Walz discussed their stunning defeat in an interview with local Minnesota outlet KSTP on Thursday.
“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,” Walz said. “And it obviously wasn’t at the end of time.”
The governor blamed America for not being “ready” for the campaign’s “positive message.”
“So, yeah, I was a little surprised. I thought we had a positive message, and I thought the country was ready for that,” the governor added.
Walz does not regret running, saying it was a “privilege” to “serve” on the campaign trail.
“It was a privilege to do that. It was a privilege to, when asked to serve, to serve with Vice President Harris,” he said. “I certainly got to see America.”
“Coming back here now and having the privilege to be able to continue to do this work feels really good and I’m actually really looking forward to this legislative session with some different dynamics around it,” Walz said.
The interviewer asked, “So you ended up being the nominee. Do you think ultimately you helped or hurt?”
“History will write that. It wasn’t my decision to make. That was the Vice President’s decision. You know, those, did they make the right? You know, as I said, in this campaign, when you ask the question, are there things you could have done differently? Since we lost, the answer is obviously yes,” Walz replied.
“On this one, I did the best I could,” he added.
The failed vice-presidential candidate also told a story about being first announced as Harris’ running mate at an event in Pennsylvania.
“And then I’m standing at the curtain with the vice president of the United States with 15 or 20,000 people in the national press out there,” he said. “And she turns to me, and she says, well, let’s not screw this up and we went out there.”
