President Joe Biden has broken his silence on Vice President Kamala Harris‘s first major decision now she is the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee.

“Kamala Harris has made a great decision in choosing Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate,” Biden wrote on social media on Tuesday. “I’ve known Tim Walz for nearly two decades, first during his time in Congress and as Governor. A husband and father, he’s been a school teacher and a high school football coach. He served for 24 years in the Army National Guard and became the highest ranking enlisted soldier to ever serve in Congress. As Governor, he’s been a strong, principled, and effective leader.”

Biden called on Democrats “committed to freedom, democracy, and American leadership in the world” to rally behind the Harris-Walz ticket.

“Every generation of Americans faces a moment where they are asked to defend American democracy,” he wrote. “That moment is now.”

Biden’s relationship with Democrats, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), has been rocky since he came under pressure from members of the party to step down as its standard-bearer after his June debate against former President Donald Trump amid concerns about his age, mental acuity, and electoral prospects.

The White House has repeated that Biden is “proud” of his decision to stand aside as Harris experiences a surge in polling, fundraising, and volunteer numbers compared to the president.

“This morning, the president and vice president spoke on the phone ahead of her official announcement that she selected Gov. Tim Walz as her vice presidential nominee,” White House spokeswoman Emilie Simons told reporters. “The president also spoke with Gov. Walz to congratulate him on his selection.”

Former President Barack Obama, who reportedly expressed concerns about Biden and the election, also praised Harris’s decision, describing Walz as “an ideal partner” for her.

“As governor, Tim helped families and businesses recover from the pandemic, established paid family leave, guaranteed the right to an abortion, and put common sense gun safety measures in place to keep communities safe,” Obama wrote. “But Tim’s signature is his ability to talk like a human being and treat everyone with decency and respect – not all that surprising considering the fact that he served in the National Guard for 24 years and worked as a high school social studies teacher and football coach before being elected to Congress.”

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Meanwhile, the Trump campaign is portraying Harris and Walz as “radical” leftists, with Walz a “West Coast wannabe.”

“From proposing his own carbon-free agenda, to suggesting stricter emission standards for gas-powered cars, and embracing policies to allow convicted felons to vote, Walz is obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and wide,” Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt wrote. “If Walz won’t tell voters the truth, we will: just like Kamala Harris, Tim Walz is a dangerously liberal extremist, and the Harris-Walz California dream is every American’s nightmare.”