as they do their smaller market, mid-market campaigning while the head of the ticket is the real draw. i think that we'll see whether walz passes that test. if there are things that he has to explain, we'll find out. they decided he was the safe choice and didn't want to take a chance. >> thank you very much. we'll keep an eye on the images outside governor walz house right now in minnesota, as we prepare to see movement shortly as he gets ready to join kamala harris on the campaign trail with a big rally expected tonight in philadelphia. stay with us for our continuing coverage here on msnbc. i'll see you back here tomorrow, same time, same place. jose diaz-balart picks up our coverage now. good morning, 11:00 a.m. eastern, 8:00 a.m. pacific. i'm jose diaz-balart. we begin this hour with the

breaking news from the presidential the campaign trail, where kamala harris has choizen governor tim walz to be her running mate. the highly anticipated decision comes hours after the vice president formerly secured the presidential nomination after a virtual role call become the first woman of color to lead a major presidential ticket. the vice president and governor walz will appear on stage just hours from now for the first time at a rally in philadelphia. first stop on the campaign blitz that will take the pair to five battleground states over the next couple of days. with us now is washington correspondent yamiche. and julian castro, 2020 presidential democrat you can candidate and msnbc political analyst, and simone townsend, cohost of the weekend here on msnbc.

so yamiche, good morning. how did the vice president setting on walz? >> reporter: it's a key question this morning. vice president settled on tim walz, the governor of minnesota, because first, there was a strong kem industry, a strong personal rapport. there was also a number of reasons why she chose him, including his executive background. i was told by one source the fact that he has run a state in minnesota, it's a state that midwestern and seen as someone that can speak to the kind of voters they want to include in the coalition should they win in november. also his background is something that was really interesting to them and something that was a plus for them. the fact that he was a veteran of the national guard. he was a football coach. also someone that's a hunter and a gun owner and has a deep connection to rural america. so there's also the idea he's an effective messenger.

he's someone who called for president trump and the republican party weird. he summarized in one word and that one word weird was then echoed by the hearst campaign in the last few weeks and days. it really in some ways proved to them that he was somebody that could communicate and be direct and a bulldog againstment republican attacks. and also this idea he's someone who has had the back of civil rights leaders in his own state. i was just talking on the phone with attorney general keith ellison. he thought this choice was brilliant. he told me, and this was his words, he's not just an old white guy even though he's 60 years old. but he said that because he says tim walz appointed the first black woman to the minnesota supreme court. he's also someone that took the county prosecutor who was going to be in charge of the george floyd case and took him off the case and put keith ellison on the case. and there would be no george

floyd prosecution. there would be no george floyd case if it were not for tim walz. you can expect to hear more about how he was instrumental in doing that. he felt morally outraged by the death of jorng floyd and wanted to make sure that family got justice. that officer was convicted in that case and remains in prison to this day. so there really is a lot of feeling that tim walz is going to be able to add a lot to this ticket. lastly, he's someone who even though minnesota is a blue state, he knows how to knock on doors. he knows how to build connections. he knows how to convince moderates to feel like they are part of the vision for america that now the harris and walz campaign is going to be talking with the voters about. >> what do you think the message is that the vice president made by this decision to bring walz in? she had a number of different candidates from different states that had different strengths and maybe some weaknesses.

what does walz bring to this? >> i would say two things. fist, the message the vice president is seconding is this was her decision. there were a lot of individuals, i think, who would have -- and even folks who were a part of giving recommendations and thoughts and views to the vice president about who they thought would be a good running mate for her. some thought that was governor walz. there were others who thought those were other individuals. but at the end of the day, picking a running mate is the most important, frankly, and the first presidential level that a nominee makes. with this decision, she made it quite clear she is the one in the driver's seat here. and this was not a group activity, if you will. i think governor walz is a remarkable choice, frankly. he was a former teacher. i also would like to note he's a native nebraskaen. we going to claim tim walz every

time we see him. but truly in an election where it comes down to how people are feeling and do the candidates and the campaigns understand what folks are going through and do they have a plan to address that for their lives, governor walz adds a lot to the ticket. it's my understanding that was something that was important to the vice president and part of why she landed on governor walz. he and his wife went through ivf. his daughter's name is hope. her name is hope for a reason. because the literal birth, the conception of her birth gave them hope. so that is something a lot of families across the country are dealing with. a really strong juxtaposition with the trump/vance campaign and how they are talking about reproductive health care. this is a very compatible choice, and the executive level experience is something very important. at the end of the day, she's not just picking someone who is going to help her win 270

