Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) will take the stage Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago for the biggest speech of his career.

Vice President Harris picked Walz in part to help shore up support among the working class voters in the Midwest and Rust Belt states that have gravitated toward former President Trump over the past decade.

The Trump campaign was making a serious play to turn Minnesota red before Walz joined the ticket.

• Democrats have celebrated Walz for his everyman qualities and his Midwest sensibilities. They’ve sought to portray him as an ordinary dad.
  
  
• Walz is a former high school teacher and football coach. He served 24 years in the National Guard, won a House seat in a district previously held by Republicans and went on to become governor of Minnesota.

But Walz’s biography has come under scrutiny by the news media and Republicans, who have found instances of loose talk and embellishments about his past.

• Fifty Republican military veterans in the House and Senate released a letter excoriating Walz for “misrepresentations” of his military service.
  
  
• Walz served overseas but did not see combat. He has made past remarks about carrying weapons “in war.”
  
  
• He resigned from the National Guard months before his unit was deployed to Iraq. Some members of his unit have criticized him for this.
  
  
• Walz has referred to his rank as command sergeant major. He had that rank for a few weeks, but he retired at a lower rank.
  
  
• Walz’s wife Gwen Walz also clarified that they conceived through intrauterine insemination (IUI), rather than IVF. Walz has attacked Republicans who oppose IVF, saying he wouldn’t have had children without it. Some Republicans oppose IVF, but IUI conception is not a political issue. 
  
  

Polls show Walz is currently more popular than Trump’s running mate JD Vance, but he is mostly unknown nationally, making his Tuesday speech a pivotal moment for the campaign.

Other big names on tap tonight:

• Former President Clinton will address a Democratic Party that looks far different than it did when he was in the White House.
  
  
• Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will address Harris’s nominating convention after helping to push President Biden out of the race.

Themes: “A Fight for Our Freedoms”

• Democrats will argue that Walz spent his career championing the rights of “working families” and that he’s been a “staunch defender” of fundamental freedoms.
• They’ll attack Trump, accusing him of running on “an extreme agenda” that will “turn back the clock on all the freedoms we hold dear.”
  
  

Speakers (in no particular order):

• Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D)
• Former President Clinton
• Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg
• Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)
• Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)
• Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-N.M.)
• Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
• House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.)
• Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D)
• Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D)
• Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R)
  
  

Perspectives:

• The Hill: Walz owes Democrats some answers.
• The American Prospect: The making of progressive Tim Walz.
• The Wall Street Journal: Walz’s liberal record opens GOP attack lines.
• The Liberal Patriot: Campaigns are not for loyalists.
• The Hill: Walz can win young men back for Democrats.
• The Atlantic: The DNC is a big smiling mess.
• The New Republic: Democrats reclaim ‘freedom.’
• The Atlantic: Democrats aren’t taking the high road anymore.

Read more:

• Walz set for most impactful speech of his life at Democratic convention.
• 20 million viewers watched the first night of the DNC, surpassing RNC.
• Harris has raised $500 million in the month since she took over.
• Trump says it’s “pretty sad” for Democrats to focus on him at convention.
• Democrats stifle doubt about Harris’s campaign proposals.