Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, a former schoolteacher who was first elected to Congress in 2006, will be Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, she announced this morning, ending several days of speculation.
The choice will very likely shine a light on the state of Minnesota, home to areas like “climate-proof Duluth,” which has seen a flood of new residents fleeing climate change over the last few years.
But Minnesota is also home of the one of the most remarkable transitions to clean energy in the country. As Coral Davenport put it, over his two terms as governor, Walz “has quietly emerged as one of the nation’s most forceful advocates for tackling climate change.”
As you think about vice-presidential choices, let me remind you why they can matter.
First, of course, there’s the chance a vice president could become president one day, as 15 vice presidents have.
When it comes to the presidential campaign, though, what matters is not just whether a vice-presidential pick can deliver voters in their own state or in their own constituencies. It’s what a running mate tells voters about what a presidential candidate values. As Kyle Kopko, a co-author of the book “Do Running Mates Matter?” told National Public Radio, many voters pay close attention to a V.P.’s experience and tend to value the ability to serve as president if needed.
So today I want to tell you a little bit about Minnesota’s transition away from coal and explain what that tells us about Walz’s experience and whether he can be an asset for Democrats.
Leading the energy transition
For years, coal was the top source of electricity produced in Minnesota, but it has declined over the last two decades, Nadja Popovich reported in an interactive guide to how states generate electricity. Now, emissions-free energy sources — including wind, solar and nuclear power — provide more than 50 percent of the power produced in Minnesota.
Walz is trying to accelerate that transition even more. As Davenport reported, his efforts put Minnesota on track to transition to clean energy even faster than California, which for decades has been at the vanguard of efforts to tackle climate change.
In 2023, Walz signed a law requiring Minnesota to generate or procure all of its electricity from wind, solar and other carbon-free sources by 2040, eliminating the climate-warming pollution from coal and gas-fired power plants. Working with Democrats in the State Legislature, Walz managed to push through nearly 40 other climate initiatives.
This year he signed into law a bill to speed up permits for renewable energy projects, something his colleagues in Washington are still struggling to do.
Interestingly, Davenport reported, Walz became a newly vocal champion of climate policies after his state was hit by extreme weather. “Over the past five years, extreme drought forced Minnesota cattle farmers to liquidate some of their herds far earlier than planned,” Davenport wrote. “Wildfire smoke from Canada choked the skies over the Twin Cities. A dearth of snow and ice — an increasing problem in the Great Lakes Region — meant a lack of ice-fishing and cross-country skiing that triggered economic losses.”
Does climate matter to voters?
Whether Walz’s efforts to fight climate change will matter to voters depends on how Democrats sell it, experts in public opinion told me. Walz has been praised for his plain-spoken, often upbeat communication style that could break through with moderate swing state voters.
Energy, environment and climate policies haven’t historically been particularly important to the majority of voters, unless they get framed alongside concerns about the economy or foreign conflict, said David Konisky, a professor at Indiana University who studies environmental policy and U.S. politics. Many voters don’t really have strong opinions about the benefits of various energy sources, he said.
In recent years, several studies have found that voters favor policies that support clean and affordable energy sources, Konisky told me. Last year, for example, a Pew Research Center survey found that 67 percent of Americans prioritize the development of clean energy sources over increasing the production of fossil fuels.
Still, voters’ views on what constitutes affordable renewable energy can vary widely. “They just have assumptions and misperceptions about which ones are more affordable and which ones are more or less concerning for local environmental and health,” he said.
Walz’s communication style seems to emphasize the need for politicians to explain both the benefits and the specifics of climate policy to voters. “The surest way to get people to buy in is to create a job that pays well in their community,” he told Time’s Justin Worland last year. “All of us are going to have to be better about our smart politics, about bringing people in.”
Tracking Tropical Storm Debby
A slow-motion storm: Tropical Storm Debby continued to crawl across southeastern Georgia early on Tuesday, dumping tremendous amounts of rain as it slowly made its way toward the Atlantic coastline. The former hurricane is forecast to return to the ocean and refuel with additional moisture, dropping more than two feet of rain on some coastal spots in Georgia and the Carolinas by the end of the week.
The lack of a hurricane rating doesn’t mean Debby will be less destructive, because ratings are only based on wind speed, not the rain, storm surges or tornadoes a storm produces.
A familiar pattern: As Judson Jones reported, “Debby’s meandering forecast path across the Southeast for the next several days is likely to be eerily similar to that of Hurricane Harvey, which flooded the Houston metro area in August 2017, and Hurricane Florence, which drenched North Carolina for days in 2018.” Like Debby, both storms stalled over the region. You can get live updates on the storm here.
Evacuation orders: Almost a year after Idalia became the strongest storm to hit the sparsely populated Big Bend region in Florida, known for manatees and marshlands, residents there are bracing for Debby. A storm surge of up to 10 feet was expected in some areas and mandatory evacuation orders have been issued in some counties. That includes roughly 20,000 residents in Citrus County, where Sheriff Mike Prendergast said many were expected to stay put.
The storm’s strong winds and heavy rain also heaved some unexpected debris onto one beach in Florida: blocks of cocaine worth about $1 million. The drugs were discovered by a “good Samaritan,” who alerted the authorities, a police official said in a social media post.
