Vice President Kamala Harris has picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate, turning to a Midwestern governor, military veteran and union supporter who helped enact an ambitious Democratic agenda for his state.

Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, looking to strengthen the Democratic ticket in Midwestern states.

She will introduce Walz at a rally Tuesday evening in Philadelphia.

Here’s what to know:

Who is Tim Walz? Walz was a high school social studies teacher, football coach and union member before he got into politics. He served 24 years in the Army National Guard, rising to command sergeant major, one of the highest enlisted ranks in the military.
Harris wins nomination: Harris was the only candidate eligible to receive votes after no other candidate qualified by a deadline last week. She officially claimed the nomination Monday night when the DNC released final results.
Trump’s response to Walz: Moments after Harris’ VP pick became public, Donald Trump said Walz would be the worst vice president in history, claiming the Minnesota governor would “light TRILLIONS of dollars on fire” and open U.S. borders to criminals.

Barack and Michelle Obama say Harris ‘has chosen an ideal partner’

“Governor Walz doesn’t just have the experience to be vice president, he has the values and the integrity to make us proud,” the former president and first lady said in a statement.

They said Walz enacted progressive priorities as Minnesota governor including paid family leave, abortion rights and gun safety measures.

“But Tim’s signature is his ability to talk like a human being and treat everyone with decency and respect,” the Obamas said.

The Republican told reporters aboard his campaign plane Tuesday that he called Walz earlier in the day but “I left him a voicemail, I didn’t get him.”

It’s not clear if there will be a debate between Vance and Walz. Last week, Trump said he wouldn’t take part in an ABC News debate that had been on the books for September because he made that agreement with Biden before the president exited the campaign.

Instead, Trump said he would debate Harris on Sept. 4 on Fox News, but the vice president hasn’t agreed to that time or network yet.

Biden called on Democrats and all Americans to rally behind them.

“They will be the strongest defenders of our personal freedoms and our democracy,” Biden said in a social media post. “And they will ensure that America continues to lead the world and play its role as the indispensable nation.”

Biden said choosing a running mate is a party nominee’s first major decision and praised Harris’ choice. He said he’s known Walz for nearly two decades, praising his background as a teacher, football coach and National Guard soldier.

“Every generation of Americans faces a moment where they are asked to defend American democracy,” Biden said. “That moment is now.”

White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary Emilie Simons says Biden and Harris spoke on the phone Tuesday morning ahead of the official announcement that she selected Walz and that Biden spoke with Walz to congratulate him.

In his first public comments since his general election foe was set, JD Vance on Tuesday called Walz a choice that “highlights how radical Kamala Harris is.”

In a gaggle with reporters aboard his campaign plane upon landing in Philadelphia, Vance said Walz “is a person who listens to the Hamas wing” of the Democratic Party and “who wants to make the American people more reliant on garbage energy instead of good American energy.”

Vance is speaking more to reporters in Philadelphia on Tuesday ahead of campaign events across Midwestern battleground states on Wednesday, in a path that somewhat mirrors Harris and Walz’s planned trajectory.

return, but they declined, so he sold it for $15,000 to a digital marketing company that turned out to be the Trump campaign. The website pushed anti-Clinton news with “Paid for by Donald J. Trump for President, Inc” emblazoned at the bottom.

Eche says that he has not connected with the Harris campaign, but notes that Walz is his favorite of Harris’ potential VP picks.

Eche’s Walz website is now simply a blank chartreuse with the governor’s name in lower-case black letters (his wife’s idea), a callback to the artist Charlie XCX labeling Harris “brat” in a tweet.

Despite being a supporter and what happened to his Clinton site, Eche has no pause in selling his latest site back to the Harris campaign.

“The Harris campaign has hundreds of millions of dollars, so if they don’t buy their own domain, that is kind of on them,” he says. “I’ve got to sell it to somebody. I know I could just donate it, but that is not really how this works. People with billboards aren’t donating their billboards to the campaign. It is just a property basically.”