged out of the position—7 percent more than had previously felt the same when Biden was Trump’s opponent.

Voters also said they were more concerned about Trump’s erratic behavior worsening with age should he retake the White House in November. Roughly 82 percent of polled voters said that Trump’s “poor decision making” and “erratic behavior” was a major concern, while roughly three-quarters of polled respondents listed his inability to communicate effectively with the American public, U.S. officials, and foreign officials, as well as a weakened perception of strength on the international stage, as other points of “major concern.” Another 49 percent and 44 percent of polled Americans described the potential onset of illness and death as major concerns, respectively.