A daily compendium of helpful reporting and commentary surrounding the pivotal 2024 elections in the United States. You won't find horse race coverage here, or the standard "both sides" BS that passes so often for political journalism. What you will find are links, with brief commentary, to work that I believe advances the conversation we must be having about America's – and the world's – future. Remember: Everything is at stake this year. (Unfortunately, some of the work I point to is behind paywalls.)
Special edition: Tim Walz
Harris introduces Walz
Here's the rally in Philadelphia where Harris introduced Walz. If you haven't already tuned in, have a listen.
Walz, 60, was born and raised in small-town Nebraska. He became a teacher, first in China, then in Nebraska and finally in Mankato, Minnesota, where he taught geography and coached the high school football team. He was the faculty adviser for the school’s first gay-straight alliance chapter in 1999, long before Democrats nationally stood for gay rights. He also served in the army national guard for 24 years, enlisting at age 17, a role that took him around the country and on a deployment to Europe. And like JD Vance, Walz has a penchant for Diet Mountain Dew.
In her first major executive decision as the Democratic standard bearer, Vice President Harris chose the remarkable Tim Walz as her running mate. He is an inspired – and inspiring – pick for the role. The "weird" meme-making, while clever, is the least of it. Walz has an extraordinarily powerful back story and record as a politician. He isn't perfect by any means (kowtowing to Uber and Lyft in their attack on employee rights was...problematic), but he is progressive in almost all of the right ways, and as others have said, he's the anthesis of the ever-morphing, evil-embracing Vance. There's no doubt that Big Journalism will pull out its knives and try to dismantle him, because that's what political journalists do in order to create drama and clicks. But on first look, he is the real deal.
It was a touchy moment for a Democratic governor to be speaking to a big crowd. (Walz is also chair of the Democratic Governors Association.) So his speech steered clear of talking about Democrats or Republicans at all. It was about Minnesota, and America, and the world, and about the role of these geographers’ skills in addressing shared human problems.
This Jim Fallows newsletter post, published late last month, has deep insights into a facet of Walz that will only now get wide attention: his passion for geography and explaining complicated things in ways we can all understand. The post links to a speech at an annual computer-mapping conference (one I, in my own geek mode, attended some years ago) in which the Minnesota governor connects a variety of themes in a way that helps you understand his depth of knowledge and character. The video is here:
Walz has been "aggressive" in fighting climate change at the state level. If he gets a chance to help solve our most existential problem at the federal level, he seems likely to go for it.
Walz has been a consistent advocate for expanded voting rights, says Democracy Docket. He signed legislation that ensures eligible voters in Minnesota will be able to cast ballots and have them counted.
The Marshall Project offers a roundup of how the VP nominee-to-be looks at criminal justice, including his advocacy for – and signing legislation beefing up – gun control.
Voting is just part of democracy, but it's the essential place to start. Make sure you're registered. Doublecheck in the fall, well before Election Day, because in some states Republican officials are removing people, mostly those who tend to vote for Democrats, from voting rolls.
Please send your suggestions
I spend a lot of time looking for essential coverage, and hope you'll help me by letting me know about the good stuff you find. Let me know.
Rachel Leingang
James Fallows
Courtney Cohn
Shannon Heffernan
Brian Bakst
