There’s a lot of talk that Kamala Harris picked Tim Walz to prevent Josh Shapiro’s views on the Middle East from becoming a distraction. But the more relevant reason that Walz was chosen is electoral. And if Harris narrowly loses Pennsylvania and thus the election, the failure to pick Shapiro will reverberate for generations. By contrast, Walz — a 24-year veteran of the Army National Guard — graduated from high school in a Nebraska town of 400 and later coached the Mankato West Scarlets to a Minnesota high school football championship. But Walz, an authentic rural voice, might change that outcome and reduce Trump’s share to 55 percent from roughly 60 percent in enough counties.

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Persons: Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, Josh Shapiro’s, Walz, Shapiro, Harris, Walz —, Army National Guard —, JD Vance, Walz didn’t, Donald Trump Organizations: Pennsylvania, Army National Guard, Mankato West Scarlets, Yale, Democrats Locations: Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Minnesota, Pennsylvania , Michigan , Wisconsin , Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada