Election 2024 live news: Obama endorses Walz after Harris picks Minnesota Governor as vice president

Harris announced on Tuesday that she had chosen Walz – the man who coined the now-infamous “weird” moniker for their Republican rivals – to join her on the Democratic ticket to take on Trump and JD Vance in the November election.

The announcement soon provoked an unhinged reaction from the former president whose campaign fired off a fundraising email warning that “Tim Walz would be the worst VP in history!”

A new poll of 1,613 adults conducted between August 1-4 found that most Americans haven’t heard of Tim Walz.

The NPR/PBS/Marist poll released on Tuesday, prior to the announcement that Vice President Kamala Harris had selected the Minnesota governor as her running mate, found that 71 per cent of Americans have either never heard of him or have no opinion of him.

Among those who have heard of him 17 per cent view him favorably and 12 per cent view him unfavorably.

The other two main contenders to be Harris’s running mate — Senator Mark Kelly and Governor Josh Shapiro — were slightly better known.

Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, released the following statement:

“By choosing Gov. Walz as her running mate, Vice President Harris has put forward the most pro-reproductive freedom ticket in history. Gov. Walz is a longtime champion of sexual and reproductive health care and has been a fierce abortion rights champion as governor, helping to protect abortion rights in Minnesota.

“The stakes of this election could not be higher, the contrast between the two tickets could not be clearer, and the state of sexual and reproductive health care in this country could not be more dire. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are the only people we can trust to ensure that everyone has the freedom to make decisions about their own bodies. Planned Parenthood Action Fund is committed to doing all we can to make sure these reproductive rights champions are elected in November.”

Independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr says that the choice of Tim Walz as Kamala Harris’s running mate sharpens the political divide in America.

He wrote on X: “America’s political divide sharpens with the pick of Tim Walz for Dem VP. He called Trump supporters “fascist” and “weird,” and they in turn are calling him worse than that. The need for an independent President who stands outside the divide and can unify the country is more compelling than ever.”

“JD Vance looks like a composite of every guy that’s called you a bitch on Bumble,” former Saturday Night Live star Cecil Strong said on a “Comics for Kamala” Zoom fundraiser, which also featured Ben Stiller, Kathy Griffin, John Stamos, Nick Offerman and Ed Helms and raised more than $530,000.

Trump’s running mate, Strong continued, “is confusing because his rhetoric wants us to panic about immigrants, but his eyeliner wants us to panic at the disco.

“JD Vance has been such a mistake Trump keeps calling him Eric.”

She also went after Trump himself over the bandage he sported on his right ear at the Republican National Convention.

“Trump wearing a maxi pad on his ear is the most support he has shown for women’s reproductive health,” she joked.

“There is speculation that Trump is unhappy with Vance and is thinking about getting rid of him. But he better hurry because it’s been six weeks.”

California Congressman Eric Swalwell also enjoyed himself on the call at Vance’s expense, commenting: “JD Vance has some very strange and upsetting positions, honestly… Just ask his couch.”

Emilie Simons, White House senior deputy press secretary, says that President Joe Biden spoke with both Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz this morning.

“This morning, the President and Vice President spoke on the phone ahead of her official announcement that she selected Governor Tim Walz as her Vice Presidential nominee. The President also spoke with Governor Walz to congratulate him on his selection.”