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Morning Edition
Cathy Wurzer, Gracie Stockton and Matthew Alvarez

Rep. McCollum sees VP Harris atop ticket energizing women to back Democrats

A woman talks with a microphone
Minnesota U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum gives a speech in 2022 after winning the Democratic nomination for the 4th Congressional District.
Ben Hovland | MPR News 2022

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Delegates headed to the Democratic National Convention have one month to decide whether they’ll back Vice President Kamala Harris as their 2024 presidential nominee — or scramble to endorse another choice for the White House following President Joe Biden’s exit from the race.

U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, who represents Minnesota’s 4th District, told Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer she’s willing to back Harris and favors Gov. Tim Walz for a running mate.

On Friday, you said it was time for the president to step back and for Vice President Harris to become the nominee. If you think this is the right move, do you worry it might have come too late?

I don’t think it’s too late. President Biden made a very difficult choice. And I think he came to realize especially once the diagnosis of COVID-19 was with them, the tremendous amount of work that he does every single day, keeping our country safe and trying to keep our economy moving forward.

And then add to that a presidential campaign. And I think coming off the NATO summit, realizing how important his work is to keep our allies unified against dictatorships around the world. There’s still more work as he talks about in the economy. I think he came to the conclusion that sometimes you want to do everything, but you can’t do everything at the same time. So I truly have admired him for years. He put his country first by putting America first in his job as president, and I can’t thank him enough for that.

President Obama and congressional leaders Jeffries and Schumer have stopped short of naming a favorite candidate at this point. Your Minnesota colleague Dean Phillips thinks there should be some town halls and some straw polls to test the strength of various candidates. Would you agree with that?

I think that’s what the rules committee is going to be working on. And as we know, Gov. Walz plays a key leadership role in that. And I think that that’s when we come back to Washington and we have our caucus tomorrow. I leave today, we’re going to say that, you know, she said she wants to earn it.

I’m supporting her. I want to be crystal clear on that. But she wants to earn it. She wants to talk to the delegates and she wants to have the full force of the Democratic Party behind her because they have chosen her. And so endorsements are nice. I’ve been through this as a candidate. Now it’s time for her earn their support.

Polls show Harris is doing a little bit better than Biden against former President Trump but not leading. Why do you think Kamala Harris can beat former President Trump?

Our party is going to be more united and energized. It appears that we raised over $60 million in one day. We can’t sit back on the sidelines. So, people are engaged. I have to believe that America’s standing in the world has risen because of the work that President Obama, then President Biden had to go back and repair.

We need someone who will work well with other countries and Vice President Harris has the experience. She’s ready to go and hit the ground running. Just on women’s rights issues alone, women are going to be excited that we have a woman at the top of the ticket who isn’t afraid to say women will not be treated as second class citizens when it comes to the reproductive rights, health or pay. This is an exciting time for women.

You were talking about Gov. Walz potentially being a good VP candidate for Kamala Harris. Why do you think Walz would be a good candidate?

I’m the chair of the Midwest and Minnesota delegation. So, I have Michigan and Wisconsin in my sights and work with them all the time. We need to have a strong look at a great governor from the Midwest and Tim Walz fits that bill from being a teacher, member of Congress and doing amazing things as governor here. I’m happy to be his cheerleader while he’s at work, making sure we have a convention which is open and transparent.