Kamala Harris finally ended the speculation on Tuesday by selecting her vice presidential pick: Minnesota governor Tim Walz, a retired military officer and schoolteacher who catapulted to the national spotlight by going on the offensive against “weird” Republicans.

“I am proud to announce that I’ve asked Governor Tim Walz to be my running mate. One of the things that stood out to me about Tim is how his convictions on fighting for middle class families run deep. It's personal,” the vice president wrote in a statement. “As a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he's delivered for working families like his own. We are going to build a great partnership. We start out as underdogs but I believe together, we can win this election.”

Harris will formally introduce Walz at a rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday afternoon—less than one hundred days before the November election. The governor won a condensed veepstakes that reportedly included fellow governors Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Andy Beshear of Kentucky, along with Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Walz, 60, rose through the ranks of the Army National Guard, taught social studies, and coached high school football before running for elected office in 2006. After serving six terms in Congress, representing a mostly rural district in southern Minnesota, he was elected governor in 2018, winning reelection four years later.

Walz’s gubernatorial tenure has been marked by policy accomplishments that appeal to progressives and working-class voters, including codified abortion rights, expanded paid family and medical leave, legalized recreational use of marijuana, and universal free school lunches. (Conservative critics, meanwhile, have reportedly claimed this legislative record will be a liability for Walz with moderate voters).

While that résumé seems substantial on its own, it was the plainspoken governor’s actions as a Harris campaign surrogate that cemented his appeal on the national stage. During a series of public appearances following Joe Biden’s exit from the 2024 race, Walz kickstarted the tactic of calling Donald Trump and JD Vance “weird”—not weird like a peculiar person who enjoys pickles on pizza; weird like a terminally online guy who corners you at a party to rant about a “childless cabal.”

Walz went viral multiple times for soundbites articulating the strangeness of Republican leaders and their policies, especially when it comes to abortion rights. He later defended the taunt to CNN: “Listen to the guy. He’s talking about Hannibal Lecter and shocking sharks and just whatever crazy thing pops into his mind,” Walz said of Trump. “Have you ever seen the guy laugh? That seems very weird to me that an adult can go through six-and-a-half years of being in the public eye, if he has laughed, it’s at someone and not with someone. That is weird behavior.”

The “big weirdos” line of attack was quickly adopted by Harris, energizing the base and flipping the script on Republicans, who’ve struggled to come up with an effective response. It’s been a potent strategy—one that appears to have rewarded Walz with an opportunity to become second-in-command.