Minnesota is in the national political spotlight as Kamala Harris named Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate in this fall’s presidential election.

If the Harris-Walz ticket defeats the Donald Trump-JD Vance team in November’s general election, Walz will become the third person with Minnesota ties to reach the No. 2 spot in U.S. government.

Hubert H. Humphrey served as vice president under Lyndon B. Johnson, while Walter Mondale held the second spot in Jimmy Carter’s administration. Both administrations governed the United States through some harried times — the Vietnam conflict, the civil rights movement of the ’60s; and energy crises and grain embargoes of the ’70s.

Regardless of who wins in November, the administration will be faced with ongoing — and probably new — turmoil, both domestically and globally.

Getting back to Minnesota VPs, only Mondale was truly one of us, having been born in Ceylon; Humphrey was born in South Dakota and Walz in Nebraska. Each of the three came from the left, the Democratic Party.

Pharmacist to VP

Each of them made a career out of politics, though each started in other careers. Humphrey started as a pharmacist, working at his father’s drugstore in Huron, S.D., from 1931-37. His heart wasn’t in pharmacy, even though his father offered full partnership in the store, and instead he pursued his passion in political science.

In addition to being a key player in the merger of the Democratic and Farmer-Labor parties in Minnesota to form the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, Humphrey started his political career as mayor of Minneapolis, serving 1945-48. He was then elected to the U.S. Senate in 1949, serving until 1964, when he became vice president under Johnson. Coincidentally, Mondale assumed Humphrey’s Senate seat.

After Johnson decided not to run for reelection, Humphrey staged an unsuccessful campaign for president, losing to Richard Nixon.

Humphrey then returned to the U.S. Senate in 1971, even though he announced his candidacy for president, a candidacy that didn’t get much traction. He remained in the Senate until his death in 1978.

Faithful servant

Though influenced by his minister father’s religious beliefs, Mondale did not follow that path. Instead, he attained a political science degree before two years in the U.S. Army, after which he attended and graduated from law school in 1956. He practiced law for four years before officially entering politics.

As a 20-year-old, he actually helped organize Humphrey’s 1948 Senate campaign, as well as work on several campaigns for Orville Freeman, who would eventually become Minnesota governor.

Freeman appointed Mondale to serve as Minnesota attorney general in 1960, serving until 1964, when he was appointed to fill Humphrey’s vacant Senate seat after becoming vice president. Mondale would serve until 1976, after which he was vice president during Jimmy Carter’s single term.

Mondale would make history when he named Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate for the 1984 election, making her the first woman vice president candidate for a major party. Sadly, for the Mondale-Ferraro ticket at least, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush won the election in a landslide.

President Bill Clinton appointed Mondale as ambassador to Japan from 1993-96. He almost returned to the Senate after the untimely death of Sen. Paul Wellstone’s death in a plane crash 11 days before the 2002 election. Mondale replaced Wellstone on the ballot but was narrowly defeated by Norm Coleman.

Mondale died of natural causes in 2021 at the age of 93.

Teach the way

Walz did follow in his father’s education footsteps, after graduating with a degree in social science education in 1989. After a one-year teaching position in Guangdong, China, Walz returned to his home state of Nebraska to teach and coach.

Walz moved to Minnesota in 1996, where he worked as a geography teacher and football coach.

He entered the political world as a volunteer in 2004 on John Kerry’s presidential campaign, and then fully threw himself into the fray to take on six-term incumbent Gil Gutknecht in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District.

He won six congressional terms before deciding to run for Minnesota governor, the office he currently holds, halfway through his second term.

Will Gov. Walz become VP Walz?

His Minnesota legacy has been established; his national legacy remains to be written.

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