electoral votes. he will be the vice president. someone who she would like to be ready on day one, much like then candidate biden, now president biden, talked about when he picked her as running mate almost four years ago. >> what do you make of the vice president's choice of governor walz to be her running mate? what does walz bring that maybe others couldn't? >> i think what he brings is a lot of great energy, terrific vibe. he seems happy. you think about the contrast with jd vance. you think of jd vance and the word that comes to mind is scolding or angry. it's the complete opposite with walz. it's the happy warrior, but somebody who is inclusive, somebody who understands govern ing. he's going to be a strong partner, an effective partner if

kamala harris is elected. as somebody who can also in the campaign relate to everyday people. he's able to wear camouflage hunters jacket and also talk about the importance of universal school lunches for children. so he has a range that's able to appeal both to the base and also to those voters, those white working class voters that they need to get in michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania. i think that's why she selected him. on top of that, he's in keeping with the cardinal rule of vice presidential politics. choose somebody who will do no harm. i have confidence that through that vetting process, that's probably what she found. that doesn't mean that everybody else on that list had an issue. i'm not saying that. but i'm saying that they vetted him well. and i think what they found was this is a solid choice, this is somebody who is going to really help in the next three months and will be an effective governoring partner.

>> i know that you when you were in the house served alongside with then congressman walz when he was in the house had an a-plus rating by the nra. then went to an f rating. certainly has positions. >> it's a contrast to what the trump campaign with their choice doubled down on conservative populism. here i think the democratic campaign is recognizing the top

of the ticket is a progressive from california. let's find a moderate democrat. >> let me turn to live pictures out of st. paul, minnesota. we see those two cars leaving the governor's house right now. let's listen and see. you can see this is one of the official cars. there's some waving from the side. from st. paul, minnesota, it looks like the governor has just left. i'm sorry, carlos, to interrupt you. >> i was just saying that i think what democrats are trying to do is replicate the winning formula from 2020.

2020 they put forward a candidate in joe biden that tried to appeal to the center of the country. sol would say he didn't govern that way later, but that oe biden was a deal maker, got along with republicans. that is what tim walz is. so it's the same formula as 2020 for democrats, but inverted. the progressive candidate is at the top of the ticket and the more centrist deal making candidate is the vice president. >> you can hear the cheering. we were able to see some people loading up luggage in the vehicles outside the walz home. presumably as he heads to philadelphia to join kamala harris as the newly selected vice presidential candidate. and the vibe on the ground here as we have been hanging out and talking to folks is a feeling of ewe forya. one gentleman said you're in minnesota, we produce vice presidents, so minnesota is very

excited to be put on the map here this morning. walz's team says this attention has been unexpected and crazy, but they are clearly excited to take it on. we were at a fundraiser for kamala harris in which walz spoke alongside the other minnesota senators. you could feel he was excited. it's unclear if he knew he was the pick at that point. we did know yesterday that they narrowed down the two options and he spoke to what seemed like what could be a stump speech that we'll potentially see. he talked about bringing in republicans. how he's used to interacting with republicans in minnesota. he has a strong record on both the democrat and i can republican side. he said republicans are my neighbors. we need to give them an option. and show them how woe spread joy. that might be some foresight on the campaign trail coming up, few bust that feeling of joy is

palpable here on the ground in st. paul. >> you had a very interesting thread on x recently about you were vetted by hillary clinton as a potential running mate. takes us inside that process. what was it like bye-bye. >> it's super thorough, very involved. for us, there was a questionnaire that we started off with with more than 150 questions on it. went through everything. legal history, employment history, financial history, personal family history, medical history. folks had to get a medical exam to prove that you were fit to serve in the office. and then you went through five or six vetting with lawyers who asked follow-up questions. and then an interview with the nominee herself. and so it was really precise and blunt and thorough.

