--- title: How Tim Walz 'Missed the Most Important Call of His Life' description: When Harris initially called Walz to ask him to officially be her running mate, things didn't exactly go to plan. canonical: https://time.com/7011311/tim-walz-kamala-harris-missed-call-vice-president-pick-reason/ author: Rebecca Schneid article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-08-15T14:52:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T18:09:12.945Z article:section: Politics og:title: How Tim Walz 'Missed the Most Important Call of His Life' og:description: When Harris initially called Walz to ask him to officially be her running mate, things didn't exactly go to plan. og:url: https://time.com/7011311/tim-walz-kamala-harris-missed-call-vice-president-pick-reason/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5346f7709298d16a/698a59b79862f5c176896042/Tim-Walz-August-6-Rally.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Tim-Walz-August-6-Rally. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Tim Walz 'Missed the Most Important Call of His Life' twitter:description: When Harris initially called Walz to ask him to officially be her running mate, things didn't exactly go to plan. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5346f7709298d16a/698a59b79862f5c176896042/Tim-Walz-August-6-Rally.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Tim Walz Missed the 'Most Important Call of His Life' With Kamala Harris > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Rebecca Schneid](https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/)  ## Rebecca Schneid Reporter Aug 15, 2024 2:52 PM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, and Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, walk out on stage together during a campaign event on Aug. 6, 2024, in Philadelphia. Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, and Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, walk out on stage together during a campaign event on Aug. 6, 2024, in Philadelphia. Andrew Harnik—Getty Images  by [Rebecca Schneid](https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/)  ## Rebecca Schneid Reporter Aug 15, 2024 2:52 PM UTC In a new clip posted to Kamala Harris’ TikTok account, the Democratic presidential candidate and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, reminisced on the moment that she called him to officially ask him to run in the 2024 race with her. And it turns out that things didn’t quite go to plan, despite what the [initial video of the moment](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTNnydsvv/) would suggest. “I called you, Tim. You didn’t answer, Tim,” Harris tells Walz in the new video, laughing. “What happened?” “I know, I know,” Walz responds. “The most important call of my life. It popped up, and we didn’t recognize the caller ID and it went to voicemail.” The video then switches to the behind-the-scenes moment that shows Harris calling Walz and being sent to voicemail. Harris and her team can be heard laughing. “Hey Tim. It’s Kamala. I really want to talk to you,” Harris says to Walz’s voicemail. The video ends with Tim saying that it’s an “amazing privilege” to run with Harris, and that he just wants to be “a part of the excitement.” The video is just the most recent iteration of Harris utilizing TikTok and her now 4.5 million followers on the app to spread messaging. When Harris first announced Walz as her Vice President pick, she did so with a signature video of her conversation with Walz. **Read More**:[_Trump Responds to Tim Walz Calling Him and J.D. Vance ‘Weird’_](https://time.com/7009800/donald-trump-responds-weird-label-jd-vance-tim-walz-commentary/) “Listen, I want you to do this with me. Let's do this together. Would you be my running mate? And let’s get this thing on the road?” Harris asked Walz in the video, smiling. Walz first broke the news that he had missed Harris’ phone call in a [video posted to X (formerly Twitter)](https://x.com/tim%5Fwalz/status/1822801404185989230?s=46), where he recapped his first week as the Democratic vice presidential candidate. In the video, he said the week started with him “missing a phone call from the Vice President. Pretty important one.” One of the most popular comments on the TikTok video of Walz and Harris’ conversation reads: “Nothing is more relatable as not answering the phone because you don’t recognize the caller.” This speaks to the Harris campaign’s strategy so far with Walz: relatability. Walz’s [“Midwestern dad”](https://time.com/7009644/tim-walz-midwest-jd-vance/) appeal—his plainspoken, Midwestern communication style—has seemingly been deployed by the Harris campaign. Another strategy being used by the Democratic Party focuses on labeling [the GOP candidates as “weird.”](https://time.com/7009800/donald-trump-responds-weird-label-jd-vance-tim-walz-commentary/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7011311/tim-walz-kamala-harris-missed-call-vice-president-pick-reason/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7011311/tim-walz-kamala-harris-missed-call-vice-president-pick-reason/"},"headline":"How Tim Walz Missed the 'Most Important Call of His Life' With Kamala Harris","datePublished":"2024-08-15T14:52:30.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T18:09:12.945Z","description":"When Harris initially called Walz to ask him to officially be her running mate, things didn't exactly go to plan.","url":"https://time.com/7011311/tim-walz-kamala-harris-missed-call-vice-president-pick-reason/","keywords":["Kamala Harris","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5346f7709298d16a/698a59b79862f5c176896042/Tim-Walz-August-6-Rally.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rebecca Schneid","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/rebecca-schneid/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5346f7709298d16a/698a59b79862f5c176896042/Tim-Walz-August-6-Rally.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Tim-Walz-August-6-Rally.","caption":"Kamala Harris And Running Mate Tim Walz Make First Appearance Together In Philadelphia","creditText":"Andrew Harnik—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/kamala-harris/","name":"Kamala Harris"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7011311/tim-walz-kamala-harris-missed-call-vice-president-pick-reason/","name":"How Tim Walz Missed the 'Most Important Call of His Life' With Kamala Harris"}}]}] ```