Even as America comes to terms with the decision of Joe Biden to pull out of the Presidential race, prominent Irish Americans are lobbying for the return of Marty Walsh — a veteran pol and advocate for working class people who has visited community organisations across Belfast during multiple visits — to serve as running mate of putative Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
In his surprise Sunday afternoon statement announcing the abandonment of his fraught re-election bid, Biden endorsed his Vice-President Kamala Harris - an endorsement swiftly accepted by the former Californian prosecutor and Senator.
But with equal alacrity, senior Irish Democrats have put the name of Marty Walsh - former Mayor of Boston and, under President Biden, Secretary of Labor - into the mix as Harris' running mate.
On behalf of the American people, I thank Joe Biden for his extraordinary leadership as President of the United States and for his decades of service to our country.
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 21, 2024
I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination.
"If Kamala is the choice endorsed by the party, then there will be an urgent need to match her popularity with the progressive Dems with a person who is clearly identifiable with blue-collar America," a senior Irish American Democrat in New York told our sister paper the Irish Echo last night. "And that's even before we factor in the benefits Marty Walsh would bring the campaign when the Republicans turn both barrels on Kamala for, as their attack ads will put it, being out-of-touch with ordinary Americans."
Marty Walsh left public life in 2023 to take up a position as executive director of the National Hockey League Players' Association - effectively the union of professional ice hockey players across North America.
A son of Irish immigrants from Conamara who met in Boston — his mum still lives there — Marty Walsh was regarded as a firm friend of the peace process, travelling on multiple occasions to Belfast and Derry. "President Biden was the best President for the Irish in four generations," said our source. "We won't have the same focus on the peace process under Harris but with Marty Walsh as VP, issues key to the Irish would remain on the agenda in a new Democrat administration. And let's be honest, he's one of a very small number of Democrats who could go toe-to-toe with J.D. Vance and emerge triumphant."