this was very come pressed. but they did have a great team doing it. so i'm confident that they also got to all of the things that might be lurking out there that might cause political issues. after taking that in and also the chemistry and politically what they need on the map, i think this is a good choice for kamala harris. >> simone, i want to read you all what's coming across right now. former president obama just put out a release. i'm going to read you part of it. it says when a presidential candidate chooses a running mate, it says a lot about who they are and what kind of president they will be. by selecting tim walz to be her vice presidential candidate, from a pool of outstanding democrats, kamala harris has chosen an ideal partner and made it clear exactly what she stands

for. this is a very strong message to get people incentivized to come out and vote on the 5th of november. >> absolutely. and i would even argue before, in talking to a lot of democratic strategists, if you will, and even some republican strategists, they have noted that the vice president had a really great strong rollout. the last two weeks were great. she's going to get a bump from this vp nominee, this running mate selection. and then convention, but after that, they say it's business as usual. in the first week of september in some places in our country, even some battleground state, early voting starts taking place. so so this momentum, if you will, that the harris campaign has, with this pick and then obviously the convention is

about a week and a half away. it has the potential to continue to carry through with the strong infrastructure and the organizing that the campaign has been doing to make them successful. i will say there's been lots of talk about who was not chosen. and maybe why other people were not chosen. and i defer to reality is that it's a private process. the people being vet vd to agree to be vetted. you have to agree to have the wool pulled back and look in all your closets to make sure everything is all right. i have heard when then candidate biden was going through this process, he never wanted this to reflect poorly on anyone who was not picked. and it's my understanding the vice president feels the same way. so the idea that governor walz was picked and someone else wasn't because there was something wrong with the other candidates, the focus should be

on for democratic strategists out there should be on the pick of the vice president did make because at the end of the day, it's her decision. it's what she's comfortable and what she sees this vision for her administration, if she's to be elected. sglz true, when someone picks a candidate, it says a lot about who they are and what kind of president they will be. there is a very strong statement on who you choose and who you don't choose, i guess. but yamiche, we just showed a map a second ago about how this campaign now goes into hyperdrive. there's a lot of territory to cover starting today. >> reporter: there's the battleground states, which is why you saw this plan to have a seven-state tour, which is the

seven states they are really focusing on. i have been told that georgia and north carolina are states that they still very much want to be playing in, want to be upping their numbers in, wanting to be focusing on southern african american voters, but as you show t there's going to be other states they are going to. part of this is really just spreading the message that this is a democratic party that's wanting to welcome not just east coasters or west coasters, but the middle of the country. i was just looking at what my sources were telling me about tim walz. they were reporting out not just the fact he was from minnesota, but his actual background on policy. the fact that he was someone who was leading the nation when it came to doing things like paid family leave in the state, gun safety and codifying roe v. wade, access to abortion in the state. he was leading on the tax credit. keith ellison said the school lunches for children is something he instituted in minnesota. what you're going to hear from this campaign is both they are going to go after the

republicans. that's going to happen. we're going to hear the prosecutor vs. the criminal over and over again. we're going to hear that. but we're going to hear that tim walz and vice president harris have a different vision for america. it's a vision that's all inclusive of those seven states. it's also going to be a vision this is focusing on sort of policy and making people's lives better. one of the sources i talked to as soon as vice president harris was called to the top of the ticket told me this is going to be the kind of campaign that's going to be making people really think about their lives and their everyday ways and how that could be impacted if she were to become president. they are going to point out the economy is going well for some people, but they are going to point out this economy isn't doing well for a lot of other people when it comes to wages, affordable housing and even crime. they are going to be talking about we want to make sure everywhere is safe. those are the things they are going to be leaning into. they are going to be going to those states over and over and over again. >> and i'm just as we wrap up

this segment, looking over what the former president obama and michelle obama put out, that first sentence when a presidential candidate chooses a running mate, it says a lot about who they are and what kind of president they will be. it reminds me of that spanish saying. tell me who you are with and i'll tell you who you are. interesting. thank you all very much. please stay with us. up next, who is governor tim walz? we'll talk with some folk who is know him and dig into what he brings to the ticket. plus how the trump campaign is already reacting to walz as the pick while still trying to define vice president harris. we're back in 90 seconds. you're watching "jose diaz-balart reports." ing "jose diaz-balart reports. itchy pet? (♪♪) with chewy, save 20% on your first pharmacy order so you can put an end to the itch.

