Takeaways from a Harris-Walz ticket now that the stage is set for a reimagined presidential race

WASHINGTON (AP) — The stage is set for an election that was unimaginable mere weeks ago when President Joe Biden was atop the Democratic ticket. Now Vice President Kamala Harris has tapped Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate to take on Republican Donald Trump and his No. 2, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

As different as they are, Walz and Vance both qualify as picks meant to reassure their party’s loyal base voters rather than adding homegrown heft in a critical battleground state.

The two No. 2s will also get a chance to square off in almost real time as Walz is traveling this week with Harris to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona and Nevada, while Vance will follow an overlapping itinerary to offer his own counterprograming in some places.

Some takeaways on the race now that Harris has settled on Walz:

Opting for the Minnesota governor immediately calms the Democratic Party’s left wing, which was worried that another contender, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, might have pushed the party closer to Israel and disheartened Arab American and younger voters. Some in Harris' inner circle saw Walz as a do-no-harm choice who can keep the party unified heading into the Democratic National Convention opening in Chicago on Aug. 19.

Progressives are already celebrating Walz’s ability to deliver an unapologetically populist message in the style of a Midwestern dad who recalls the social studies teacher and football coach he once was.

Activists who for months have followed Biden around the country to protest his full-throated support for Israel in its war with Hamas in Gaza are hopeful that Walz will help Harris take a more nuanced approach than someone like Shapiro.

But some critics will point to 2016, when the only other woman to be nominated for president, Hillary Clinton, picked a mild-mannered dad with centrist views and a modest national profile: Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia. That ticket lost to Trump.

Neither vice presidential pick seems to do much to build out his party’s coalition — a sign that both campaigns view this election as about boosting turnout from their existing bases.

Just as Walz hails from the solidly Democratic state of Minnesota, Vance comes from the safely Republican state of Ohio. There is a bet that each choice can radiate Midwestern appeal to the key “blue wall" states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin simply by dint of geographical proximity.

Harris allies have stressed Walz’s ability to appeal to rural voters, although his 2022 reelection as governor roughly matched the margins of Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential win in Minnesota. Trump won 6 in 10 rural and small town voters nationwide in 2020, according to AP VoteCast.

The Trump campaign was quick to try to connect Walz to its characterizations of Harris as a California liberal, saying his support for gun control and teachers unions make him a “West Coast wannabe.”

Vance, for his part, comes from a state that has twice backed Trump by 8 percentage points. Just like the former president with his book “Trump: The Art of the Deal,” Vance achieved national recognition with his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.” Vance has mainly played to cultural and policy issues favored by strict adherents of Trump's “Make America Great Again” movement such as cutting military support for Ukraine.

Vance is set to follow an overlapping itinerary to Harris and Walz over the next two days, including stops in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. His role is to attack the Biden administration's policies and tear down Harris’ record on the economy, public safety and immigration.

Vance got out ahead of the Democrats in Philadelphia on Tuesday, holding an event hours before Harris was to formally introduce her new running mate at a rally. He said during his Philadelphia stop that “I absolutely want to debate Tim Walz," but not until after the Democratic convention.

Harris' team seemed to be happy to have Vance making the contrast with the Democrats.

“We appreciate JD Vance providing voters in battleground states exactly the split-screen that defines the choice this November,” said Harris campaign spokesman Charles Lutvak.

Walz’s selection settled one big question mark among Democrats, but plenty of major challenges remain for the final months of a race already defined by its unexpected twists and turns.

There is the prospect of a wider war in the Middle East, the possibility of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve that might calm global financial markets and questions about whether Trump and Harris will actually square off in a September debate that was set before Biden bowed out of the race.

No matter what happens, the conventional narratives of a presidential campaign have already had seemingly brief shelf lives. Voters over the past few weeks have dealt with Biden's disastrous performance in the June 27 debate against Trump, a brazen assassination attempt on Trump, Biden's exit from the race and Harris' quick ascendance among Democrats.

Now that both tickets are settled, a reckoning will take place over positions, and small differences can matter to voters who on the margin could decide a narrow election. Global events can upend talking points in ways that are hard to predict. The 2008 campaign intensified with that year’s financial crisis, while the persistence of the coronavirus shaped 2020.

