On Monday, April 28, Minnesota Governor and 2024 Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Walz joined the Institute of Politics John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum for a conversation on the 2024 presidential election, the Democratic Party, and the state of American democracy and politics. ABC News National Political Reporter and Spring 2025 IOP fellow Brittany Shepherd moderated the discussion.
The event began with exploring Walz’s role in the Harris-Walz 2024 campaign and its rocky execution.
Harris had less than two weeks to pick a running mate after Biden dropped out, leaving the Democratic Party scrambling to change directions. Walz highlighted the challenges of running a 100-day campaign against Trump, who had spent years building his platform.
“We knew what our mission was: we had about 100 days to prevent what’s happening from happening,” he said, regarding the Trump administration. “There’s no second-place trophy. It’s zero-sum.”
Harvard Students for Harris was one of many political groups formed to help the Harris-Walz campaign and counteract the possible setbacks spurred by their delayed start.
“What I learned from that, candidly, was if you leave a void, Donald Trump will fill it, and so I think you’ve got to be in every place as often as you can in every single day of every minute to make that push back,” Walz said.
Walz was one of three of Harris’ running mate frontrunners, in addition to Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ). Neither Harris nor America knew Walz well before the summer. Harris reportedly chose Walz because they had a strong initial bond, and she did not think his personal ambitions would overshadow her mission.
“I also was on the ticket, quite honestly, because I could code talk to white guys watching football, fixing their truck; I could put them at ease,” Walz explained, referring to how, as a white, middle-aged Midwesterner, he softened the possible perceived weight of voting for a female president of color. “I was the permission structure to say, ‘Look, you can do this and vote for this.’” Yet, despite the campaign’s strategic choices, it was not enough to beat out the Trump campaign.
During the campaign’s last few weeks, Walz saw many campaign signs focused on singular words identified with each candidate: “Trump—safety. Kamala—crime. Trump—wealth. Kamala—poverty.”
Walz shared his initial reaction to these advertisements. “What are we, first graders? For Christ’s sake. And then I’m like, ‘Oh my God, these are pretty devastating,’” he recalled.
Ultimately, Walz attributed the campaign loss to voter turnout and broader Democratic Party failures. “There were enough people that said, on issues that were very divisive, there’s no difference between the candidates, they’re the same, and they stayed home,” said Walz.
Walz was disappointed by the Party’s inability to convey their stance on pressing national issues and the subsequent Democratic loss. “Our policies would have created more wealth. Our policies would have helped with home ownership.”
In addition to reflecting on possible reasons why the Harris-Walz ticket lost, Walz also shared the need for an evolved Democratic Party, especially considering present shortcomings.
“Why have we lost this self-identity that the Democratic Party is for personal freedom? They’re for middle-class folks; they’re for labor rights. How did we lose it where people didn’t self-identify with that?” Walz asked. “And, how did we get to a point where people didn’t feel like this was an important enough election to get out there and vote?”
“We have to fundamentally change who we are,” he continued. “We win on the issues and we win on competency, and then we lose the message and we lose power.”
According to a CNN poll, Trump earned only a 41% approval rating for his first 100 days in office, the lowest for any president since Eisenhower in the 1950s. Yet despite these low ratings, the Democrats have a long way to go—only 29% of registered voters have a favorable view of the Democratic Party.
However, the Democratic Party has been working to adjust. In special elections and state Supreme Court elections since the 2024 Presidential elections, Democrats launched attack ads evoking negative ties to “special government employee” Elon Musk. Drawing attention away from Trump and toward a less popular figure led to retained liberal control of Wisconsin’s Supreme Court. House and Senate Democrats also filed a brief opposing Trump’s effort to fire Federal Trade Commission members.
Walz maintains hope for the Democratic Party and its future. “I think we will take back the House. I am very pessimistic about the Senate,” he said, looking to the 2026 midterm elections.
The Democrats lost the House in the 2022 elections and the Senate in the 2024 elections. Republicans currently control 220 of 435 House seats and 53 of 100 Senate seats. In the 2026 midterm election cycle, 13 Democratic seats and 20 Republican seats will be up for re-election. President Trump won 21 of the 33 states holding 2026 Senate elections compared to Harris’s 12. Democrats will have to defend Georgia and Michigan, which Trump won in 2024.
Ultimately, despite these gradual actions, Walz emphasized the uncertainty of who will initiate the necessary wholesale change within the Democratic party and what mechanisms might spur those shifts. Walz said he would not run for President and did not see a viable front-runner for the next Democratic election right now. Instead, he emphasized the importance of uniting the Democratic Party for a party-driven election process rather than a candidate-driven election process.
“I don’t think an individual should be running. I think we collectively as a party and as elected officials should be running this campaign,” he said.“I’m actually okay with challenging the status quo inside the party with new ideas and fresh ideas, but I do think once we pick a candidate, we’ve got to all agree that you got to go.”
“I think we need to collectively run a presidential campaign without a candidate right now that builds all the infrastructure, helps us clarify this, and by the time we get to 2028, we’re ready,” he later explained.
Trump’s prominent online presence and central role in the Republican Party, in Walz’s eyes, contribute to the Democrats’ need to add a counterforce.
“I don’t think any one person right now, in where we’re at in America, by themselves, can be the counterweight to [the Trump administration’s] noise and the attention they get…you’re better off to do more, to be out in every forum you can be in,” Walz said.
Across his analysis of the election, the current administration, and the Democratic Party, Walz emphasized the importance of undergoing fundamental change and redefining and reframing its values to voters. “I want to do what I can do to help define the Democratic Party as a party that is there to protect the rule of law, personal freedoms, and the things we care about. It’s my job in any small area—I don’t care if it’s Omaha or Wheeling, West Virginia—to make the case that there is value in what we stand for.”
Since 2018, Walz has championed clean energy legislation, labor rights, and provided free school meals for students. In the months since the election, Walz has mentioned the importance of bringing Democratic-led legislation on paid family and medical leave, affordable family care, and healthcare access to middle-class voters.
Many of the Democratic Party’s problems are clear, but the path forward is not. A key takeaway across each of Walz’s points was the need for new voices and new messages in the Democratic Party. Walz saw the Democrats’ desire for change mirror his own during the campaign season, and those sentiments still hold true during Trump’s term.
“It’s real. It’s not performative. Folks are angry. They want to see something get done,” he said.
“I think they’re ready for something different.”
Hannah Davis ’25 (hannahdavis@college.harvard.edu) writes News for the Independent.