A relative dark horse in Vice President Kamala Harris’ veepstakes, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was selected Tuesday to serve as the veep’s running mate for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Harris’ team arrived at the Minnesota governor’s mansion to congratulate Walz on Tuesday and fly with him to Philadelphia for the rally after becoming increasingly comfortable with him over the final days of the vetting process — particularly his “happy-go-lucky” attitude, sources told CNN.

But with relatively low name recognition, many outside Minnesota are wondering just who exactly is the Midwestern Democrat who’s been launched to nationwide fame?

Born in rural Nebraska, Walz is a former educator who taught abroad and at home, and served in the Army National Guard for 24 years.

Starting his career in teaching social studies, Walz, 60, volunteered for John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004. He won his first election to the House of Representatives in 2006 when he managed to defeat incumbent Republican Rep. Gil Gutknecht.

He ultimately served six terms in Congress.

He was elected governor in 2018.

Walz met his wife, Gwen Whipple, while teaching at Mankato West High School in Minnesota, where they taught and the now-governor coached football.

Walz, a Lutheran, has two children, Hope and Gus, who were born in 2001 and 2006.

He has spoken out about his wife’s several-year journey with IVF, which plays well with women’s health care advocates as abortion and IVF access have become top issues in the 2024 election following the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

In 2016, Walz’s 43-year-old brother Craig was killed in a tragic accident where he was hit by a tree during a storm. 

Walz has a legislative history of signing bills against conversion therapy, protecting access to abortion and the LGBT community — key issues the Democrats are running on in 2024.

Walz was a faculty adviser for the Gay-Straight Alliance when he served as a social studies teacher in the 1990s — and went on to run for Congress in 2006 to represent a largely rural district on a campaign pledge that included support for same-sex marriage.

During his second term as governor last year, he signed both a “Trans Refuge” measure and Reproductive Freedom Defense, allowing adults and minors to receive sex-reassignment surgeries, gender therapies and abortions in Minnesota if their home state has criminalized any of the procedures.

Walz also banned so-called “conversion therapy” in his state for gay people — while mandating Minnesota public schools stock girls – and boys’ – bathrooms with menstrual products.

On Israel’s war with Hamas, a controversial issue inside the Democratic Party, Walz first condemned the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

But after the “uncommitted” primary vote against President Biden was especially high in Minnesota over his stance supporting the Jewish state, Walz called protesters “civilly engaged.”

Walz served during two key moments in Minnesota politics over the last period: the COVID-19 pandemic and the riots in Minneapolis after George Floyd’s death at the hands of police.

Walz has been ahead of other Democratic governors in terms of taking executive actions to address climate change.

He announced Minnesota’s Climate Action Framework in 2022 — with goals including boosting the share of electric vehicles from 1% to 20% by 2030 and reducing state greenhouse gas emissions by 50% over eight years. The 69-page plan also called for “100% carbon-free electricity” by 2040.

A key aspect of Walz’s career that conservative critics have already begun homing in on was his response to the riots that swept through Minnesota after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis back in May 2020. 

At the time, Walz was eager to avoid rankling his progressive base but detractors argued he was too soft as rioters lit buildings on fire and wreaked havoc upon Minneapolis and St. Paul.  

“Minneapolis and St. Paul are on fire. The fire is still smoldering in our streets. The ashes are symbolic of decades and generations of pain, of anguish unheard,” Walz said in late May 2020. “Now generations of pain is manifesting itself in front of the world — and the world is watching.”

Walz also recounted receiving a phone call from a state senator who lamented that her district was “on fire, no police, no firefighters, no social control, constituents locked in houses wondering what they were going to do.”

“That is an abject failure that cannot happen,” he said at the time. 

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey publicly blamed Walz for the response to the chaos that unfolded. 

As a former high school teacher, Walz pushed a costly progressive policy agenda on education policy when he took over the governor’s mansion.

Walz signed legislation last year that cost an estimated $400 million over the first two years and made Minnesota the fourth state to offer school lunches to children. 

It provides breakfast and lunches to children at no cost in participating schools and Walz billed the initiative as a means of curtailing hunger among children. 

The state’s 2023 budget that he signed featured bolstered spending on public education as well as a $1,750 per child annual tax credit. 

Additionally, in 2023, Walz signed legislation to make college free for students who hail from families that make under $80,000 a year via the “North Star Promise” program.