It’s Walz – Let’s Take the Minnesota Miracle national!

We are beyond thrilled that Vice President Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her Vice Presidential running mate. We were prepared to work hard to support whoever she chose — but I have to say that we are exceptionally excited about the choice to elevate Tim Walz. It was an inspiring move that says wonderful things about Harris’ good judgment and bold leadership. And it fills me with pride to say that we are especially proud of the role that MVP’s Minnesota partners played in elevating him. 

Some backstory: As recently as ten days ago, few people outside of Minnesota had heard of Tim Walz. Ten days ago, he wasn’t even showing up on most of the Veepstakes lists.

But MVP’s amazing Minnesota partners knew Tim Walz. They have partnered closely with him to pass the most incredible package of legislation of any state in the country in living memory. So a few days after we got the amazing Biden Kamala news, a handful of Minnesota organizers and I started scheming about what we could do to help elevate Walz in the Veepstakes. In our personal capacities, we wrote a memo called The Case for Tim Walz for Vice President and circulated it among Democratic opinion leaders, just as we had with MVP’s Pass the Baton memo.

As you will see in the Walz VP memo, what he and our partners in Minnesota have accomplished is simply unparalleled. If you really want to nerd out, watch this incredible video from our partner Doran Schrantz, advisor to Faith in Minnesota PAC, who tells the fascinating decade-plus backstory of how MVP’s Minnesota partners worked with Walz to create the Minnesota Miracle. It is perhaps the most eloquent illustration of MVP’s theory of change manifest at the state level.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could take the Minnesota model national? Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could work with President Harris, VP Walz, a Democratic Congress, and a well-funded grassroots movement to replicate the success of the Minnesota Miracle in many more states and across the country? What if other states were competing with Minnesota to be the best place to raise a family?

This is the stuff I get really excited about. 

But the real test of these decisions will come in November. Will we win the freaking election?  Will we win a trifecta with a mandate to govern – like we did in Minnesota in 2022? 

This is the big question yet to be answered.

Thank you for being on this journey with us. Thank you for believing in our audacious (and sometimes counterintuitive) strategies. The future is not written. It is made by people willing to take big risks together to create a better future — and that is what we are doing at MVP.

For the next 90 days, we must do everything in our power to secure democratic governance. After that, we will celebrate, evaluate 2024, and dream together about how to make the 2020s a progressive decade. 

But first, let’s focus on winning.

With Harris and Walz, we can finally get the entire 2020 coalition back together and expand on our success. We have wind in our sails. We have pep in our step. We can organize, move money to the frontlines, and fund the greatest voter turnout in American history.

THANK YOU for being there with us every step of the way!

Let’s GO!

— Billy Wimsatt, Executive Director

(on behalf of the audacious MVP team!)