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we are starting to hear from voters about vice president harris' decision to pick tim walz as her running mate. mara barrett is back with us. good morning again. what's been the reaction from people there so far? >> reporter: you saw the excitement as the governor's string of suvs left a few minutes ago. we heard honking and cheers, people gathering all morning, biking in, i just met don.

he brought his unique transportation because he had to come and see what it was all about. tell me what was your reaction when you heard that the governor was the vp pick? >> my gosh, this morning when i turned on the news, it was startling. i know he was a finalist, but hearing it firsthand was really a surprise. a welcome surprise. very happy and very proud to be a minnesota right now. >> you said you typically vote for the democratic ticket. how are you feeling about what the ticket looks like now just 90 days out from the election? >> i think with walz coming into the ticket with his small town background, his partisan -- being able to reach across the aisle is terrific. and he was a teacher. he is a teacher. and served in the military. so he's checking a lot of boxes. i think everyone will see him as a welcome vp and hopefully that will help propel the ticket.

>> you think that will land well? >> it really will. >> is there anything about him? the rest of the country doesn't know him. >> i heard something this morning that he's a hands-on guy. the first time that harris met him, he was wearing a baseball cap or a t-shirt. he was the kind of guy if i had a breakdown, he would stop and help me fix it because he's very hands on. there was a story about that this morning, which hit home to me. but i think he's going to land well with a lot of midwestern and a lot of rural people too. because that's his background. if. >> thank you for giving us your thoughts. it was nice to heat you. >> reporter: that's a lot lot of the same sentimental we're hearing from other voter here's in minneapolis that spent the last week or so talking to folks. that point about being able to appeal the midwest voters is something that the harris

campaign has noted that was why walz stayed on their list. walz has a history of being able to balance between democrats and republicans coming from a rural area of minnesota himself. strategists point out that could be a good foil going up directly against trump's vp pick. that's something we're eager to see. all eyes coming from minnesota as they are excited to spend send their governor off acrosses country. >> thank you. thank the gentleman that was with you. very eloquent, very interesting. i didn't get a good idea of what his transportation was, but it's very eloquent and i thank you. >> reporter: interesting bike pod situation, i would say. it looks like your laser in front of you when you pedal. he has a great design. very efficient. >> thank you so much. we're also on the other part of your screen we're seeing live pictures out of st. paul, minnesota. actually, that's the airport there. we see people already getting on

that plane where those three automobiles, the suvs we saw leaving from the governor's house are now parked. clearly people are getting on that plane probably heading to pennsylvania for that event just later today. meanwhile, new reaction is pouring in, and we got this from senator mansion. it says, today u.s. senator mansion released the following. tim walz will bring normality back to the most chaotic political environment we have ever seen. i can think of no one better than governor walz to help bring our country closer together and bring balance back to the democratic party. governor walz is the real deal. i look forward to continuing to work with him to bring normalcy back to washington.

joining us at this moment is steve kornacki. good morning. so if you would break down for us the governor's background and what do we know about him? what impact does he bring to this race? >> i think that background small town background, the military background, democrats are hoping it's going it help him. as we look at our battleground map, they are hoping it's going to help in the three familiar battleground stauts. we talk about pennsylvania, michigan and wisconsin. and the reason why obviously you know from the electoral college standpoint why these are important, but the challenge for these democrats has been pretty straight forward for a long time now. democrats have been cleaning up, increasingly so in the suburbs of philadelphia, suburbs of pittsburgh, suburbs of droilt, suburbs of grand rapids. used to be hard core republican, much less so in the trump era. so democrats have been doing

well in the suburbs. where they need help and why these states have been so close and why trump won all three in 2016 is the sort of small town rural core of each of these states. that's where trump has been surging since 2016. that's where the democrats have been losing ground. the democrats used to do pretty well in a lot of these places. no more. the hope is that for democrats is that walz's background, his story will be familiar to voters in those places and will help them in those states. here's where it gets complicated. minnesota is very similar to these three states. it's not so much a battleground state because the demographics, there's more of that college-educated, suburban population that's so heavily democratic around the twin city, but the basic dynamic is pretty similar to these three states. let's take a look here at how tim walz did. this is the 2020 governor's race in minnesota. he was reelected. you can see an 8-point margin.

