By John A. Tures, Professor of Political Science, LaGrange College

When a candidate is evaluated for the presidency, one of the first, and most significant, judgments is the choice of a running mate. There were will be a lot of scrutiny on the Democratic choice, but in Georgia, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz showed once again why he was a good choice. And given recent comments, there should be a lot more scrutiny of the Republican choice, J. D. Vance.

Now Tim Walz is not without his shortcomings. He delivers a high energy speech packed with policy details that makes it a challenge to cover everything. It’s something that perhaps hampered him in the debate with J. D. Vance, where the audience needs a bit of a breather to absorb it all. But in last week’s performance, he put in a few pauses so we could soak up a little more information.

At a rally at the Columbus Trade Center, Walz pointed out the farm prices during the pandemic, and compared them to today, where farmers are still generally getting the same amount per bushel, “so someone else is getting wealthy, not the farmers.” He hyped the Biden Administration’s prescription drug caps, especially for insulin, and talked about protecting Medicare. Noting the high number of young people in the audience, Walz explained “when you’re young, you don’t talk much about Medicare, but when you turn 60, it’s all you talk about.”

At the Georgia campaign appearance, Walz contrasted the current administration’s protection of Medicare as well as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) with Project 2025’s prescription, as well as Trump’s attempt to get rid of the ACA 60 times. “Do you want to go back to the days when insurance companies could deny you for pre-existing conditions,” he asked. “We have a plan, not the ‘concept of a plan,’” he added. As for Project 2025, Walz went back to his football coaching days. “You don’t draw up the playbook, and not run any plays,” he claimed, noting that such policies are going to be implement if Trump wins.

“The economy works best when it works for all,” he pointed out, noting the Harris-Walz plan for helping with the down payment for home purchases, tax credits for new businesses, and contrasting that with what he called Donald Trump’s bragging about not paying taxes. He noted that every week of Trump’s Administration, it was “infrastructure week,” but nothing got done until Biden was elected.

He also added his ticket’s stand on upholding the Second Amendment without taking away a parent’s first duty to protect their kid from gun violence. And he touted the administration’s right to organize a union. For abortion, he said to government intrusion into a woman’s health “Mind your own business.” Walz added that Trump’s nominees for the Supreme Court would all uphold Roe v. Wade in their confirmation hearings, and then overturned it with the Dobbs decision. He then talked about how he and his wife tried for years to have a kid. “Infertility treatment is hell,” he noted. “I’ll be damned if anyone in the USA is denied this.”

Walz has often been contrasted to his runner up, and wouldn’t Harris like to have Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro as the Keystone State is up for grabs. Perhaps, but other than a fine debate performance marred at the end by cringy election denial, Vance is best known for comments that drove down his approval rating, and claiming Americans were too thin-skinned to accept racist jokes after the anti-Puerto Rican comments. Perhaps at least equal, if not more scrutiny, deserves to be there for Trump’s choice of a running mate.

John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. His views are his own. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His “X” account is JohnTures2.