Tim Walz: ‘We’ve got the ball and we have the momentum’

Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Chicago. | Charles Rex Arbogast/AP

CHICAGO—Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s pick for the Democratic vice-presidential nomination, introduced himself to the nation on August 21 as a trade unionist, a high school teacher, football coach, and military veteran— whom Democrats hope will appeal across party lines.

And he said that’s a good combination with the “energy, passion and joy” which Harris, the incumbent vice president and the party’s presidential nominee, brings to the ticket this year.

In a speech long on personality and personal stories and less so on policies, Walz contrasted Harris and himself with the Republican ticket of Donald Trump, a former president and convicted felon, known for his scowl, insults and retribution against foes, including parties, politicians, and groups.

And Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, sneered at the people he grew up with in his best-selling Hillbilly Elegy book. He, too, scowls.

“We respect our neighbors even when we disagree with them,” said Walz. “We help our neighbors. And we don’t believe in ‘us versus them.’”

Drew frequent applause

Drawing frequent applause and occasional laughs, teacher and Education Minnesota union member Walz stuck to the Democratic National Convention’s Wednesday night theme of freedom. But the old football coach at outstate Minnesota’s Mankato West High School conceded, given fewer than three months until the November election, that the Democrats “are a field goal behind.”

“But we’ve got the ball, and we’ve got the momentum,” he declared.

That momentum includes campaigning on freedom to love and freedom to teach and learn, uttered by a former high school social studies teacher. And it includes freedom to be who you want to be, without government interference.

And, especially, the freedom to decide whether and when to have kids. “In Minnesota, we have a saying” about that, Walz declared: “Mind your own damn business!”

There’s a reason for that emphasis. Two years ago, after the three Trump-named U.S. Supreme Court justices formed the core of the court majority that eliminated the federal constitutional right to abortion, outrage swept the country and produced a huge wave of anti-Republican resentment.

Apparently, it still continues. The DNC sent to the stage earlier in the convention four women who described what it was like to be able to be free to choose—and what it would be like if they couldn’t. Walz himself told the convention crowd and the national television audience about the couple’s years of trying to conceive through in vitro fertilization and of the agony of unsuccessful attempts.

They finally had their daughter, and named her Hope. The TV shot of the Walz family showed Hope teary-eyed. The Republicans want to ban IVF and all forms of abortion, everywhere, too.

And a study released the same day by the non-partisan Pew Institute for Research on Religion reinforced the power of the pro-abortion rights theme. Pew reported the right to abortion, leaving the decision to a woman and her doctor, draws an absolute majority of respondents in 45 states and D.C. The outliers: Deep-red Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, and both Dakotas. And even in those states, the right to abortion draws over 40%.

There are other forms of freedom the Democrats favor and the Republicans oppose, the Minnesota governor declared. One is “freedom to have your kids go to school without fearing being shot.” Another is being “free to build the kind of life you want.” And the freedom to marry whom you want.

For Republicans, he added, “Freedom is the freedom to invade your bedrooms.” And to ban books. Meanwhile, Democrats have “leaders who don’t spend the day insulting people.” Trump’s well-known hatred of people of color, migrants, women, and gays, and Vance’s idea to lock up liberals prompted that.

Nobody asked for it

And for Republicans, it’s “freedom to institute an agenda nobody asked for and nobody wants” in their 900-page Project 2025. That’s a detailed handbook of policies and plans crafted by the ultra-right Heritage Foundation and a bevy of right-wingers ready to ride in and take over immediately should Trump win the White House.

The GOP is now trying to run as fast as it can from that project. Football coach Walz jocularly responded, “When someone draws up a playbook, they’ll use it.”

“It’s an agenda that nobody asked for and it’s an agenda that serves nobody but the richest and meanest among us,” he added. Project 2025 “is weird and it’s wrong and it’ll hurt people.” Just after Harris named Walz to the ticket, he used “weird” to describe the Trump-Vance ticket and its views. The word went viral on social media.

But after all of that, Walz turned to a few policy contrasts.

“If you’re in the middle class, Kamala Harris will cut your taxes. If you want to buy a home, Kamala Harris will make it easier. And if you want to live the life you want to live” as LGBT people do, “Kamala Harris will make sure you do.”

But she can’t do that without popular support and help, Walz pleaded. Going back to football, he urged the crowd to “do the blocking and tackling” by canvassing, ringing doorbells, making “one phone call at a time” and even giving five bucks apiece.

He also prepared them to do it round the clock for seven days a week through Election Day. “We’ve got 76 days, so don’t sleep,” he said. “We’ll sleep when we’re dead.”

A parade of Democratic politicians preceded Walz to the convention podium. All were upstaged by a surprise speaker more well-known than Walz and most of the politicians: Oprah Winfrey.

“This isn’t just about you or me or choices to be made” the television and magazine personality and reading club sponsor declared. “There’s a certain candidate”—Trump—“who says if you go to the polls now” to elect him, “you’ll never have to do it again,” because there won’t be any more elections.

“I’m a registered independent who’s voted again and again and again and again. So to all you independents and all you undecideds, values and character matter most of all. And decency and respect and just plain common sense are on the ballot in 2024.

“Let us choose loyalty to the Constitution over loyalty to any one person. That is the best of America. Let us choose the sweet promise of tomorrow over the return to yesterday. We won’t go back. We won’t be pushed around. And we won’t be bullied…Let us choose freedom, because that’s the very best of America,” by choosing Harris.

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CONTRIBUTOR

Mark Gruenberg

Award-winning journalist Mark Gruenberg is head of the Washington, D.C., bureau of People's World. He is also the editor of the union news service Press Associates Inc. (PAI). Known for his reporting skills, sharp wit, and voluminous knowledge of history, Mark is a compassionate interviewer but tough when going after big corporations and their billionaire owners.