the key when you look at minnesota and look for those areas i'm describing where the democrats have been losing ground in wisconsin and michigan and pa, those areas comparably would be what they call greater minnesota. it's almost the entire state gee gravically except this core area around the twin cities. a ton of population. the majority of the population, but everything else around here is greater minnesota and that's vr similar turf to the other three states. and how did walz do? we see a ton of red, but this is the key. we'll show you one county here. this could be a stand in for many. this is in greater minnesota. this is similar to a lot of the terrain you see in wisconsin, michigan, pennsylvania. walz lost this by 23 points. how does that compare to joe biden in 2020? joe biden lost the same county by 23 points. how does that compare to hillary clinton in 2016? she lost by 28 points.

now here's the key. this county democrats used to be much more competitive in. in 2012, barack obama won 43% of the vote in this county. it was 10 points he lost to romney by here. the floor fell out for democrats here when trump came along in 2016. and they haven't recovered it since. that walz performance here, that's a little less than biden's number, it's more than clinton's and a far cry from what obama was doing here. i'm showing you one. this is a stand in for dozens of counies in minnesota where you saw the same thing. with large rural populations, blue-collar white populations, where obama, some of winning, this is where democrats have lost ground. and walz in 2022, he didn't gain any ground that the democrats had lost. walz really owes his victory, that margin he got 8 points

statewide, he owe it is to the twin cities area. the area where democrats in minnesota and all these other states are already doing well. it's sort of the standard democratic victory model. it good walz in 2022. this is the biggest county in the state. this is where minneapolis is. it's huge. that's right in line with what joe biden did in 2020 when he won minnesota. and again, just wind the clock back here. 12 years ago, this was still a blue county, but less blue. it's the suburban areas, the metropolitan areas that have gotten much more blue and walz performed just like biden did. better than clinton did. and then in the rest of greater minnesota, small town minnesota, where the democrats have been losing ground, walz performed basically just like biden did as well. so look at his electoral history in 2022. the idea that he's got this

automatic appeal with small-town areas in three key battleground states, you don't see it in what he did on the ballot in 202. that doesn't mean it can't happen. see how this story once it gets told. does it resinate with voters? it could. you have no idea of knowing when these things start. what we can look at here is what he's actually done as a candidate in minnesota. honestly, when you look at walz' victory, it looks like booiden in 2020. not a different coalition. >> interesting. i don't know if we have that information offhand, but when he was a member of the house, he certainly had won a very cordial and how easy it was to think of bipartisanship with walz. that district is just one small

snapshot of the entire state. >> he was elected to congress and served there 2006 to 2018. what we were just showing you about the huge turning point in modern times in a state line minnesota in terms of the demographic balance in the state and all these other states, the turning point really is 2016. when donald trump comes along, you see these counties. we just showed you where obama and other democrats could be competitive, could lose by 10 points, even win in some cases, trump comes along and these counties suddenly go republican by 30, 35 points. that's the story of what walz' old congressional district, southern minnesota, it's one of those districts that really move dramatically in the republican, in the trump direction starting in 2016. so walz was performing very well

in that district in 2006, 10, '12, 2014. that was sort of back in the era when democrats could win those votes. in 2016, walz did get reelected, but mind you, that was when trump came on the scene. trump almost won minnesota in 2016. a huge surprise. and that actually resulted in walz getting a big scare in his district in 2016. so the politics in minnesota shifted. the demographics shifted. they have done that in the other states. and again, what walz has been doing since then, what the democrats leaning on the metro areas, leaning on the urban areas, and taking a bath in the rural and small town areas. >> steve kornacki, a man who knows everything about every political detail. thank you. we're going to go right now, i understand that the republican vice presidential candidate on the ticket jd vance is speaking. let's go to that right now.

>> the big news of the day is that tim walz has been nominated as the vp or is now the presumptivive nominee for kamala harris. my view is it just highlights how radical kamala harris is. this is a person who listened to the hamas wing of her own party in selecting a nominee. this is the guy who proposed shipping more manufacturing jobs to china. he wants to make the american people more reliant on energy. and his proposed defunding the police just as kamala harris does. i think it's interesting. they make an interesting tag team because tim walz allowed rioters to burn down minneapolis in the summer of 2020. then the few who got caught, kamala harris helped bail them out of jail. it's more instructive for what it says about kamala harris that she doesn't care about the border. she doesn't care about the americans who have been made to suffer under those policies. i'll take a couple questions and then hit the road and go to this press conference.

