Minnesota governor Tim Walz accepted the Democratic party’s vice-presidential nomination by emphasizing his rural bonafides and Americana background as a teacher and coach in more sweeping speech than the unassuming midwesterner has given before.
“You might not know it, but I haven’t given a lot of big speeches like this,” Walz said as he closed out Wednesday’s Democratic convention in Chicago. “But I have given a lot of pep talks.”
The former football coach laid out the metaphor as the crowd again chanted: “It’s the fourth quarter. We’re down a field goal, but we’re on offense and we’ve got the ball. We’re driving down the field, and boy do we have the right team. Kamala Harris is tough, Kamala Harris is experienced, and Kamala Harris is ready.”
The pep talk capped off a well-received speech full of Walzian refrains – that he knows what small-town neighborliness is, that his time in the classroom taught him about public service. He walked out to John Mellencamp’s Small Town, amid a sea of signs that said “Coach Walz”. The crowd chanted “coach” as Walz put his hand to his heart.
Almost immediately, Walz leaned in to his rural upbringing. “I grew up in Butte, Nebraska, a town of 400 people. I had 24 kids in my high school class, and none of them went to Yale,” Walz said, taking a swipe at Donald Trump’s vice-presidential pick, JD Vance.
He described growing up in a small town and the tolerance that was required for respecting your neighbors. “We’ve got a golden rule,” he said, as the crowd began to finish one of his common lines on the campaign trail. “Mind your own damn business.”
Walz also focused on his background in the military service, which Republicans have attacked in recent days, and as a public school teacher in Mankato, Minnesota, where he taught social studies and coached the high school football team. “Never underestimate a public school teacher,” he said.
Like many other speakers on Wednesday night, he built on the days’s theme of freedom and pointed to the conservative manifesto backed by Trump allies, Project 2025.
“That’s what this is all about, the responsibility we have to our kids, to each other and to the future that we’re building together, in which everyone is free to build the kind of life they want,” Walz said. “But not everyone has that same sense of responsibility. Some folks just don’t understand what it takes to be a good neighbor. Take Donald Trump and JD Vance.”
“Their Project 2025 will make things much, much harder for people who are just trying to live their lives. They spent a lot of time pretending they know nothing about this. But look, I coached high school football long enough to know and trust me on this. When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re going to use it,” he said.
During Walz’s speech, his family was visibly moved, with clips of his emotional son circulating as his father spoke.
The main stage speech came at the end of another dynamic night at the convention. The audience heard from former president Bill Clinton and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi as well as rising stars in the party, Maryland governor Wes Moore and transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg. And there were interludes from comedian Kenan Thompson and actor Mindy Kaling.
But perhaps the most rousing speech was from a surprise guest, Oprah Winfrey, the Chicago-based talk show host and political independent who called on fellow independents to rally around the Harris-Walz ticket. “Values and character matter most of all. In leadership and in life”, she said. “And more than anything, you know this is true: decency and respect are on the ballot in 2024.”
Meanwhile, Walz’s place on the ticket has catapulted Minnesota to the forefront. The state isn’t a swing state, but his record is notable for Democrats. A trifecta in the Minnesota house, senate and governorship has allowed the party to pass a spate of progressive policies, including universal free school meals, gun safety measures, clean energy mandates, child tax credits and more.
The North Star state featured heavily on Wednesday’s stage before Walz’s speech. John Legend and Sheila E performed a tribute to Prince, a Minneapolis native near-synonymous with the state, playing Let’s Go Crazy as the room was lit up purple.
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Keith Ellison, the Minnesota attorney general and a Walz friend, said Walz called him after the murder of George Floyd by police and asked him to prosecute the case. Walz and Harris “know that nobody is above the law, and nobody is below the law”, Ellison said.
Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar introduced Walz, alongside Ben Ingman, a former student and neighbor of the Walzes. Football players and the former head coach from Walz’s Mankato West teams joined Ingman on the stage. “Tim Walz is the kind of guy who will push you out of a snowbank,” Ingman said. “I know this because Tim Walz pushed me out of a snowbank.”
Klobuchar talked about how Walz’s attributes, such as how he has a viral video about changing a headlight and that he’s a “dad in plaid”, make him perfect for the VP role. “A former public school teacher knows how to school the likes of JD Vance,” she said.
Elementary students from Moreland Arts & Health Sciences magnet school in St Paul, Minnesota led the pledge of allegiance; the students benefitted from the universal free school meals program that has become a key accomplishment of the Walz administration. And Jess Davis, a math teacher who was Minnesota’s teacher of the year in 2019, sang the national anthem.
After the speech, the Minnesota delegation celebrated on the convention floor, chanting Walz’s name and cheering.
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