Kamala Harris has selected Minnesota governor Tim Walz as her vice-presidential pick ahead of the November election.
The current vice-president said: “I am proud to announce that I’ve asked Tim Walz to be my running mate.
“As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he’s delivered for working families like his. It’s great to have him on the team.”
And Walz commented on X, formerly Twitter: “It is the honor of a lifetime to join Kamala Harris in this campaign. I’m all in.”
He added that Harris is “showing us the politics of what’s possible,” saying: “It reminds me a bit of the first day of school. So, let’s get this done, folks!”
Harris became the frontrunner to secure the Democratic Party’s nomination after Joe Biden confirmed he would not run and endorsed her for the presidency.
She officially secured the party’s candidacy on Monday, with just weeks to go before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Key backers also include former president Barack Obama and former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, who also welcomed Walz’s selection as “wonderful” and called him a “heartland of America Democrat”.
The 60-year-old governor also served as a Democratic congressman for 12 years, before being elected in the Midwestern state of Minnesota in 2018, before the 2020 protests erupted over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Some expected her to select Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro as her running mate because she was coming to the state to announce the VP pick.
If elected, Harris would make history by becoming the first woman and first black woman to enter the White House.
The contest will see her run against former Republican president Donald Trump and author-turned-senator JD Vance.
Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Walz “pretends to support Americans in the heartland” and is “proposing his own carbon-free agenda”.
She said: “When the cameras are off, he believes that rural America is ‘mostly cows and rocks’.”
Harris and Walz are expected to speak at a rally tonight in Philadelphia, according to a report.