>> it's not what i believe. it's what the democratic leadership has said. many people said repeatedly that the reason kamala harris was going away from the josh schapiro selection is they were worried about anti-semitism. they were worried about some of the leaders and the grass roots activist and their party wouldn't take a jewish nominee. that's right out of the words of many members of the democratic leadership. now we have tim walz, but most importantly, we have kamala harris, her policies have been a disaster. they remain so. >> you guys have reached out to them? >> on the way to the flight in cincinnati, i called tim walz. i left a voice mail. i just said, congratulations, look forward to our conversation and enjoy the ride. maybe he'll call me back. maybe he won't.

>> governor and vice president harris are expected to go to battleground state oefrs the next couple days. former president trump will be friday in montana. is that a missed opportunity? >> i'm making a number of public appearances over the next few days to drive home the fact that kamala harris' policies have been such a failure. i know the president is busy over the next few days. you have to get out there and speak to people and speak to reporters. a final thing we have to do is raise the resources. the president is busy doing that. so we're taking a divide and conquer strategy to this campaign. sometimes we do events together, but we're going to use the fact that we have to people that can get out there and prosecute a message. we're going to hit the road. but one final observation. i know most of you, i like all of you as people. i think that you guys have got to do a better job at forcing kamala harris to answer questions. this is a person who has been a presumptivive nominee for 16 days. she hasn't taken a single real question from a reporter.

the american people deserve to get to know the people who want to lead them. i think it's shameful for kamala harris but increasingly for the media that she's taking a basement strategy of running from reporters instead of getting in front of them and answering tough questions and letting the american people know who she is. president trump and i take hostile questions. we get out there and talk to people because we respect the american people enough to persuade them and not to try to run from them. so i think you have to do a better job. that's my humble opinion. >> thank you. >> that is the message from the trump campaign in the words of former president trump's ticket. the person he has chosen to be on the ticket with him. clearly, jd vance, on an airplane there. i want to just, if i could, and this is just coming over on x. president biden has talked about

that. i had it here. let me look it up. it's something that he just put out on x. it says the first major decision a party nominee makes is their choice for vice president. and kamala harris has made a great decision in choosing tim walz to be her running mate. i have known him for two decades. first in congress and then as governor. he's been a schoolteacher and a high school football coach. he served for 24 years in the army national guard and became the highest ranking soldier to serve in congress. he's been a strong, principled and effective leader. the ticket will be a powerful voice for working people in america's great middle class. they will be the strongest defenders of our personal freedoms and our democracy. they will ensure that america couldn'ts to lead the world and play its role the as the indispensable nation. it's time for all democrats and all americans committed to freedom, democracy and american leadership in the world to rally behind the harris/walz ticket. every generation of americans faces a moment where they are

asked to defend american democracy. that moment is now. then there's a second thread. chip in to help the campaign. i understand that there's already the merchandise. it's out. it's on sale already. you see the harris/walz page with the signs, t-shirts and hats and the stickers. joining us now is white house correspondent monica alba. have you learned about how governor walz found out that he was, indeed, the vice president's choice? sgrr we're getting a little bit more information about how that all went this morning. we can tell you, as you saw there and played in your hour, that governor walz was at his home. he was there with his immediate family. he was also there with some of his other extended relatives, and they were having what was more considered to be a normal

family morning. they had donuts on hand for staff who were also accompanying him. then they were able to all celebrate together, i'm told, after he did get that call from vice president harris, where he did accept quite quickly that offer of being the vice president the the nominee on this democratic ticket. and he's still the governor of minnesota, so he then also had to hop on a staff call with those colleagues of his and the governor's office. i'm told that he thanked them all for their hard work, but they also needed to stay on the mission of delivering for the people of minnesota and that that would be a juggling act for him as he runs this campaign, but stays as the governor of minnesota as they figure all of that out in this process as really everything is about to change for him. that mini motorcade leaving the driveway goes into a new

existence for him and his family that will be, as we would expect, as we have seen with jd advance, who you were just showing there, getting secret service protection and all the things that shift with you become a vopt the nominee or somebody of this stature in an election cycle. but i also just want to say given what you just read from president biden and talking to folks here at the white house this morning, it's very notable that actually governor walz was one of the key democratic governors who decided to speak out and defend president biden in that photo you see right there, that was after a meeting that president biden had with democratic governors after his disastrous debate performance where he was trying to convince them he was still in there and he was committed to stating in the reelection fight. you may remember that was a meeting where according to some of the people in the room, the president even admitted that he