If there are any lessons from this year, it’s that election year surprises are no longer reserved for October.

Associated Press writer Hannah Fingerhut contributed to this report.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, concludes his remarks before taking questions with reporters at a news conference, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

FILE - Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks before President Joe Biden at Dutch Creek Farms, Nov. 1, 2023, in Northfield, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr, File)

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speak at a campaign rally in Philadelphia, Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

KHARKIV REGION, Ukraine (AP) — The four drones were designed to carry bombs, but instead the men of Ukraine's Khartia brigade pack them with food, water and handwarmers and launch them in darkness toward the front line, a 15-minute flight away.

The unit commander who goes by the callsign Kit, or “cat,” pilots the tiny uncrewed aircraft from a basement room he jokingly calls their Airbnb. Guided by the drone's night-vision camera, he drops the 10-kilogram (22-pound) packages one by one as close as he can to the position where as many as five infantrymen battle Russian forces in the late autumn chill. The delivery will hold them for two or three days.

That's about as far as Kit dares look into the future. He knows that the reelection of Donald Trump will change something in his life, but as far as he and other Ukrainian soldiers on the front are concerned, trying to figure out how is a game for politicians. For him, all that matters is the distance he measures in the meters (yards) that Russian forces advance or retreat in the front-line sector that is his responsibility.

“We are trying with all our might to destroy them and win back our territories, so that it does not go any further, so that there are no more destroyed cities and destroyed lives,” Kit said. “We need to focus on the present in our work and try to do it effectively in the here and now.”

But he cannot escape the sense of a gathering storm.

Russia is increasingly hitting the Kharkiv region with unstoppable, building-leveling glide bombs and swarms of drones and chipping away at territory there. Its troops are advancing in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. Up to 12,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia's Kursk border region to help beat back Ukrainian forces there, according to U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence assessments.

Trump, who has called President Vladimir Putin “pretty smart” for invading Ukraine, has repeatedly criticized American backing of Ukraine. He characterized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as “the greatest salesman on Earth” for winning U.S. aid.

Zelenskyy was among the first world leaders to publicly congratulate Trump, and said the two discussed how to end “Russian aggression against Ukraine” when they met in September.

Between now and Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration, the Biden administration has said it will send as much aid to Ukraine as possible to help hold back Russian forces and possess a strong hand in any potential peace negotiations. But Russia is pressing just as hard for an advantage in what most believe are crucial weeks to come.

Aviator, a Khartia soldier launching the supply drones, said he can only do his job and hope for the best. His attention is fixed on how many hours remain before the coming dawn, when Russian forces will be able to spot the uncrewed aircraft and shoot them down. If his mission fails, he knows that the men he calls brothers will suffer.

“You feel you’re useful, that you are in the right place, that the lives and health of our brothers depend on your work," said Aviator, who returned to Ukraine from a job in Poland to join the army. "We’re just doing our job, we don’t have time to worry about the election.”

Tolstiy, who runs a drone repair workshop not far away, knows firsthand what happens to territory captured by Russia. A former infantryman, he fought in Bakhmut and watched the city fall to Russian forces who bombed it to rubble. He confessed that sometimes, reading the news makes him want to give up. But that's simply unthinkable.

“It’s like we’re in another world here,” he said. “When you see that your comrades are injured or killed, it motivates you.”

Lori Hinnant contributed from Kyiv.

Servicemen of Ukraine's Khartia brigade pack a Vampire drone with food and water to launch toward the frontline to Ukrainian positions near Kharkiv, Ukraine, late Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Ukraine's Khartia brigade officer, who goes by callsign Kit, left, sits while his soldiers pilot drones in a shelter on the frontline near Kharkiv, Ukraine, late Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Servicemen of Ukraine's Khartia brigade pilot drones in a shelter on the frontline near Kharkiv, Ukraine, late Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Servicemen of Ukraine's Khartia brigade pack a Vampire drone with food and water to launch toward the frontline to Ukrainian positions near Kharkiv, Ukraine, late Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

A soldier of Ukraine's Khartia brigade, callsign Tolstiy, inspects a FPV drone in a drone repair workshop close to the front line in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)