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Tim Walz has defied progressives’ purity tests. They don’t care.

Vice President Kamala Harris’s announcement this week that she had chosen the Minnesota governor as her running mate was met with enthusiasm from Democrats across the ideological spectrum. One reaction in particular stood out: the Democratic Socialists of America, a left-wing group that has seen its ranks grow since Trump’s election, celebrated the pick as evidence “that DSA and our allies on the left are a force that cannot be ignored.”

The statement was roundly met with mockery — it’s hard to convey just how little influence the organization commands within the Harris campaign. But it was noteworthy posturing from a group that spent the 2020 Democratic primary contest as a sort of progressive pied piper, insisting that even the most aggressive Medicare for All proposals, like that of Elizabeth Warren, were immorally unambitious.

That the left-of-left felt the incentive to align itself with Walz embodies a broader change within the party. After ambitious proposals and strict litmus tests — from the Green New Deal to “abolish ICE” — defined progressivism during the Trump presidency, Democrats’ left flank has subtly changed its tone and emphasis, suddenly finding itself comfortable with the party mainstream.

On one level, the Democratic enthusiasm for Walz is predictable. As the ticket barnstormed the Midwest this week, rallying before thousands in Philadelphia, Detroit, and western Wisconsin, all the qualities that endeared him to the liberal onlineosphere the past few weeks were on full display: an avuncular, gun-owning veteran and former teacher able to bounce comfortably between tales of green acres and green energy.

That ability is part of how he counted both Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi as backers during the veepstakes process and how his selection received enthusiastic praise from both Sen. Joe Manchin and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. The unity is itself notable — but the praise from progressives says more.

Walz does not support either Medicare for All, the left’s organizing principle for much of the Trump presidency, or the Green New Deal, the cause for which climate activists once occupied Nancy Pelosi’s office. He not only opposed the “defund the police” movement but also signed a $300 million increase in police funding. During his time in Congress, he was a reliable vote for Israel funding, attending an AIPAC conference and supporting a resolution to condemn UN efforts to constrain Israeli settlements. He once backed measures to expedite the Keystone XL pipeline, as well as a Republican effort to hold President Obama’s attorney general in congressional contempt, which leading Democrats characterized as racially motivated at the time.

And yet, Walz is, by any measure, an unambiguous progressive on most other issues. As a congressman, he opposed foreign interventionism and free trade deals before either became en vogue positions. He was ahead of much of his party on LGBTQ rights and backed Obama’s climate and health care agendas when many other Democrats in competitive districts balked. As governor, he signed a geyser of liberal legislation, establishing parental and medical leave, universal school lunches, and clean energy standards, while also legalizing cannabis, expanding labor rights, and codifying abortion rights into state law.

The fact that it is those stances that are garnering attention speaks to a clear change in how progressivism is measured.

“I think people are a little more pragmatic this time around,” said Rob Todaro, communications director for Data for Progress, a progressive polling firm. He emphasized the popularity of proposals like drug pricing reform and tax hikes on the wealthy, pointing to polling the organization has done that has “consistently found” economic populism is the best way for Democrats to move voters. “Walz has a lot of credibility on these issues,” Todaro said. “That’s what voters are telling us they want to hear.”

Walz’s selection comes as Harris has quietly moved right on a range of issues — fracking, border enforcement, health care, assault weapons — which has been partially eclipsed by the two-week whirlwind that has transformed the race. After months of widening Trump leads, national polling averages now place Harris narrowly ahead. Multiple prognosticators agree she’s expanded the electoral map, bringing states like Georgia and Arizona back into play. Amid that frenzy, Harris’s reversals of her previous positions have garnered little attention. But the shift right is unmistakable — and especially notable given that she has made no real moderation on economic issues.

That speaks in some ways to a validation of Walz’s record in Minnesota. “The thing that he's been doing has been fighting back against strong, overwhelming corporate power, standing up for unions and worker power,” said Rep Chris Deluzio, who represents a western Pennsylvania district Biden narrowly carried in 2020. Asked whether the pairing of economic populism with more moderate positions on issues like policing demonstrates a change in the left’s mindset, Deluzio, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, demurred. “Whatever the labels people use, this is where the party’s gotta be.”

To be fair, neither member of the ticket could be mistaken for a social moderate. Like Walz in Minnesota, Harris has not backed down from core stances on issues like transgender and abortion rights, the latter of which continues to feature prominently in ads and stump speeches. But whether the campaign acknowledges it or not, its decisions the past few weeks have steered the party into new territory: For nearly a decade, Democratic policy stances on everything from race to drug pricing had moved in tandem leftward. Now, the campaign is executing a partial snapback to the center while doubling down on populist, pro-labor messaging. For some in the party, it’s a welcome change in emphasis. “I constantly worry about our ability to convey that combating elite and concentrated power is our best messaging,” said Sen. Chris Murphy. “I dont always think [Democrats] put that first.”

There are some signs that Democrats’ post-Biden honeymoon may be fraying. On Wednesday night, Harris’s rally in Detroit was interrupted by anti-war, pro-Palestinian activists chanting, “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide. We won’t vote for genocide.” After an initial attempt to head them off, she dismissed the protesters by saying, “If you want Donald Trump to win, say that,” a response met with anger among the online activists whose favor the campaign has courted.

But for now, two weeks to the day before Harris’s convention speech in Chicago, the ticket is in an enviable position, with good news on fundraising numbers, crowd size, and polling to celebrate. For a party that had nearly resigned itself to a Trump victory a month ago, it’s an almost surreal position. And for the progressive movement that has struggled to gain a lasting foothold, it’s a sign that change might not be a bad thing. 

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