The 2024 presidential election is only a few days away, and no matter who wins, there will be plenty of firsts. If Harris wins, she would be the first female president, the first female president of color, the first president of Asian descent. Additionally, her husband, Doug Emhoff, would be the country’s first “first gentleman.” If Trump wins, he would be the first president to serve non-consecutive terms since Grover Cleavland in the late 1800s. He would also be the first president to regain office after having previously been impeached.
However, there is one aspect that is not a first in this election cycle: the presence of a vice presidential candidate from Minnesota on one of the major party tickets. Governor Tim Walz is seeking to become the third vice president from Minnesota, joining Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale, both of whom have been on a presidential ticket and won within the last 60 years.
Hubert Humphrey was the first Minnesotan to gain the vice presidency. Before joining the White House, Humphrey had a career in local politics as the mayor of Minneapolis from 1945 to 1948 and a U.S Senator representing Minnesota from 1949 to 1964, the year before he took vice presidential office. Humphrey played a key role in the 1960
s discussions about Civil Rights, advocating for comprehensive legislation to end segregation and discrimination towards African Americans. This, among other things, led Democratic nominee Lyndon B. Johnson to choose Humphrey as his running mate during the 1964 campaign. Johnson and Humphrey ultimately won in a landslide over Republican nominee Barry Goldwater of Arizona. The Johnson-Humphrey candidacy was pivotal in the passing of Civil Rights legislation that helped legally end the era of racial discrimination and segregation in the United States. Humphrey would later run for president himself after Johnson dropped out of the race in 1968, but he was defeated by Richard Nixon.
Eight years after Humphrey’s defeat, Walter Mondale became the second vice presidential nominee from Minnesota, as the running mate to Democratic nominee Jimmy Carter. Before his vice presidential candidacy, Mondale served as Attorney General of Minnesota from 1960 to 1964 and a U.S Senator from 1964 to 1976. In 1976, he and Carter defeated the incumbent Gerald Ford and Mondale spent the next four years very involved in the federal administration as the second vice president from Minnesota. Mondale won the 1984 Democratic nomination for president alongside America’s first female running mate, Geraldine Ferraro, but the two eventually lost to Ronald Reagan.
Tim Walz follows in their footsteps as the third vice presidential candidate from Minnesota. Like his predecessors, Walz was active in local politics before accepting the vice presidential nomination. He was a member of the U.S House of Representatives from Minnesota’s 1st congressional district from 2007 to 2019. He was elected as the 41st Governor of Minnesota in 2018 and is still serving in that role.
Tim Walz stands at a unique intersection of Minnesota’s history. He continues the legacy of Humphrey and Mondale’s progressive politics, small-town roots, accomplished political careers, and “Minnesota nice” attitudes, while also being a central character in the current groundbreaking election cycle. The American electorate is more divided than ever before, and Minnesotans find themselves represented at the center of this critical juncture.
As a presidential race that will be marked by significant historical firsts unfolds, Tim Walz’s voice for optimism and unity offers an intriguing continuation of Minnesota’s legacy in the vice presidential office. Recently, in fact, a phrase from Hubert Humphrey’s 1968 campaign, “the politics of joy,” has resurfaced as a core message of the Harris-Walz campaign.
