CHICAGO — Tim Walz, the little-known governor of Minnesota when Kamala Harris tapped him as her running mate 15 days ago, introduced himself Wednesday night as the product of a small-town America tolerant of diversity of people, lifestyles and choices.
“You learn to take care of each other,” said Walz, who grew up in Nebraska and settled in Minnesota. “That family down the road, they may not think like you, they may not pray like you, they may not love like you do. But they’re your neighbors, and you look out for them, and they look out for you.”
Walz, a former high school teacher who not only coached the state champion football team but volunteered as faculty adviser to the school’s gay-straight student alliance, offered a folksy take on what it means to be a progressive and reproductive rights supporter in a purple state.
“In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and the personal choices they make,” Walz said. “Even if we don’t make those same choices for ourselves, we’ve got a golden rule — mind your own damn business.”
Up in Section 101 of the United Center, Walz had an enthusiastic rooting section in the Connecticut delegation from Congressman Joe Courtney, a classmate from the watershed election of 2006, and Gov. Ned Lamont, who was elected governor in Connecticut in 2018, the same year as Walz in Minnesota.
Walz successfully pursued some of the same policies as did Lamont, including tax cuts and passage of paid family and medical leave policy, and Democratic governors were gratified to see Harris choose him as her running mate, Lamont said.
“We want a voice in that administration,” Lamont said. “We want to know somebody that we know and trust, who understands everything we’re going through, that we can go to. And that’s Tim. If you ask the governors who they love, they say Tim Walz.”
Courtney and Walz were among the 22 Democrats who unseated Republicans in 2006 — Courtney in a squeaker settled by a recount, and Walz in a relatively comfortable, yet thoroughly unexpected, upset in a GOP district. Another eight Democrats won open GOP seats, ending Republicans’ 12-year House majority.
The third night of the four-night Democratic National Convention featured Bill Clinton and Nancy Pelosi, supported by other Democrats, as well as Republicans and a U.S. Capitol police officer, in drawing contrasts between the Democratic ticket and Republican team of Donald J. Trump and J.D. Vance.
When they were not about introducing Walz, the speeches were delivered in the service of one overarching message: Trump is unfit for office, and his return to the White House would bring chaos and an agenda geared to only one interest: Trump.
“Let’s cut to the chase: The stakes are too high, and I’m too old to gild the lily. I actually turned 78 two days ago,” said Clinton, his voice noticeably weaker than when he left office nearly 24 years ago. He paused one beat, then added, “And I’m still not quite as old as Donald Trump.”
The crowd laughed and cheered.
“In 2024, we have a clear choice: ‘We the People’ versus ‘Me, Myself and I,’” Clinton said. “I know which one I like better for our country. Kamala Harris will solve problems, seize opportunities, ease our fears, and make sure that every American can chase their dreams.”
Geoff Duncan, the former Republican lieutenant governor of Georgia, looked past his partisan Democratic audience in the arena to Republicans watching at home, telling them they can vote for Harris and remain true to their values.
“If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024, you’re not a Democrat — you’re a patriot,” Duncan said.
Pelosi talked about the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump supporters tried to stop Vice President Mike Pence from certifying Biden’s victory.
”Let us not forget who assaulted democracy on Jan. 6. He did,” Pelosi said of Trump. “But let us not forget who saved democracy that day. We did.”
Oprah Winfrey was a surprise speaker. She complained that Republicans are trying to undermine public education by suggesting books are dangerous but assault rifles are safe.
Winfrey said complicated times require adult leadership.
Pete Buttigieg, the secretary of transportation and Afghanistan veteran, took Vance to task for his claims that only Americans with children had a stake in its future.
“You know, senator, when I was deployed to Afghanistan, I didn’t have kids,” said Buttigieg, who is meeting Thursday morning with Connecticut’s delegates. “Some of the men and women who went outside the wire with me did not have kids. But let me tell you, our commitment to the future of this country was nothing if not physical.”
Buttigieg said Vance would amplify Trump’s worst traits.
“Choosing a guy like JD Vance to be America’s next vice president sends a message all right: Doubling down on negativity and grievance, a concept of campaigning best summed up in one word: darkness. That’s what they are selling. But I just don’t think America is in the market for more darkness right now.”
Walz, 60, who credited Social Security survivor benefits for getting his family through the death of his father and the GI Bill for getting him through college, grew up in Nebraska and settled in Minnesota, where he taught high school and coached football before entering politics.
He said there were 24 students in his graduating class.
“None of them went to Yale,” he said.
That was dig at Vance, who grew up in a dysfunctional family in a fading Ohio mill town, then joined the Marines and eventually attended college and Yale Law School, as he recounted in a best-selling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”
“A former football coach knows how to level the playing field, and a former public school teacher knows how to school the likes of JD Vance,” said Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard, retiring as a master sergeant to run for Congress. In Congress,
Trump’s co-campaign manager, Chris LaCivita, who advised Republican campaigns in Connecticut, was the architect behind the “swift boat” attacks that hindered Democratic nominee John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign and called into question his service and the combat awards he got during the Vietnam War.
Democrats expect the Trump campaign to keep up the attacks against Walz’s military service, but Courtney does not think they will stick to Harris’ running mate like they did to Kerry.
“He’s a very strong person and I think he is not fazed by it. I do think [the Trump campaign] is still going to keep picking at this. [LaCivita] obviously thinks that he is onto something that’s there,” Courtney said. “But honestly I just think that some of the pushback from Minnesota in terms of the people from the Guard who totally dismiss the validity of any of these attacks to me is really encouraging.”
Courtney said Walz’ service draws a contrast with Trump, who called the Presidential Medal of Freedom is “much better” than the Medal of Honor, which is the highest military award in the country. Facing blowback, he has since tried to walk back those comments by calling it the “ultimate” award while noting “it is a painful thing to get it.”
Courtney said the condemnation from the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which called the former president’s comments “asinine,” was very telling.
“This thing has really hit a really raw nerve for people,” Courtney said.
Courtney was one of the few Connecticut Democrats to publicly endorse him ahead of Harris selecting her running mate. He said his text chain with members of Congress from the class of 2006 “are just giddy” about Walz’s political ascension.
In the two weeks since Walz was added to the ticket, Republicans, namely Trump’s running mate JD Vance, have scrutinized Walz’ 24 years of service in the Army National Guard — the timing of his retirement to run for Congress and his past statements about his service.
Walz said he “misspoke” when he made a past reference about “weapons of war that I carried in war.” Walz never served in combat. Vance was deployed to Iraq as a Marine and served as a military journalist. Courtney said Walz was instrumental in updating the GI Bill, increasing benefits and making them transferable to children.
Courtney said Walz was blunt, funny and effective in passing legislation, even if he sometimes balked at formal speeches. Walz has said he is unfamiliar with teleprompters and arena-size audiences.
“I haven’t given a lot of speeches like this,” Walz said Wednesday night. “But I’ve given a lot of pep talks.”
This story was originally published by the Connecticut Mirror.
