New book sheds light on Harris decision to pick Walz as her running mate over Shapiro: 'Went with her gut'

A new book on the end of Joe Biden s presidential campaign and the birth of Kamala Harris' sheds light on the process behind the vice president choosing Minnesota Gov Tim Walz as her running mate a decision widely panned by pundits in retrospect How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America issued Tuesday by journalists Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal Tyler Pager of The New York Times and Isaac Arnsdor of The Washington Post described a vetting process that came down to three finalists Walz Pennsylvania Gov Josh Shapiro and Arizona Sen Mark Kelly All three candidates did a final interview with Harris at her residence the book explains adding that when demanded what they sought to drink Shapiro and Kelly chose water while Walz chose Diet Mountain Dew Appeal with rural voters was a top priority for the Harris ticket and the book states that Harris s advisors felt that Walz was the best candidate to do that TIKTOKER KNOCKS HARRIS' 'WEIRD' TAKE ON NEVER ISSUED INTERVIEW 'NOT GOOD' Pelosi privately pushed for him too because she d worked with him in Congress the book stated about the former House speaker The pitch for Walz was straightforward He could appeal to white voters across the Blue Wall states Wisconsin Michigan and Pennsylvania and hopefully help Harris with male voters He d never lost electoral process While preponderance political experts felt Shapiro governor of a key swing state was the majority logical choice the book states that the interview with Harris and Shapiro revealed the two were not a perfect match He came across as overly ambitious pushing Harris to define what his role would be He also conceded it would not be natural for him to serve as someone s number two leaving Harris with a bad impression the book states Conversely the authors explain that Walz was deferential while showing no interest in himself and flatly denied any interest in running for president NANCY MACE BLASTS TIM WALZ AFTER HE FAILS TO DEFINE WHAT A WOMAN IS He went so far as to proactively volunteer reasons why she might not want to pick him the book says In his interview that Friday he revealed he had never used a teleprompter before On Sunday he advised Harris I would understand if you went with someone else because I m really nervous about the debate and I don t think I ll do well Still the vetting band did not fully appreciate his tendency to misspeak his folksiness sometimes tipping into factual imprecision Walz would ultimately draw intense scrutiny on the campaign trail for his folksiness with a series of blunders including his characterization of his military function and a claim he was present at the Tiananmen Square massacre The book says Harris struggled deciding between Shapiro and Walz believing that she had a better rapport with Walz but understood the importance of Pennsylvania Harris association according to the book reported her that polling did not offer a clear answer as to which of the two candidates would help the ticket more There was no empirical evidence that Shapiro would deliver Pennsylvania and with it the White House the book commented As Shapiro was being considered several pundits speculated that his staunch help of Israel could be an issue given the progressive wing of the Democratic Party being vocally pro-Palestinian resulting in protests sometimes violent across the country after Oct The book noted the Harris campaign was aware of that issue Much of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party declared war on Shapiro largely because of his help of Israel the book explained Selected Shapiro allies saw the criticism as deeply unfair and borderline antisemitic since the governor was an observant Jew but his positions on the Palestinian conflict broadly aligned with the Biden administration and the other vice presidential contenders The lawyers vetting Shapiro did flag several comments they viewed as more incendiary particularly as it related to pro- Palestinian protests on college campuses after the October attacks One that caught their attention was his commentary on CNN from April We have to query whether or not we would tolerate this if this were people dressed up in KKK outfits or KKK regalia making comments about people who are African American in our communities Ultimately the book says Harris went with her gut and chose Walz believing he was the better fit in a decision her staff was unanimously behind Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Walz and Shapiro for comment After losing every battleground state and ultimately the presidency to Donald Trump critics were quick to judge the Walz pick as a misstep by Harris The choice of Walz was only one of a large number of disastrous mistakes but symptomatic of one larger difficulty the Democratic Party leadership is too scared to say no to the hard-left progressive wing of the party Julian Epstein longtime Democratic operative and former chief counsel to the House Judiciary Committee described Fox News Digital shortly after the poll Rob Bluey president and executive editor of The Daily Signal described Fox News Digital in November that Harris picking Walz proved to be a disastrous decision that doomed Kamala Harris from the moment she made it Not only was Walz ill-prepared for the national spotlight and media scrutiny but Harris passed over several better options Bluey explained Given how little Americans knew about Harris or her protocol positions they were right to question her judgment on this big decision