should probably not have events that are scheduled so late into the evening and they discussed maybe other measures that he would take to adjust his schedule given that poor debate performance. it was governor walz who came out afterwards with governor moore and hochul, who you see there, to praise the president's leadership. that's not something that was lost on white house aids and on senior advisers in that moment. today they are pointing to that as well. they really feel he was somebody who respected president biden's decision at the time to stay in the race and then when he also abandoned his candidacy and passed the torch, in effect, to vice president harris who made the call to governor walz to join her on the ticket. >> monica alba at the white house, thank you so much. also joining us this morning is nbc news correspondent vaughn hillyard. and back with us former congressman carlos. vaughn, we just heard from jd

vance. clearly, the trump campaign is already focusing in on what they call the governor of minnesota's record. what do you think they are looking at right now. there was such uncertainty as to who the vice president would pick. what does this message tell the trump team? >> this pick comes 91 days away from election day here. and tim walz is largely an unknown commodity to the american electorate. this is where jd vance, he was announced at the republican national convention, right before he was about to take the national stage and able to introduce through his own biography on prime time television who he was. this is a little bit different here. this is where you see trump allies trying to get out in front in framing for the american public who tim walz is. the trump campaign fundraising message that went out to supporters, quote, tim walz will

unleash hell on earth. the trump campaign is claiming that harris bent the knee to the radical left. there's a new video that the trump campaign put out, which ends with the words, failed, weak, dangerously liberal. another trump campaign adviser posting on x, quote, the squad is so happy. when you look at donald trump on his truth social account, just a few moments ago, he posted in all caps, quote, thank you! . a nod and a suggestion you heard from jd vance aboard that campaign plane there that at least this is what they are publicly saying that they feared that somebody like a josh schapiro or mark kelly could have had bigger ramifications and hurt the republican ticket here. kellyanne conway tweeted, i will wipe the floor with tim walz. that's some of the early

messaging from the trump side of the 90 days out. >> carlos, it's interesting. this thank you by the former president and all these other comments that the trump team is saying, in this case, the vice president took that into consideration in her choice. we're looking at kel ily, who comes from a state that he's an astronaut, hero, et cetera. what are some of the tactics -- and i guess, one of the benefits of these other candidates vis-a-vis governor walz? >> it's a risk assessment at first. you never want your vice presidential nominee to become a distraction, to become the story. so there's a risk assessment -- >> so the vance issue for the last couple weeks. >> that's right. jd vance has got too much attention and not for the right

reasons. then there's the question of trade offs. a lot of people thought schapiro would be the choice. pennsylvania is a critical state, whereas minnesota is a little more firmly in the democratic column. but schapiro could have divided the democratic base. there's the israel/palestine issue, which would have been complicated. the harris campaign wanted to avoid that distraction. there's the issue of corporate tax cuts in pennsylvania where schapiro has embraced corporate tax cuts. that might have hurt the messaging. so they decided at the end of the day there was too much risk with josh schapiro, even though he could have delivered pennsylvania. but in this case, tim walz's record, at least as governor, is more consistent with kamala harris. it is more liberal, even though congress he was a centrist, but he's governed more as a liberal in minnesota. and he's just more of a vanilla pick. it's not going to be a distraction.

it restores the balance to the ticket that they believe helped them win in 2020. a progressive to appeal to the base, and then a more centrist type who can appeal the to suburban voters and maybe even to rural voters. a lot of people don't realize tim walz's district in congress was really a rural district, which is rare for a democrat these days. >> interesting. vaughn, i'm thinking about the issues that will be brought up, no doubt, the issue of immigration. there's such a contrast between the concepts, visions, understanding of what even immigration is between the democrats and the republicans. in this case, what do you think the messaging is going to be on this specific issue of im grags? >> i immigration? >> what's different is he served 12 years in congress. he was there for the multiple immigration reform efforts, including back in 2013, up on capitol hill in washington, d.c. jd vance helped and was aggressively pushed to thwart

the border security measure that was shot down up on capitol hill in large the part at donald trump's urging earlier this year. so tim walz's experience is not limited to just his six years in the governor's office, but instead, he will be able to provide that contrast with kamala harris as to efforts that have been underway historically as opposed to the efforts that the trump administration, as well as now over the course of the last year, nominee trump have taken. that's where you were just mentioning it. mark kelly would have been an interesting pick. him and kamala harris would have both been border state representatives. instead, he's going with somebody from the midwest, who this is going to be an opening line of inquiry we should expect to see in the vp, but also in the final three months. >> thank you both so much. up next, more of our breaking coverage now that kamala harris announced her running mate tim

