MARSHALL — The news that Gov. Tim Walz had been chosen as Kamala Harris’ running mate sparked a range of reactions on Tuesday. Some area residents said they didn’t support a Harris/Walz ticket, while others were excited.

“I think he was the right choice,” said Adam St. Aubin. “He did a good job as governor for Minnesota.”

Alex and Marcy Meyer said their reactions to the news about Walz were “mixed.”

“I’m excited,” Marcy Meyer said, while Alex had reservations.

“The way he handled COVID and all the protesting in Minneapolis made me skeptical,” Alex Meyer said.

“A lot of us don’t support him,” said Debbie Clark. Clark has been active with the Lyon County Republicans, including as a past co-chair. She said there were lots of reasons why, based on Walz’s time as governor. “After Minneapolis was destroyed, and the way the last two years have gone with the Democrat trifecta,” Walz wouldn’t make a good vice president, Clark said.

Other local residents said Tuesday that they hadn’t really been following the political news – although it was “kinda cool that it was (someone) close to home,” one person said.

The question of who Harris’ running mate would be was something that “piqued people’s curiosity” at recent DFL pop-up events in Lyon County, said Lyon County DFL chair Anita Gaul.

“For the past week, that was the number one topic of conversation at the pop-up,” Gaul said. Walz being selected as a vice-presidential candidate had sparked excitement among Democrats, she said.

“Minnesota does have a tradition of vice presidents,” including Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale, Gaul said.

Walz being named as Harris’ vice-presidential pick was an exciting surprise for Ivanhoe residents Val and Linn Whipple, according to the Ivanhoe Times newspaper. The Whipples’ daughter Gwen is Walz’s wife.

The Ivanhoe Times shared comments from Val and Linn Whipple on social media Tuesday. The Whipples said they had been getting a lot of phone calls that morning, after the news broke.

“We had the TV on and kept watching it to see if it was true. Then a friend from Hutchinson, Minnesota, called us to tell us,” Val Whipple told the Times. “So we kept watching TV and figured it must be true.”

The Times reported that the Whipples planned to attend Harris and Walz’s upcoming rally in Wisconsin.

This isn’t the first time that a candidate from Minnesota has been in the national political spotlight.

“Minnesota received national attention when Democrats Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale were nominated for president twice, and vice president three times, between 1964 and 1984,” said David Sturrock, professor of political science at Southwest Minnesota State University. “However, their success had more to do with their own strengths as candidates than any particular Minnesota dynamic.”

Sturrock said other Minnesotans have run for president since the 1960s, but with less success. Those candidates have included Eugene McCarthy, Tim Pawlenty, Michele Bachmann and Amy Klobuchar.

“It appears that Kamala Harris has chosen Tim Walz as her running mate on the hope he will be an effective campaigner this fall, and a useful governing partner should they win in November. It remains to be seen if he will pull many extra votes in rural areas, given that those areas have become sharply more Republican over the last decade, both in Minnesota and elsewhere,” Sturrock said. “While Walz was elected to Congress six times in southern Minnesota, his margins narrowed steadily, and his Republican opponents dominated in most greater Minnesota counties when he was elected governor in 2018 and 2022.”

If Harris and Walz are elected in November, Lieutenant Gov. Peggy Flanagan would become Minnesota governor, under the state Constitution. Sturrock said the current president of the Minnesota Senate, Bobby Joe Champion, DFL-Minneapolis, would then apparently become lieutenant governor while also keeping his Senate position.

“Similar situations have occurred 10 times since statehood, most recently when Michelle Fischbach served in both roles in 2018,” Sturrock said. Changing that practice would take a constitutional amendment submitted to Minnesota voters, he said.

Walz has made a number of appearances the Marshall area over the past several years, from campaign stops to visits as governor. One meet-and-greet with the public was held just weeks after his first inauguration in 2019, at the 19 & 75 Cafe in Ivanhoe. In early 2020, Walz toured the National Guard Armory in Marshall, and addressed a conference on rural education issues at Southwest Minnesota State University.

This spring, Walz took part in the formal transfer of the former Upper Sioux Agency State Park lands back to the Upper Sioux Community.

As Minnesota governor, and before that as a member of Congress, Walz regularly attended area events like Farmfest. He’s also been among the Democratic politicians and candidates who have attended an annual DFL corn feed in southwest Minnesota. At 2021’s corn feed at the Ted Suss and Janet Marti Farm in rural Lucan, Suss said Walz had come to the event since his first Congressional campaign.

“I tell people (Walz) gave his first ever stump speech as a candidate for Congress from this porch,” Suss said at the 2021 corn feed.