Minnesota Governor Tim Walz recently spoke on how the 2024 presidential election turned out and said he was surprised after learning that he and Vice President Kamala Harris had been defeated by President-elect Donald Trump.
“In this campaign, when you ask the question: ‘Are there things you could’ve done differently?’ Since we lost, the answer is obviously yes. On this one, I did the best I could,” he told local news station KSTP-TV in his first interview since the election.
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He further acknowledged that he believed the Harris-Walz campaign had been gaining “momentum,” so he was taken aback when they ended up losing. “It felt like at the rallies, at the things I was going to, the shops I was going in, that the momentum was going our way. And it obviously wasn’t at the end of time. So yeah, I was a little surprised [we lost]. I thought we had a positive message and I thought the country was ready for that,” the governor added.
But despite his loss, Walz said he remains positive about what the future holds.
“Coming back here now and having the privilege to be able to do this work feels really good. And I’m actually really looking forward to this legislative session with some different dynamics around it,” he said.
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Before the election, polls indicated that Harris had a narrow lead over Trump after she secured the Democratic nomination, following President Joe Biden’s decision to end his reelection campaign in late July and endorse his vice president. On the eve of the election, nearly all major forecasters predicted a Harris victory, with pollster Nate Silver’s projections showing her with a slight advantage in the Electoral College. Individual polls also suggested she was leading Trump by 1 or 2 points, within the margin of error.
However, the Democrats were unable to secure a win, as Trump triumphed with 312 Electoral College votes compared to Harris’ 226. In addition, Trump claimed the popular vote for the first time, sweeping all the key swing states and improving his performance in all but two of the 50 states.