Editor’s note: This story was published on Friday. Over the weekend, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz canceled his trip to New Hampshire. Vice President Kamala Harris spent the weekend interviewing potential running mates. Walz is believed to be a contender.

 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who is considered one of the leading contenders to serve as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate on the Democratic Party’s national ticket, will be in New Hampshire this weekend

Walz is returning to the Granite State, the only general election battleground in New England, to headline a canvass launch in Manchester on Sunday, where the Harris campaign says the governor will team up with volunteers to “fire up key components of our coalition: teachers, labor leaders and young people.”

The stop in New Hampshire by Walz is his second this year. In April he headlined the McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club Dinner, which is one of the state Democratic Party’s top two annual fundraising galas.

Walz, along with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, are considered to be the front-runners in contention to serve as the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg are also considered to be leading running mate contenders. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Commerce Secy. Gina Riamondo, a former Rhode Island governor, are also thought to be on the larger list of candidates being considered by the vice president.

Harris is expected to make her announcement in the coming days. Her campaign has said the vice president and her announced running mate on Tuesday will be in Philadelphia to launch a swing through the seven crucial battleground states – Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada – that will likely determine the outcome of the 2024 election matchup against GOP nominee and former President Donald Trump.

The 60-year-old Walz, a former congressman, is in his second term as governor of Minnesota, a state that Democrats have reliably won in presidential elections for decades but that the Trump campaign has aimed at flipping this cycle

Having the plainspoken Walz – a former high school teacher and coach who served for over two decades in the National Guard – on the national ticket would not only help Harris in Minnesota, it would also benefit the vice president in the two neighboring Midwestern battlegrounds of Wisconsin and Michigan.

Walz, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association, might also benefit Harris when it comes to bringing in campaign cash, as he has helped steer the DGA to record-breaking fundraising this year.

The governor would also be able to showcase a slew of progressive policy victories in Minnesota, including protecting abortion rights, legalizing recreational marijuana and restricting gun access to curb shootings.

The stop by Walz in New Hampshire comes two weeks after President Joe Biden’s blockbuster announcement that he was ending his 2024 re-election campaign against Trump.

Biden’s stunning news came amid mounting pressure from within the Democratic Party for him to drop out after a disastrous performance in late June in a presidential debate with Trump. The 81-year-old Biden’s halting and stumbling delivery fueled questions about his physical and mental abilities to serve another four years in the White House.

But Biden’s immediate backing of Harris ignited a surge of endorsements for the vice president by Democratic governors, senators, House members and other party leaders. Within 36 hours, Harris announced that she had locked up her party’s nomination by landing the verbal backing of a majority of the nearly 4,000 convention delegates. She also hauled over $200 million – a staggering fundraising figure – in the first week after Biden suspended his bid.

On Friday, Harris officially clinched the nomination during a Democratic National Committee virtual roll call, as she secured the votes of a majority of delegates who will be attending the party’s national convention, which kicks off on Aug. 19 in Chicago.

The trip by Walz, who was a top surrogate for the Biden campaign and has continued that role with the Harris campaign, follows a stop earlier this week by another top surrogate – Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff. The vice president’s husband headlined a reproductive rights rally in Concord that drew some 300 people.

Last week Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont separately made trips to New Hampshire to campaign on behalf of Harris and down-ballot Democrats.