By Hailey Branson-Potts
Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday named as her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a moderate Democrat who when serving in Congress demonstrated the ability to work with Republican lawmakers. “I’m all in,” Walz wrote on X. “Vice President Harris is showing us the politics of what’s possible. It reminds me a bit of the first day of school. So, let’s get this done, folks!” Harris said of Walz that “as a governor, a coach, a teacher, and a veteran, he’s delivered for working families like his. It’s great to have him on the team.” During Harris’ search for avice presidential candidate — an intense vetting process completed in just two weeks after President Biden dropped out of the race — Walz’s name emerged among other, better-known contenders from important swing states, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona. Though popular at home, Walz did not have much of a national profile until his recent plainspoken critique of Republican nominee Donald Trump and Ohio’s Sen. JD Vance, his running mate — that they are “weird.” That one word has been surprisingly effective in confounding a former president known for name-calling. “These are weird people on the other side,” Walz said in an interview with MSNBC in July. “They want to take books away. They want to be in your exam room.” It was a language pivot after years of Democrats calling Trump a threat to democracy, and the Harris campaign latched on to it, issuing a statement that called Trump “old and quite weird.” Walz later explained that constantly calling Trump an existential threat “gives him way too much power.” “Tim Walz would be the worst VP in history!” Trump wrote in a fundraising email after Harris’ decision was leaked Tuesday. He went on to attack Walz on immigration and environmental spending. Walz appeared with Har-
KAMALA HARRIS appears with her newly announced vice presidential pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, at a Philadelphia rally Tuesday. Pennsylvania is among the crucial states in the new partners’ travel plans.
How important is Harris’ choice? Her selection of Walz won’t decide the presidential race, Mark Z. Barabak writes. PERSPECTIVES, A2
‘Most down-home dude’ and not weird Walz is pure Minnesota and is probably giving Vance heartburn, Anita Chabria writes. PERSPECTIVES, A2
He doesn’t fit their mold Republicans aim to cast the Midwestern governor as too liberal and a “West Coast wannabe.” NATION, A4
WASHINGTON — Vice presidential picks seldom swing elections, but they do send signals about how a candidate intends to campaign and govern. Former President Trump chose to magnify his culture warrior persona with this year’s pick of Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, a younger man who shares Trump’s “Make America Great Again” ideology and rhetorical style. It was a departure from his pick eight years ago of Mike Pence, a former Indiana governor and congressman tapped by Trump to reassure evangelicals and mainstream conservatives who were then wary of Trump’s party takeover. Vice President Kamala
MINNESOTA Gov. Tim Walz gets a group hug in 2023 at Webster Elementary in Minneapolis after he signed into law a bill that guarantees free school meals.
Los Angeles County has emerged as the capital of new backyard housing units, with a surprising array of communities leading the way, according to a Times data analysis. L.A. has permitted more accessory dwelling units per capita than any other county in the state, with lower- and middle-income cities approving the most construction, the data show. It’s too early to tell if the ADU boom has changed the region’s housing affordability crisis, which has pushed some to leave in search of homes more within their reach. But the data suggest that some cities that built the most ADUs saw smaller population losses than those that built the least. Among the cities that permitted the most construction: San Fernando, Rosemead, Temple City, Sierra Madre and Hidden Hills. The cities that built the fewest: Hawthorne, Commerce, Cudahy, Cerritos and Westlake Village. It is not fully clear why some cities are building more. Experts say the speed and ease of the permitting process in each city is a likely reason some cities are at the top of the list, but other factors could include differing municipal regulations and varying single-family lot sizes that dictate whether there is enough room for extra backyard structures. ADU builders say homeowners in low- and middleincome communities are more likely to rent out their new units for income — adding more units to the market — while ADUs in wealthier neighborhoods more often
By the time that Dennys Rene Rivas Williams had fallen so ill that he needed new lungs, physicians at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center expressed little doubt about what was to blame for his sickness. Doctors had diagnosed the37-year-oldwith silicosis: an incurable disease caused by inhaling tiny bits of lungscarring silica. It was an affliction that had debilitated dozens of workers in Los Angeles County like him, who had toiled cutting countertops bound for kitchens and bathrooms. Health officials had sounded the alarm that a new epidemic of the illness was killing young laborers A workers’ comp fight over silicosis DESPITE having silicosis after working in a countertop shop, Dennys Rene Rivas Williams was initially denied benefits. He was so ill he needed a lung transplant.
DESPITE having silicosis after working in a countertop shop, Dennys Rene Rivas Williams was initially denied benefits. He was so ill he needed a lung transplant.
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