The Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, has been selected as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate.

Like 20% of Minnesota, Walz is Lutheran, and has called Pilgrim Lutheran Church in St. Paul “my parish”.

Whilst Walz is not outspoken about faith, he has nodded to it in speeches. Speaking in April, he told North America’s Building Trade Union conference: “Because we’re good Minnesota Lutherans, we have a rule: If you do something good and talk about it, it no longer counts. So what you have to do is to get someone else to talk about you.”

Lutheran Protestants trace their denomination back to German priest Martin Luther, believing that scripture is the ultimate authority on spiritual matters – in contrast to Roman Catholicism, which believes that both scripture and tradition play a part in defining spiritual doctrine.

Walz’ spirituality was on display in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd. As riots erupted across his home state of Minnesota, Walz hosted a press conference featuring elected officials and local faith leaders. He addressed the crowd, saying:

“This is our Minnesota. This is who we are. This is the decency, this is the compassion, and this is the community of who we are. You hear the passion — no one up here is going to leave justice unserved.”

If elected as Vice President, Walz would be the first Lutheran VP, bar fellow Minnesotan, Hubert Humphrey, who served under Lyndon B Johnson and was raised Lutheran but attended Methodist church after moving to a city without a Lutheran congregation.