Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive 2024 Democratic Party presidential nominee, has chosen Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, according to widespread media reports. Rice University political scientist Mark Jones is available to discuss her choice.
“It was always a near certainty that Harris was going to select a white male to balance the ticket with the only question being which white male among a half dozen alternatives,” said Jones, a professor of political science at Rice. “The finalists appear to have been Walz and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.”
Jones noted that both have executive experience, though Walz has a longer tenure.
“The deciding factors were likely a combination of Harris connecting better with Walz than Shapiro and a desire by Harris to avoid the backlash from the left wing of the Democratic Party had Shapiro been selected, due to his strong support for Israel,” Jones said.
Jones also serves as a fellow at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. His expertise and scholarly work has been widely cited by local, state and national media as well as numerous political campaigns. For more information on Jones, visit https://profiles.rice.edu/faculty/mark-p-jones.
To schedule an interview, contact Amy McCaig, senior media relations specialist at Rice, at 713-348-6777 or amym@rice.edu.