Trump Attacks Walz as ‘West Coast Wannabe’; Vance Claims VP Choice Was Rooted in ‘Antisemitism’

Republicans are attacking Vice President Harris’s choice of running mate, Governor Walz, with President Trump’s campaign calling him a “West Coast wannabe” and Senator Vance claiming the pick was made out of “antisemitism.”Ms. Harris announced her choice Tuesday morning, and in response Republicans immediately attacked Mr. Walz, with Trump’s campaign, in a statement, calling the governor a “West Coast wannabe,” adding that he “spent his governorship trying to reshape Minnesota in the image of the Golden State.”“If Walz won’t tell voters the truth, we will: just like Kamala Harris, Tim Walz is a dangerously liberal extremist, and the Harris-Walz California dream is every American’s nightmare,” the Trump campaign said.Mr. Vance, Trump’s running mate, also commented on the choice, claiming in conversation with a conservative radio host, Hew Hewitt, that “antisemitism” was behind the selection of Mr. Walz.“I think that they will have not picked Shapiro, frankly, out of antisemitism in their own caucus and in their own party,” Mr. Vance said. “I think it’s disgraceful that the Democrats have gotten to this point where it’s even an open conversation, and it is an open conversation.” In recent weeks, Mr. Walz rose as a dark horse candidate, edging out Governor Shapiro for the nod despite Mr. Shapiro’s apparent popularity in Pennsylvania, a critical swing state. Mr. Walz enjoyed support from across the Democratic coalition, including from leadership figures like President Biden, who said the governor was a “blast,” and Speaker Pelosi, who signaled that Mr. Walz would be her preferred candidate.In a statement Tuesday, Mr. Shapiro also endorsed Mr. Walz, saying, “I know that Governor Tim Walz is an exceptionally strong addition to the ticket who will help Kamala move our country forward.”At the same time, Mr. Shapiro faced opposition from others within the Democratic Party, like Senator Fetterman, one of the most vocal supporters of Israel in the Senate.According to Politico, Mr. Fetterman cited concerns he had about Mr. Shapiro, dating back to disagreements between the two when they served together in state government. According to the report, Mr. Fetterman’s advisers told Ms. Harris’s team that Mr. Shapiro was overly focused on his own personal ambitions.In recent weeks, Mr. Shapiro had garnered criticism for a college op-ed in which he wrote that Palestinians were “too battle-minded” and that “peace between Arabs and Israelis is virtually impossible and will never come,” among other comments he made concerning Israel and Palestine. A spokesman for Mr. Shapiro’s office, Manual Bonder, said in a statement to the Philadelphia Inquirer that he now supports a two-state solution.Mr. Shapiro had also been dogged by his past as attorney general, specifically the case of the death of a Manayunk resident, Ellen Greenberg.Ms. Greenberg was found dead in 2011 with 20 stab wounds. Although it was initially ruled a homicide, the city switched the ruling to a suicide and, in 2019, Mr. Shapiro stood by the ruling and continued to do so through 2022 until critics asserted that he had connections to the family of Greenberg’s fiancé. Mr. Shapiro himself has never publicly commented on the issue and has recused himself from the case, which is under review.That Mr. Shapiro settled a sexual harassment complaint against a Republican staffer he hired as an advisor, Mike Vereb, also drew criticism in the press and from organizations like the National Women’s Defense League.Mr. Shapiro had staked out positions that placed him outside the mainstream of the Democratic Party, with his support for school vouchers drawing criticism from within the party. Aside from Mr. Vance, other Republicans have also claimed that the choice to pick Mr. Walz over Mr. Shapiro was rooted in antisemitism, saying that “at the end of the day, Shapiro being Jewish disqualified him.”Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat, also said in recent days that she thought Mr. Shapiro was being unfairly scrutinized.“It has been very noticeable that of all of the people that she is carefully considering, that the only Jewish candidate is getting excruciating, very specific scrutiny, particularly around his positions on Israel,” Ms. Wasserman Schultz said.Senator Schumer, the highest-ranking elected Jewish official, also weighed in on the topic, responding to a social media post by a conservative talk radio host, Eric Ericson.Mr. Ericson stated, “No Jews allowed at the top of the Democratic Party,” to which Mr. Schumer replied, “News to me.”In a statement, a pro-Democratic organization, the Jewish Democratic Council of America, endorsed the new ticket, saying, “Governor Walz has stood with the Jewish community on every key issue and supported Israel at every point while in public office, and the same cannot be said of JD Vance.”For her part, Ms. Harris reportedly told staff that she chose Mr. Walz because of his support for family-oriented policies like the child tax credit and paid leave, according to the New York Times. The director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, Larry Sabato, described the dynamic in the choice between Messrs. Walz and Shapiro in a post, writing, “Gov. Josh Shapiro could have brought a bigger payoff (19 Electoral Votes) but Gov. Tim Walz fills the age-old bill for VP nominees: First, do no harm.”The associate editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, Miles Coleman, tells the Sun that though Mr. Walz is not from a swing state, “he does bring a degree of Midwestern ‘street credit’ to the ticket, which could be useful in some other critical states in the area.”“In addition to his executive experience, Walz, unlike some of the other governors who were in contention, has experience in Congress, which could be useful in a Harris administration,” Mr. Coleman says. “At the end of the day, Harris, if she wins, is going to have to spend at least 4 years with whoever she picked. She could have just been most in sync with Walz on a personal level.”Mr. Coleman noted that if Ms. Harris loses Pennsylvania, “the post-election finger pointing is going to be intense,” adding, “It would be hard to see her winning the election overall without PA.”Mr. Walz, as a politician, represented a rural Minnesota House district for 12 years in Congress, winning re-election in Minnesota’s First in 2016 with 51 percent of the vote. The Democratic nominee that year, Hillary Clinton, received 38 percent of the vote in the district in 2016.Mr. Walz was elected as Minnesota’s governor in 2018, defeating his Republican opponent, Jeff Johnson, by about 12 points. He was re-elected in 2022, winning by about 7 points.Before entering politics, Mr. Walz served in the National Guard and as a public school teacher and a football coach. As a coach, he led the Mankato West High School team to a state championship in 1999.

Trump Attacks Walz as ‘West Coast Wannabe’; Vance Claims VP Choice Was Rooted in ‘Antisemitism’

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