Watch Tim Walz’s closing statement from the 2024 VP debate

In his closing remarks at Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he was “surprised as anybody” at the support Vice President Kamala Harris has garnered from a broad spectrum of political beliefs. 

“Support of democracy matters,” Walz said at the end of the debate, which was hosted by CBS News in New York. “I’m as surprised as anybody of this coalition that Kamala Harris has built, from Bernie Sanders to Dick Cheney to Taylor Swift and a whole bunch of folks in between there.” 

“They don’t all agree on everything, but they are truly optimistic people,” he continued. “They believe in a positive future of this country, and one where our politics can be better than it is.” 

He said Harris stands for an “opportunity economy that works for everyone” and “the idea that freedom really means something, not the freedom of government to be in your bedroom or exam room, but the freedom for you to make choices about yourself.” 

Walz said voters “know who Donald Trump is,” and GOP Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, his opponent, “made it clear he will stand with Donald Trump’s agenda” during the debate. 

Harris provides a different option, he said. 

“Kamala Harris is bringing us a politics of joy,” he said. “She’s bringing real solutions for the middle class, and she’s centering you at the heart of that.”