experience counts II

[calimac]

I already provided a list of the previous public office experience of each non-incumbent Republican Vice Presidential candidate since the end of WW2; here, a little slower off the mark (but I've had this sitting on my desktop for weeks and wanted to deal with it) are the Democrats:

Alban Barkley, 1948: DA 3 years, county judge 4 years, US House 14 years, US Senate 21+ years
John Sparkman, 1952: US House 10 years, US Senate 5+ years
Estes Kefauver, 1956: US House 9 years, US Senate 7+ years
Lyndon Johnson, 1960: US House 12 years, US Senate 11+ years
Hubert Humphrey, 1964: mayor 3 years, US Senate 15+ years
Edmund Muskie, 1968: state legislature 5 years, Governor 4 years, US Senate 9+ years
Thomas Eagleton, 1972: DA 4 years, Attorney General 4 years, Lt Governor 4 years, US Senate 3+ years
Sargent Shriver, 1972: city board 6 years, US agency director 7 years, ambassador 2 years
Walter Mondale, 1976: Attorney General 4 years, US Senate 11+ years
Geraldine Ferraro, 1984: Asst DA 5 years, US House 5+ years
Lloyd Bentsen, 1988: administrative judge 2 years, US House 6 years, US Senate 17+ years
Al Gore, 1992: US House 8 years, US Senate 7+ years
Joe Lieberman, 2000: state legislature 10 years, Attorney General 6 years, US Senate 11+ years
John Edwards, 2004: US Senate 5+ years
Joe Biden, 2008: county council 2 years, US Senate 35+ years
Tim Kaine, 2016: city council 4 years, mayor 3 years, Lt Governor 4 years, Governor 4 years, US Senate 3+ years
Kamala Harris, 2020: Asst DA 12 years, DA 7 years, Attorney General 6 years, US Senate 3+ years
Tim Walz, 2024: US House 12 years, Governor 5+ years

Note the predominance of senators. Tim Walz is only the third in all that time never to have been one, a much rarer thing than among the Republicans. He is, however, the second Tim to have served as running mate to a female presidential candidate, a fact I have not seen noted.

Comments

Walz

[lsanderson]

Tim Walz seemed like weak tea after Mark Dayton, but then the Republicans lost the senate after years of supporting (it's claimed anyway) various pro marjuana parties in the state to dilute the vote, and suddenly it was like sunshine on a cloudy day and the DFL got the senate. The Republicans screamed as the logjam came down the river, but they couldn't stop it. Because it's Minnesota, so much has come out about Tim Walz since he became the VP candidate, that I don't think many, if anyone, in Minnesota knew.

[ckd]

And it took until 1972(b) for the first non-Senator - if Eagleton had stayed on the ticket then, Geraldine Ferraro could have had another first to her name.