The Democrats Need a New Code Talker

 Last week, Tim Walz spoke before a forum at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he revealed Kamala Harris's reason for choosing him as her vice presidential running mate. 

“I could code talk to white guys watching football, fixing their truck,“ Walz explained. “I was the permission structure to say, ‘Look, you can do this and vote for this.’”

Apparently, the Harris campaign team realized Kamala had no credibility with working-class white dudes. Harris needed a middle-aged, midwestern, Caucasian male on the ticket who could talk like Clint Eastwood did in the barbershop scene in Gran Torino. 

Barber Martin: Perfect! A Polak and AND a Chink!

Walt Kowalski: How ya doing, Martin, you crazy Italian prick?

How did that work out? Not so well. Kamala lost ground in three critical demographic groups compared to Joe Biden's performance in the 2020 presidential race. A higher percentage of Hispanics, African Americans, and younger voters voted for Trump in 2024 than in 2020. Indeed, Trump won a majority of the popular vote among Hispanic men.

Even in New York, a reliably Blue state, Trump won new voters.  Trump carried 41 of the Empire State's 62 counties, including two counties on Long Island. Harris won New York by 11 percentage points, but Biden won by 23. 

If the Democrats want to win the presidency in 2028, they will need a better team on the ticket than Dumb and Dumber. No code talker will persuade a working-class guy from Flyover Country that America needs open borders. 

And no beer-drinking, football-watching dude in the Heartland will consent to have his high-school-aged daughter compete at a varsity track meet against a guy in the shot put event just because he's changed his name from Rufus to Linda.

Tim Walz: Code Talker