Tim Walz says Kamala picked him so 'white guys' could have 'permission' to vote for black lady

On Monday, Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) said one of the reasons former Vice President Kamala Harris picked him as a running mate was to give white people "permission" to vote for her. Walz made the comments while speaking at Harvard's Kennedy School, where he discussed the future of the Democratic party and Harris's failed 2024 presidential campaign against President Donald Trump.

"I could code talk to white guys - watching football, fixing their truck. I could put them at ease," Walz told the audience. "I was the permission structure to say, 'Look, you can do this and vote for this.'"

Walz acknowledged that he and Harris "didn't get enough of those votes" in critical swing states, which ultimately decided the outcome of the 2024 election. Trump's victory resulted in a 53-47 Senate majority for Republicans and a slight control over the House, which granted the GOP full control of both congressional chambers.

The Harris campaign attempted to appeal to men by using Walz in a variety of ways, such as participating in a pheasant hunting trip and playing video games with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Each of these campaign strategies resulted in Walz being subjected to widespread mockery due to his difficulty in reloading his shotgun and not performing well in the NFL Madden video game.

Walz also came under fire for his historic connections to China, exaggerating his military record, and his governing record in the state of Minnesota, where he oversaw the infamous summer 2020 Black Lives Matter riots following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Brittany Shepherd, an ABC News correspondent who moderated the conversation with Walz at Harvard, asked the governor why he did not appear on additional cable news networks in order to attempt to capture the male vote with the messaging he described, the National Review reported.

Walz responded, "I understand myself. I said, 'I think I'll give you pretty good stuff, but I'll also give you 10 percent problematic.'"

Concerning the election defeat, Walz stated that the Democratic Party needs to consider the reasons behind its loss, suggesting that the Democratic Party has lost its "self-identity" when it comes to supporting the middle class and personal liberties. Walz frequently referred to Vice President JD Vance as "weird" on the campaign trail, and was restricted from appearing on cable news shows due to the Harris campaign limiting access for the two candidates.