Tim Walz vs. JD Vance: How Kamala Harris, Donald Trump's VP picks match up

The VP has picked her VP. And now that Vice President Kamala Harris has officially selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her 2024 running mate, he'll go up against Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, Trump’s named no. 2.

Walz enters the national ring weeks after Vance was formally nominated at the Republican National Convention, where the GOP touted the millennial senator's conservative credentials and ties to a pivotal Midwest state.

Still, Vance has faced some criticism in recent weeks. The junior senator recently came under fire for comments about Americans without biological children – a demographic that includes Harris – referring to them as “childless cat ladies” with “no direct stake” in America, in a 2021 interview with Fox News.

'A quip': Usha Vance, JD Vance's wife, defends his 'childless cat ladies' comments

Vance’s controversy, coupled with rising excitement over Harris’ jump to the top of the ticket, has given Democrats a boost less than 100 days to Election Day.

But how long will that boost last? Harris tapping Walz sets the stage for a contentious match-up between the experienced Midwestern governor and fresh-faced senator with a few years in Washington.

So how does Walz stack up to Vance?

On a slew of issues, Walz and Vance are generally aligned with their running mates – and distinct from one another.

Vance has been an outspoken opponent of abortion ? an issue expected to play a key role in 2024 ? but backed Trump’s public position of leaving decisions around restrictions to individual states. However, the senator has said previously he would "like abortion to be illegal nationally."

Walz is more in lockstep with Harris, as an equally vocal supporter of reproductive rights on the campaign trail. And the same dynamic plays out between Trump and Vance – and Harris and Walz – on issues ranging from climate change to immigration and more.

Across the board, though, Vance in recent years has doubled down on Trump’s stances. His position as a MAGA-megaphone made Vance a more unusual choice, said Joel Goldstein, a vice-presidential scholar at Saint Louis University.

“It wasn't a pick that seemed to reach out to a different sector of the Republican Party, or to unify the party or the country,” Goldstein told USA TODAY. “It seemed that Senator Vance was, of all the candidates, the one who had gone to the greatest lengths to associate himself with former President Trump.”

Keeping up with election 2024? Sign up for USA TODAY's On Politics newsletter for everything you need to know.

Harris picking Walz also doesn't necessarily represent bringing together differing Democrats.

He has been an ardent supporter of President Joe Biden and was a surrogate for his reelection campaign. After the president’s disastrous debate performance in June, Walz often took to the airwaves to defend Biden and boast about the administration’s accomplishments, even in the face of Democratic doubts.

But what else do Walz and Vance bring to the table? Originally added to the GOP ticket to attract swing state voters and face a former senator from California ? before Biden bowed out of the 2024 race ? Vance may have a different fight against Walz, a two-term governor with years in politics under his belt.

Now, Vance isn't the only Midwesterner in the game. In naming Walz as her running mate, Harris selected a pro-union Democrat who can speak to the concerns of blue-collar workers in Midwestern states, and beyond.

Walz, 60, has also been governor of Minnesota – a decades-long Democratic stronghold – since 2018, coming off 12 years of representing the state in the U.S. House of Representatives. Walz also served in the Army National Guard and worked as a high school teacher and football coach.

Trump's pick, meanwhile, lacks the experience of a typical vice president, Goldstein said.

Vance, a 40 year old who previously served in the Marines, made his introduction to politics two years ago after rising to fame with his best-selling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.” In his 2022 Senate campaign, he faced a competitive Republican primary and was ultimately boosted by a coveted Trump endorsement.

But in a presidential election, experience isn’t everything, Goldstein cautioned. After all, concerns about Biden and Trump's ages have taken center stage for months.

“The fact that you have X years of experience doesn't mean that you're ready,” he said, “and the fact that you have very little doesn't mean that you're not ready for the national stage.”

But Vance’s greenness may already be taking its toll.

Just under 30% of voters said they have a favorable opinion of the Buckeye State lawmaker, a historic low for a potential vice president, in a CNN/SSRS poll published July 24.

Trump defends Vance: The former president responded to backlash over 'childless cat ladies' comment

“In Vance's case, you don't really have any sort of other indication that he's ready,” Goldstein said. "So then when he gets out on the national stage, and is confronted with damaging clips from his past, and isn't very effective in handling them, it sort of reinforces questions about his inexperience.”

Walz's experience hasn't guaranteed name recognition though, a challenge he'll have to take on ahead of November. Seventy-one percent of Americans said they’ve never heard of Walz or were unsure how to rate him in a NPR/PBS/Marist national survey released this week.

Regardless of their resumes and approaches, in the coming months, Vance and Walz will face a similar challenge. They'll have to make their pitch to voters about why they're the right man for the job.

The country got a taste of Vance's willingness to vehemently defend his running mate and go after their opposition during his speech at the RNC accepting his VP nomination. Vance told the nation that Americans "need" Trump at this moment in history and bashed Biden and Harris' leadership.

Walz will have the same opportunity as he takes up the running mate mantle ahead of the Democratic convention later this month.

But political observers have already seen a slice of how he'll go on offense. When he was simply a vice presidential candidate, Walz coined a new Democratic talking point, bashing Vance and Trump on TV and social media with a now-viral insult against his GOP opponents, labeling them "weird."

"These are weird people on the other side," Walz told MSNBC. "They wanna take books away, they wanna be in your exam room, that's what it comes down to and don't, you know, get sugar-coating this, these are weird ideas. Listen to them speak, listen to how they talk about things."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Walz vs. Vance: How Kamala Harris, Donald Trump's VP picks match up