Aug. 22, 2024, 1:34 a.m.
CHICAGO—Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz exploited his folksy Midwestern charm to both introduce himself to the country and court some rural, working-class voters, as he formally accepted the vice presidential nomination at the Democratic convention Wednesday night.
“Now, I grew up in a town in Butte, Nebraska, a town of 400 people. I had 24 kids in my high school class, and none of them went to Yale,” said Walz, in a subtle dig at Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, the Ivy League-educated Republican vice presidential nominee.
It rounded off a remarkable fortnight for the former geography teacher, who just two weeks ago was a relatively unknown governor in a lean-blue state. He had been considered a long shot to be Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate.
Peppering much of his speech with football references, the former high school coach drew on this underdog status during his monologue.
“You might not know it, but I haven’t given a lot of big speeches like this," he said. "But I have given a lot of pep talks. So let me finish with this, team. It’s the fourth quarter, we’re down a field goal, but we’re on offense and we’ve got the ball.”
As a House member for more than 12 years before running for governor, Walz was able to reach out to centrists in his rural, conservative district even on divisive issues. He showed that same ability Wednesday night when laying out his position on gun control.
“I know guns. I’m a veteran,” said Walz, who served as an Army national guardsman for 24 years. “I’m a hunter, and I was a better shot than most Republicans in Congress, and I’ve got the trophies to prove it. But I’m also a dad. I believe in the Second Amendment, but I also believe our first responsibility is to keep our kids safe.”
His tone and his target audience evoked former President Clinton, who spoke earlier in the evening. Like Walz, Clinton was a governor of a state in middle America. Both have represented a large number of rural voters—Walz was the congressman for Minnesota’s 1st District, a large rural area—and won their support.
Rural voters have been leaking through Democratic fingers ever since Clinton won reelection in 1996. That year, the president won an estimated 1,117 rural counties. Twelve years later, Barack Obama won 455. In 2020, Joe Biden claimed just 194 such jurisdictions.
“By all accounts, he was a crack shot who had the courage to say to his rural constituents we do not need these assault weapons that can kill our kids in school,” Clinton, who famously signed the 1994 crime bill that temporarily banned assault weapons, said of Walz.
Clinton—who presided over the economic boom of the 1990s—also touted the long-term jobs record of the Democratic Party.
“Since the end of the Cold War in 1989, America has created about 51 million new jobs,” Clinton said. Democrats, he said, are responsible for 50 million of those.
PolitiFact reported in March that in the past 35 years, 97 percent of the 50.6 million new jobs were created under Democratic presidents. There are caveats, though. Democratic presidents held the White House longer, and much of that job creation was also under a Republican-controlled Congress.
Walz sought to create contrast with the Republicans, panning their positions on abortion access and education while touting his party’s commitment to expanding access to health care and school lunches.
“While other states were banning books from their school, we were banishing hunger from ours,” he said.
The third day of the convention wasn’t exclusively about introducing one half of the historic Democratic ticket, though. Potential future leaders including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore also pitched themselves to the party faithful.
As has become his habit, Shapiro channeled Obama’s rhetorical style in his speech, speaking in a cadence mirroring the former president’s famous 2004 convention speech that catapulted him to national fame.
“I want you to know I have never been more hopeful, because I see in all of you the enduring promise of America—‘e pluribus unum’—out of many, one,” Shapiro said. “It's not merely a motto from the past; it's our direction for the future.”
The crowd, a little weary after another day of speeches that overran the schedule, still lapped up Shapiro’s address.
They reserved bigger applause for Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has already run for president and is expected to run again at some point.
“Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear myself saying: I’m Pete Buttigieg, and you might recognize me from Fox News,” the former South Bend mayor opened, referencing his many appearances to defend Democratic policies on Fox.
Buttigieg cited snippets from his own biography as he laid into Vance, needling former President Trump’s running mate over his past statements that those without children “don’t have any physical commitment to this country.”
“When I deployed to Afghanistan, I didn’t have kids,” said Buttigieg, a former Naval reserve officer. “Many of the men and women who went outside the wire with me didn’t have kids either, but let me tell you, our commitment to the future of this country was pretty damn physical.”
As Buttigieg left the stage, the crowd chanted “Pete, Pete, Pete.”
Some star names from outside the political universe also regaled the rowdy crowd: Oprah Winfrey delivered a speech, Stevie Wonder a tune, and Saturday Night Live comedian Kenan Thompson a joke or two, using as a prop a gargantuan book that contained Project 2025 plans pushed by Trump allies at the Heritage Foundation.
But the night belonged to a man who grew up on the humble prairies of Nebraska, who lit up the crowd with a concise, 15-minute speech. Many Democrats have acknowledged in recent weeks they didn’t know much about Walz, but they were effusive in their praise of the new vice presidential nominee.
“He looks like a TV dad from a sitcom, but yet he’s got a lot of passion, a lot of energy, a lot of fire for what he’s doing,” said Michigan delegate Kevin Tolbert.
“Living in rural Ohio myself, he represents who we are and where we come from,” said Buckeye State delegate Sophia Rodriguez. “We’re talking farmland, Friday night football games, [and] family.”
Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who ran in the primaries against President Biden, says he believes Walz has a chance to regain some of the voters who may have opted for Clinton back in the ‘90s.
“My hope is that our party showcases that as a place where disaffected Republicans, independents can actually congregate,” Phillips told National Journal on Tuesday night. “Tim Walz has a unique opportunity to start making that appeal to a lot of Americans who have left the Democratic Party, and the same people that the Democratic Party turned their backs on.”
