My vision of a language like Python would be only 1-way to do things, and in the event someone wants to add a 2nd way, a vote is taken.

By that standard, the walrus operator is not only acceptable but essential. Right now there are at least 3 ways to process data from a non-iterator:

  # 1: loop condition obscures what you're actually testing
  while True:
      data = read_data()
      if not data:
          break
      process(data)

  # 2: 7 lines and a stray variable
  done = False
  while not done:
      data = read_data()
      if data:
          process(data)
      else:
          done = True

  # 3: duplicated read_data call
  data = read_data()
  while data:
      process(data)
      data = read_data()

There's too many options here, and it's annoying for readers to have to parse the code and determine its actual purpose. Clearly we need to replace all of those with:

  while (data := read_data()):
      process(data)

Yes, I'm being a bit snarky, but the point is that there is never just one way to do something. That's why the Zen of Python specifically says one "obvious" way, and the walrus operator creates an obvious way in several scenarios where none exist today.