Tim Walz’s 17-year-old son Gus stole the show with an emotional display of family fealty as his father delivered his acceptance speech at the Democratic national convention in Chicago.
After the elder Walz described the painful process of starting a family using fertility treatment, television cameras focused on Gus as he stood up, with tears pouring down his face, and pointed to the stage mouthing: “That’s my dad.”
The moment overshadowed other parts of a widely-praised 17-minute speech from the Democratic vice-presidential nominee and captured the attention of watching TV commentators and social media.
“Tim Walz was 100 percent pitch perfect, grand slam, touchdown in every possible way. And yet somehow Gus Walz was even better,” posted Kate Bedingfield, former White House communications director.
“I love Gus Walz,” Jen Psaki, a former White House press secretary said on MSNBC. “I’m going to start ugly crying just talking about him.”
On CNN, Dana Bash said: “That is the clip-and-save moment that everyone is going to be seeing. If you didn’t get moved by that moment, I don’t even know. What a remarkable moment just in American life.”
The emotional scenes also captured the attention of conservative Fox News, where hosts Martha MacCallum and Dana Perino talked about how moving it was.
Even before what has now become a seminal moment, Gus seemed in tune with the symbolism and political impact of his father’s words.
“It took Gwen and I years to conceive, but we had access to fertility treatments and when our daughter was born, we named her Hope,” Walz told the gathering. At that point, Gus, already in tears, pointed meaningfully to his 23-year-old sister sitting beside him.
He stood up, put his hand over his heart and mouthed “that’s my dad” when Walz delivered his next line: “Hope, Gus and Gwen, you are my entire world and I love you.”
After the speech, Gus, climbed on the stage with his mother and sister and hugged his father, burying his face in his shoulder.
Tim Walz and his wife, Gwen, both former teachers, recently disclosed that their son Gus has a non-verbal learning disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, as well as an anxiety disorder.
In a recent statement to People magazine, the couple described how they noticed Gus’s condition at an early age but never considered it an obstacle.
“Like so many American families, it took us time to figure out how to make sure we did everything we could to make sure Gus would be set up for success as he was growing up,” they said.
“It took time, but what became so immediately clear to us was that Gus’ condition is not a setback – it’s his secret power.”