Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) will bring Midwestern charm with a side of attack dog to the Democratic National Convention when he addresses his party faithful Wednesday.
Vice President Harris’s running mate is tasked with showing Democrats what he can add to the presidential ticket with the biggest speech yet of his political career.
Harris picked Walz because of his ability to take on former President Trump and running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), and the sheer excitement he had sparked among Democratic audiences.
Allies say what you see is what you get with Walz: a former teacher and coach who is being his authentic self when he describes Trump and Vance as “weird,” a designation that has really caught on with Democrats.
“I think anyone who tried to script him or curate some carefully managed message from a laboratory — he just is who he is, and that’s what we’re gonna get. I’m certain of it, and that’s a great thing, because he’s so authentic and his enthusiasm is so contagious,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) said. “We just want a whole bunch of Tim Walz.”
Walz, since being added to the Harris ticket just two weeks ago, has become an ubiquitous presence on the campaign trail, often with his wife, Gwen.
“I could not think of a better person to be added to the ticket,” said former Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.), who served with Walz in the House.
“I saw the opportunity for Tim early on, when I sensed that Joe was not going to be running again,” Crowley said of President Biden. “He could fit this ticket, given her being from the West Coast, the concern about the two coasts, so to speak. He’s anything but a coastal Democrat.”
Democrats like just about anyone who is willing to go after Trump, but they particularly like Walz’s cheerful approach to a vice presidential candidate’s traditional role.
“It’s a joyful attack dog, right? He’s a happy warrior. There’s an enthusiasm and an optimism that he just exudes,” Huffman said. “He cares a lot about people and our core values, and you know, the Trump and Vance ticket is a direct threat to these things, so he’s the guy.”
Walz and Vance have repeatedly clashed, most notably over Walz’s military record.
Vance said Walz has been insincere about his military background, claiming he dropped out of the Army when his unit was deployed to Iraq. Walz, who served in the Army National Guard and didn’t see combat, left to run for Congress before his unit was deployed.
Those who served with him have said they didn’t know the group would be leaving at the time of his retirement. And to hit back at Vance, Walz has said no one’s record should be denigrated.
Republicans have sought to cast Walz and Harris as radical leftists, and they’ve pointed to parts of Walz’s record as Minnesota governor as evidence.
During his time in office, Walz signed legislation giving migrants free in-state college tuition, as well as a law providing free tampons and pads to Minnesota students, which has opened the door to Trump claims that he put menstrual products in boys’ bathrooms.
Democrats push back on the idea Walz is a progressive, noting he was considered a moderate during the 12 years that he served in Congress. He represented a rural, agriculture-heavy district in the U.S. and opposed tougher environmental protections during the Obama administration. As a House lawmaker, he had previously been endorsed by the National Rifle Association.
“I think that the attacks on him for being progressive are absurd. No one who knows Tim Walz thinks he’s a progressive. He screams moderate the second he walks in the room, and Republicans are upset because he got kids school lunches? I mean, if that’s what it takes to be progressive, then I guess I’m a progressive too,” Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) said.
Some progressives, though, have hailed him as a fellow far-left thinker, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who said earlier this month that Harris made “an excellent decision” in picking Walz.
Progressives see Walz being added to the ticket as a way to avoid the infighting that Harris’s other top option, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), could have brought with him after he has come under fire from some liberals for his track record on issues as diverse as labor organizing, law enforcement and the Israel-Hamas war.
Republicans have also gone on the attack against Walz over statements he’s made about his background. Besides the arguments that Walz misrepresented his military background, they’ve criticized him for saying his children were the result of in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments.
Gwen Walz issued a statement Tuesday saying she did not use IVF, but another fertility treatment known as intrauterine insemination. Vance criticized his political rival for saying issues like IVF are personal to him while the couple did not use IVF.
“Today it came out that Tim Walz had lied about having a family via IVF. Who lies about something like that?” the senator wrote on the social platform X.
The Harris campaign has defended Walz’s previous comments alluding to IVF, saying the governor was using a common shorthand for fertility treatments. Other Democrats, including Sen. Tina Smith (D-Minn.), have also defended Walz and hit Vance for attacking him.
“Vance can’t be Vice President — there’s apparently no level of attack too low for him. Gwen and Tim, like so many Americans, went through invasive, difficult fertility treatments to start a family,” Smith wrote on X.
Democratic strategists are eager for Americans to get to know Walz amid the ongoing feud between him and Vance.
“A lot of die-hard Democrats know Tim Walz, have been familiar with Tim Walz whether as governor or his stint in D.C. but this speech is really an opportunity to introduce him to nation who are focusing on this race in a real way for the first time,” said David Thomas, a Democratic strategist and former aide to then-Vice President Al Gore.
Democrats mostly are excited for the Midwestern charm to be on full display in prime time on Wednesday.
“The charm, that’s all real,” Crowley said. “That’s not put on for show. That’s real.”