"2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America," a new book released Tuesday by journalists Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of The New York Times, and Isaac Arnsdor of The Washington Post, has given America a detailed look into how Kamala Harris chose Tim Walz as her running mate, according to Fox News.
Harris and her advisors had narrowed down the selection to three possible candidates: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. All of the candidates were invited to Harris' residence for a final interview. The book says Harris "went with her gut" and chose Governor Walz.
Most political experts believed that Governor Shapiro would be the best choice, but the book revealed that he was not the best match for Kamala Harris.
He came across as overly ambitious, pushing Harris to define what his role would be. He also conceded it would not be natural for him to serve as someone’s number two, leaving Harris with a bad impression.
Shapiro also raised concerns due to how he might land with the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party, as he supported Israel following the October 7th Hamas terrorist attacks. The book states:
Much of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party declared war on Shapiro, largely because of his support of Israel. Some Shapiro allies saw the criticism as deeply unfair and borderline antisemitic, since the governor was an observant Jew, but his positions on the Palestinian conflict broadly aligned with the Biden administration and the other vice presidential contenders. The lawyers vetting Shapiro did flag some comments they viewed as more incendiary, particularly as it related to pro- Palestinian protests on college campuses after the October 7 attacks.
Some comments Harris' team found concerning was his commentary on CNN, comparing pro-Hamas Americans to the KKK.
One that caught their attention was his commentary on CNN from April: ‘We have to query whether or not we would tolerate this, if this were people dressed up in KKK outfits or KKK regalia, making comments about people who are African American in our communities.’
Unlike Shapiro, Walz was "deferential," "showing no interest in himself" and "flatly denied any interest in running for president."
He went so far as to proactively volunteer reasons why she might not want to pick him. In his interview that Friday, he said he had never used a teleprompter before. On Sunday, he told Harris, ‘I would understand if you went with someone else because I’m really nervous about the debate, and I don’t think I’ll do well.’ Still, the vetting team did not fully appreciate his tendency to misspeak, his folksiness sometimes tipping into factual imprecision.
Nancy Pelosi even weighed in and privately pushed for Harris to choose Walz.
Pelosi privately pushed for him too, because she’d worked with him in Congress. The pitch for Walz was straightforward: He could appeal to white voters across the Blue Wall states (Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania) and hopefully help Harris with male voters. He’d never lost election.
It seems as though Pelosi's confidence in him had been misplaced, as Tim Walz ended up alienating male voters from the Democratic Party.
Julian Epstein, a Democratic operative and former chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital:
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,
That pattern’s still playing out today, as Democrats scramble to piece together a coherent strategy to take on President Trump. The party’s been drifting, with no real leadership, no clear direction, and it’s left some wondering if the progressives are about to step up and take charge. Zohran Mamdani’s win in the New York City Democratic primary and his very real shot at the mayor’s office points exactly in that direction.