Inside Kamala Harris’ dramatic last-minute decision to pick Tim Walz as running mate: Why VP picked the progressive governor… what helped her finally make up her mind… and how she made the call

With just hours to go before Kamala Harris unveiled her running mate to the world, her team still had no idea who she would choose.

Her team made campaign signs with her name and those of all her top candidates on them, so they knew they would be on the signs once she made her choice.

On Tuesday morning, she picked up the phone with President Joe Biden as she raced against time to make one of the most important decisions of her political career.

Ultimately — and after an intensive vetting process with Democratic leaders — she chose the “hug option.”

The vice president waited until the last minute to select progressive Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate to take on Donald Trump and J.D. Vance in November’s general election.

An insider told DailyMail.com that she wanted “compatibility” on the Democratic ticket and a low-risk “partner” to overshadow her.

The 60-year-old Walz, a father of two, was a logical choice as a politician with a strong Republican track record and the support of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has long been seen as the favorite in the race for running mate, but concerns about his personal ambitions and support for Israel may have tipped the balance against him.

Walz’s nomination as running mate has caused both joy and concern among Democrats, with Republicans saying the opposition now has the most “left-wing ticket” in history.

The former teacher is beloved and a proven winner in Republican circles, and his description of Trump and Vance as “just weird” went viral and sparked a new Democratic line of attack in the campaign.

However, some questioned why Harris didn’t go with the other white man she was considering: Shapiro and his state’s 19 electoral votes.

She consulted several party heavyweights as part of her decision-making process: former President Barack Obama, campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon and former Attorney General Eric Holder, who led the vetting process.

But her choice was also politically astute. Walz is strong where she is weak.

He is a working-class man with rural experience, a stark contrast to Harris, the first black and South Asian vice president from liberal San Francisco.

And while Harris appeals to young people and black voters, Walz appeals to white working-class and older voters.

He also has military experience from his time in the National Guard and when he was in Congress, he represented a district that Donald Trump won in the presidential election.

“Choosing a rural Democrat who used to represent a Republican district with a progressive, populist background is a great way to balance out a field of candidates from Oakland, California,” Democratic strategist Dan Pfieffer said at X.

Harris was impressed by his “strong record of supporting middle-class families and his appeal in key Midwestern states, including winning a House seat in a Trump constituency,” a source familiar with him said.

When she called him — via video chat — to offer him the job, she told him they were the “underdogs,” a phrase she used repeatedly during her campaign.

And one strategist described Walz as the “cuddly choice.”

“She may have gone with a more cuddly choice, someone that everyone feels like everyone feels safe with,” Jamal Simmons, Harris’ former communications director, said on CNN.

“It seems like the flip side of the Biden-Harris choice, right? They’re about the same age, but governor — he’s a little grayer, he’s got a little more of that Midwestern appeal.”

But other factors may have played a role in her decision: most notably, concern that Shapiro, who was compared to Obama during the campaign, would overshadow her.

The first maximum of a VP running mate is do no harm. Walz seems to meet that.

But Shapiro is a different story. Although he delivered Pennsylvania — a state both parties see as crucial to a November victory — he also had his critics.

Among them was a senator from his home state: John Fetterman.

Fetterman told Harris’ campaign he was concerned that Shapiro was focusing on his own personal ambitions.

Allies of Shapiro, however, charged that the criticism of the governor is anti-Semitic. Shapiro is Jewish.

He is also one of the most outspoken critics of the pro-Palestinian protests that have erupted in the US following the October 7 attacks on Israel.

His criticism led some liberals to warn against his inclusion on the list, while many Democrats have expressed concern about the Biden administration’s staunch support for Israel.

Walz, on the other hand, has expressed support for Israel but has urged more aid to the Palestinians. He has also assumed a ceasefire in Gaza and a two-state solution.

Everyone agrees that the choice shows how Harris makes decisions. Republicans say it shows she is a bad decision maker, while Democrats call it a wise choice.

There is some relief among Republicans that Harris did not pick Shapiro, while many of Trump’s supporters are breathing a sigh of relief that the state is still in play.

They then quickly began attacking Walz, with some claiming that Harris had chosen the Bernie Sanders of the Democrats and that the Minnesota governor was an unashamed liberal.

And maybe they’re on the right track.

According to a Marist poll released Tuesday, Walz has an exceptionally low national name recognition.

A whopping 71% of Americans say they have “not heard of him” and have no opinion about him.

But Walz also had some big names among Democrats in his corner, most notably former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who played a role in pressuring Biden to withdraw from the Democratic race.

She is known for supporting her former House members and was fond of Walz when he was in Congress.

“Tim Walz is great. She had a lot of good choices. I know Tim Walz very well. He served in the House. To characterize him as left wing is so surreal. It’s just not — he’s right in the middle. He’s a Democrat from the heartland of America,” Pelosi told Morning Joe.