This is Brian Laird's Daily Politics Podcast from WNYC Studios.

It's Wednesday, August 7th.

I'm Matt Katz from the WNYC and Gothamist Newsroom, filling in for Brian while he's out on vacation this week.

Kamala Harris introduced her choice for VP, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, and she really

had to introduce him so many Americans hadn't heard of him, or at least they had it until

he began popping up on the VeEEP shortlists and cable TV a couple

weeks ago. So who is Tim Walz? The campaign is presenting him as a folksy dad and former high

school teacher and football coach with a solid liberal record as governor of Minnesota.

My next guest will tell us more about him as a person and about his policies and why the Harris

campaign chose him.

Ernesto Landaño is the New York Times Midwest correspondent based in Minnesota.

Hi there, Ernesto.

Welcome back to WNYC.

Hello.

Thanks for having me.

I'm excited to start talking about this Veep Choice. So a reason behind

Kamala Harris's decision to choose Tim Walz as a running mate is perceived to have stemmed from

Governor Walls' rural upbringing. So let's start there with the beginning of his life. Where did he grow up?

And what was his family situation

like? Yeah, well, he was born in a tiny town in Nebraska and spent his formative years as a child

and a teenager in those kind of communities in sort of red country America. He has said, I think,

jokingly, that his graduating class included 25 students,

...