Vice President Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, choosing a popular Midwestern governor who brings an authentic connection with rural white voters. 

Mr. Walz is an Army veteran who grew up in Nebraska and moved to Mankato, in southern Minnesota, to teach high school geography and coach football. His teams won two state championships. He was elected to Congress in 2006, winning a populist competitive district.

Mr. Walz was a relatively centrist congressman during his time in the House. He supported the Keystone XL oil pipeline and was once a darling of the National Rifle Association in his early career. But he has shifted to support more restrictions, like an assault weapons ban.

The Walz track record: Successes but also baggage

He’s won tough House races in a rural district that leans Republican and two hard-fought gubernatorial elections in the liberal-leaning but competitive state. 

He worked across the aisle with Republicans who controlled the legislature in his first term to secure more funding to fight opioid addiction and cut middle-class taxes. And in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by a police officer in Minneapolis, he helped negotiate a bipartisan law putting new restrictions on police use of force in the state.

The protests and riots that broke out in Minneapolis after Mr. Floyd’s death are a vulnerability for him, however: Mr. Walz later admitted that the state’s initial response was an “abject failure.”