Nate Silver says Kamala Harris made a 'mistake' with Tim Walz

Statistician Nate Silver has suggested that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz may not have been Kamala Harris' best choice for running mate.

In a written online conversation published in The New York Timesauthor Frank Bruni Silver, founder of poll aggregator 538 and author of the Silver Bulletin newsletter, asked whether he thought Harris should have taken a different path.

“As a founding member of She Shoulda Picked Shapiro, I think it’s relatively clear now that she made a mistake,” Silver responded.

“Pennsylvania seems to be a little behind the other blue wall states. Meanwhile, Walz was mediocre in debate, and in his public appearances he was mediocre and nervous.”

However, Silver added that former President Donald Trump's running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, was a “worse” choice.

He said Vance's choice was made “at a time when the Trump campaign was getting really cocky – this was back when Biden was still running and they couldn't imagine that Democrats would muster the power to replace him.” , which you had just had.” Trump took a shot in Pennsylvania, and they thought they couldn't possibly lose. He remains one of the most unpopular candidates in modern history.

Newsweek The Harris campaign emailed for comment.

Shapiro was among the leading candidates to be Harris' running mate, but the vice president chose Minnesota's governor instead in August.

Harris had been leading Trump in Shapiro's state of Pennsylvania since July, but late last month a compilation of 538 statewide polls showed Trump had narrowly overtaken her – albeit just.

At the time of writing, the Republican was ahead by a tiny 0.1 points, indicating a dead heat in the Keystone State – one of the key battleground states that will likely play a crucial role in deciding who will replace President Joe Biden .

Since 1948, no Democrat has won the White House without Pennsylvania. With 19, it has more Electoral College votes than any other swing state.

Silver had previously expressed doubts about Harris' selection of Walz as her running mate in one of his October 9 episodes Risky business Podcast: “I’m not into Tim Walz.”

He went on to call Walz “good” but criticized his Oct. 1 debate performance against his Republican counterpart.

Silver said Walz “was obviously extremely nervous for the first 15 minutes of the debate, which is the part that people often remember.”

He added that while the debate wouldn't matter much in the end, it was Walz's “only job,” so “he should really get to the heart of this debate.”

Silver also said Walz was “not very good tactically at going against JD Vance,” whom he described as “an objectively better debater.”

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