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reporters have brought it up, but just that the governor has a very vast experience in different areas. he was a teacher, a geography teacher before he got into politics. he is a national guard veteran, served in congress, with divided government here in minnesota as governor, but also with dfl control. in the last two years, they have been able to get a number of progressive priorities across

the finish line, ranging from free school meals, legalizing marijuana, protecting access to abortion and gender affirming care and creating paid family and medical leave benefits. obviously, that's propelled him to the national stage. now he is the vp pick. sort of more at a personal level, he likes to use puns and one liners, especially when he is poking fun at political rivals. he loves diet mountain dew. you will probably hear that a lot. other than that, yeah, just a quirky guy. >> dana ferguson, thank you very much. appreciate it. joining us now, ken martin, chair of the minnesota farmer democratic party. thank you for being with us. what do you think the governor's impact has been on minnesota? >> it's been tremendous. you just heard dana say a little bit of the tip of the iceberg of

things he accomplished as governor. what was remarkable is a long list, is that it was done with a one-seat majority in the legislature. the ethos being that as a governor said after he won, he sat down with myself, our legislative leaders and he said, we have to make sure that we use the power we have when we have it to make the biggest difference we can for as many people as we can. that's what they did. it's a long list of legislative accomplishments that were accomplished. thanks to the governor's leadership. it wasn't a small feat. we have had divided government in minnesota for a long time. the fact that we were able to push as hard as we were and get so much done for minnesotans is a testament to governor walz's leadership. paul wellstone used to say we do better when we all do better. that's something that permeates his ethos, which is build for one minnesota. how do we unify around an agenda

that will improve working farmlies' lives wherever you live? that's what he brings to the ticket. >> how progressive of a leader has he been? how effective has he been as a progressive governor? >> look, you can try to put any label you want on the governor. the reality is, he passed legislation that's made a difference in people's lives. he brought down childcare costs. he passed a bill to make free school meals, largest paid family medical leave. he codified reproductive rights in our state. made the largest investment in our k-12 education system. these are laws now that will improve families' lives and children's lives in the state. if that's progressive, so be it. as the governor said, progress is important. moving forward and making sure we are using power to make a difference is at the heart of

why he serves. i've known the governor over 20 years. i watched his career. he has a great record of success, to be able to tell to the american people. you couple that with what vice president harris and president biden have done for america the last 3 1/2 years, you have two public servants in kamala harris and tim walz who delivered for both the state and for the american people. you contrast that with donald trump and j.d. who have done nothing of any note while served in office, whether donald trump during his first term as president and now with j.d. vance, there's no legislation they can point to that made a difference in the lives of americans. >> ken, i can't thank you enough for being with us. appreciate your time. >> thank you. with the democratic ticket solidified, how are people in battleground states reacting? joining us is shaquille brewster

in detroit, michigan. >> reporter: it's primary day here in michigan. i've been able to talk to voters who are participating in the senate and house primaries as they have been coming out about this news and hearing how they have been reacting. many said they wanted their hometown favorite, governor whitmer to be on the ticket, a lot are giving deference for vice president harris, saying that she had good options that she got to choose from. they trust her judgment with this decision. listen to a sample of the conversations. >> i like that he has a military background. i like he is a midwesterner. i think that particularly in contrast to the republican candidates, the republican vp candidate, who is also midwestern, tim walz seems like he embodied midwestern values. >> reporter: that was a congresswoman as she was coming

in and talking to voters before they came in and participated in this primary. some of the voters that i have been talking to, they say -- they keep connecting him -- governor walz to his union support, saying that they believe he is a strong supporter of unions. say that's a reason why they view vice president harris -- democratic voters -- as a stronger candidate with this selection. he got the endorsement of kennedy, who is on the ballot here in michigan. >> thank you very much. that wraps up the hour for me. i'm jose diaz-balart. thank you for the privilege of your time. andrea mitchell picks up with our breaking news right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," breaking news. it's walz. vice president kamala harris picks tim walz to take on former president trump and j.d. vance in november. the new democratic ticket kicking their campaign off in battleground pennsylvania today. the first stop in a