Welcome to the program from Philadelphia,
Brennan Boyle. We appreciate the time.
So let's just get started by taking a minute to
discuss what we saw last night.
And that was really the branding
of Governor Walls, somebody most Americans didn't know much of
until last night.
And we got a sense of his background,
grew up on a farm,
as he said, went to school with most of his
relatives.
The town was so small.
He was a high school teacher.
He was a football coach.
He served in the National Guard.
And then I'd like to have you listen to what
Kamala Harris said about this and how she views the
man she's now appointed to be her VP pick.
To his fellow veterans, he is Sergeant Major Wall.
To his former high school students,
he was Mr. Walls, and to his former high school
football players,
he was coach.
Who is he to you?
Well, it's great to be with you,
Bianna. And while he was my congressional colleague,
I actually did call him coach
because one of the many things on his resume that
actually has not been mentioned the last 24 hours is
he was the coach of our congressional football team.
So so I always called him
with great affection. Coach. Yeah,
Tim is exactly what you saw last night here in
in my hometown and district of Philadelphia,
an authentic and genuine person,
a guy who comes from humble,
rural, blue collar roots, actually still lives
in exactly the the same kind of community.
He's a long time veteran,
the highest ranking enlisted man to ever serve in Congress.
And then of course, he was a public school teacher
for decades.
And literally that's what he was doing in
2006 when he was asked to run for Congress and
he pulled off this
remarkable upset in a Republican leaning district.
In fact, I do remember talking to him right after
the election in in 2016.
We got back to DC about a week later
and he was talking about how he had just survived
in his district.
Donald Trump won his district by 15 points,
and yet Tim Walls was still able to hold on.
I think it was actually the largest over performance of
any member of Congress that cycle.
And that's because people know who Tim is and know
his values.
And maybe it's perhaps they know who he is that
he was managed to squeak a win in in 2016
because he's even acknowledged that that was a very close
call. And as he was trying to decipher who this
Trump voter is and what Trump's appeal is,
there is concern that some of his policies,
especially as governor, are more progressive than some of those
undecided voters.
Some of those never Trump voters that Kamala Harris is
desperately trying to get to,
to vote for her, that that they're just not comfortable
with that.
And let me just pull up some of his policies
so our viewers can get a sense of what what
he's
been focused on as governor and the issue of abortion.
He signed into law the Protect Reproductive Options Act in
January of
2023. In terms of gender affirming care,
he signed an executive order protected healthcare services,
universal school meals. He signed a bill into law last
year on that front For tuition.
He made college tuition free for students from families earning
less than
$80,000. On the issue of immigration,
which as you know is a crucial issue and one
that Republicans are making their top issue this election cycle,
he made undocumented immigrants eligible for
Minnesota's driver's licenses. And in terms of voting rights,
he restored voting rights to more than
55,000 formerly incarcerated people. As you know,
Republicans are already latching on to this record.
Do you think that this is a potential weakness for
the ticket?
You know, I, I have no concerns at all.
And in fact, I believe everything that you read on
that list
he did before he won re election.
So obviously his voters in Minnesota,
which is sometimes been referred to as the reddest
blue state in America. It is a state where Republicans
compete and do well statewide.
In fact, before Tim, there was a a Republican governor,
Tim Pawlenty, who was able to run for president.
And yet with that record,
Tim Walz won re election.
You mentioned on one of those issues,
abortion. I think frankly, one of the most significant issues
of this campaign is going to be the abortion issue.
Specifically the fact that Donald Trump,
as he brags himself, he is responsible for overturning Roe
versus Wade.
He is responsible for the fact that a woman's right
to choose
is now denied in close to half of the states
in the United States of America.
And if he gets in through something called the Comstock
Act,
he will be able to effectively end abortion or end
the right to choose for a woman in the United
States,
whether you're in a red state or a blue state.
So I expect that actually that record will contrast quite
nicely to what Donald Trump
first did in office and what he's proposing to do
if he were to get back there.
Speaking of Donald Trump, he and other Republicans,
we should note, even prior to Kamala Harris making her
VP pick,
really voice their concern publicly
about specifically the governor of your state in Pennsylvania,
Josh Shapiro being on that ticket and appear to sigh
a breath of relief
on the news of Tim Waltz being her choice.
Here's what Donald Trump said this morning.
Oh, I'm sorry, we don't.
We don't have the sound.
But he said that he's a very liberal man and
that he's a shocking pick and that he couldn't be
more thrilled.
What do you make of that response?
Well, don't worry. I'm not too disappointed that you didn't
have that audio of Donald Trump.
I've already heard enough of him.
I would say it brings me back to 8 years
ago.
I remember how relieved Democrats were
that Donald Trump had won the Republican primary.
And I had a lot of Democratic friends telling me
just how easy that general election was going to be.
And I said to them then and,
and I'm on the record actually eight years ago saying
this,
and I'll repeat it, Be careful what you wish for.
It is funny in politics how sometimes the person who
you thought you wanted to run against or you thought
was the ideal opponent ends up being the person who
ultimately wins the race. We need,
and I say this is
Pennsylvania's biggest cheerleader, whether it's in politics or sports.
We are the largest and I think most important battleground
state.
But we're not the only battleground state.
We need to also win in Michigan.
We need to also win in Wisconsin.
We need to win or at least be very competitive
in the Sunbelt as well.
So I think that the vice president decided to have
a partner that she was most comfortable with
who could actually help her once in office,
be a great team player,
but also be someone who could authentically speak to the
voters who over the last eight years,
we've been losing not just in places like Pennsylvania,
but also in Michigan and Wisconsin and throughout the Midwest.
Given how crucial winning Pennsylvania in particular is,
are you surprised that she didn't go with with your
governor who who is,
as we noted, extremely popular there?
You know, I served alongside Josh in the State House
for actually from neighboring
state legislative districts. He's a long time friend.
As we've discussed, Tim Walz
or coach is also a a long time friend,
as are one or two others who are under consideration.
So I really, my view going into this was that
it was entirely
the presidential nominee's decision. That's the way it's always been,
the way it should be because it's such a crucial
personal decision.
So frankly, I mean, you know,
the only thing that would have surprised me is if
she had picked someone who wasn't on that very public
list.
Of the six finalists, they really thought any one of
them could have been picked.
And frankly, each of them brought different strengths and weaknesses
to help balance out the ticket.
Just to go back to the concerns about Tim Walz's
record and how he's being portrayed now and described by
Republicans,
specifically by the the Trump Vance ticket.
There's one line in particular that that that people are
really focusing on.
And that is when he said one person's socialism is
another
person's neighborliness. And I'm wondering if you agree with Jonathan
Chait's analysis, a journalist of how now she should navigate
this ticket.
And he said the best hope is picking Walsh let's
her placate left with that choice while actually moving to
the center on policy and anything else important.
You know, sincerely, I, I don't think this pick was
actually anything about ideology left,
right or center. It really boiled down to who was
the person who she was most comfortable with as a
partner,
both on the campaign as well as,
crucially, when it comes to governing.
The end of the day,
for better or worse, this is not going to be
ultimately for
99.9% of voters. This is not going to be about
JD Vance or about Tim Walz.
It'll be about Kamala Harris and her agenda and what
she is offering for the American people for the next
four years versus the very backward,
ugly, divisive vision that Donald Trump is offering to the
extent that he actually has a vision at all.
And she has 90 days to showcase to the country
that vision.
Brendan Boyle, thank you so much for joining us.
Well.