CHICAGO (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz accepted his party’s nomination for vice president Wednesday night, using his Democratic National Convention address to thank the packed arena for “bringing the joy” to an election transformed by the elevation of his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We’re all here tonight for one beautiful, simple, reason: We love this country,” Walz said as thousands of delegates hoisted vertical placards reading “Coach Walz” in red, white and blue.
Ahead of his speech, Benjamin C. Ingman, one of Walz’s old high school students, introduced the man many speakers — and Harris at times — have referred to as “Coach.” At Ingman’s prompting, many of Walz’s former players decked out in their red and white jerseys took the stage to help introduce him.
Many Americans had never heard of Walz until Harris made him her running mate, and the speech was an opportunity to introduce himself. He leaned into his experiences as a football coach, his time in the National Guard and his recounting of his family’s fertility struggles — all parts of his biography that Republicans have questioned in the days since Harris picked him.
While it’s unclear if the speech will attract new voters, he further charmed Democratic supporters with his background and helped to balance Harris’ coastal roots as a cultural representative of Midwestern states whose voters she needs this fall.
Walz described his upbringing in a small Nebraska town of 400 people. In a dig at Republican counterpart JD Vance, Walz said, “I had 24 kids in my high school class, and none of them went to Yale.”
But he spoke about how growing up in a small town teaches you to take care of your neighbors.
“That family down the road — they may not think like you do, they may not pray like you do, 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 said to cheers from the crowd.
“Some folks just don’t understand what it takes to be a good neighbor,” he said. “Take Donald Trump and JD Vance.”
When talking about his time in Congress and as Minnesota’s governor, Walz took several swipes at Republican policies.
“We made sure that every kid in our state gets breakfast and lunch every day,” Walz said. “While other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours.”
Walz also spoke openly about the difficulty conceiving his daughter, Hope. He’s made his family’s struggle with fertility a central part of his narrative, a tangible way to connect with voters alarmed at the erosion of reproductive rights in the U.S.
“If you’ve never experienced infertility, I guarantee you know someone who has,” Walz said Wednesday, after which Hope made a heart with her hands and held it over her chest.
His son, Gus, openly wept throughout the speech, wiping his eyes with tissues while watching from the front row. Through tears he mouthed, “That’s my dad.”
AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
Gus Walz cries as his father Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during the Democratic National Convention Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago.
But Walz has been accused of embellishing his background. His wife this week clarified that she did not undergo in vitro fertilization, as Walz has repeatedly claimed, but used other fertility treatments.
Republicans also have criticized Walz for a 2018 comment he made about carrying weapons in war. Though he served in the National Guard for 24 years, he did not deploy to a war zone.
Walz’s speech followed former President Bill Clinton who returned to the Democratic convention stage to denounce Donald Trump, firing up his party with his trademark off-the-cuff flourishes.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during the Democratic National Convention Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago.
“We’ve got a pretty clear choice it seems to me. Kamala Harris, for the people. And the other guy who has proved, even more than the first go-around, that he’s about me, myself and I,” Clinton said.
Of the Harris-Walz ticket, Clinton implored delegates, “If you can get them elected and let them bring in this breath of fresh air, you will be proud of it for the rest of your life.”
“Your children will be proud of it,” he said. “Your grandchildren will be proud of it.”
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