Tim Walz has served as the governor of Minnesota since 2019. (File)
Chicago:
Tim Walz will officially accept the nomination to be Kamala Harris’s White House running mate Wednesday as he presses a charm offensive that has made him a darling of the Democratic National Convention.
The relatively unknown Minnesota governor brings an earthy, Midwestern vibe to Harris’s surging campaign against Donald Trump.
Taking the stage ahead of Harris’s big night on Thursday, former school teacher and National Guard soldier Walz will emphasize his “small town values” and “lifetime of service,” said Alex Hornbrook, a convention organizer.
“The coach is going to coach tonight,” said Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison on CNN, referring to Walz’s days coaching a high-school football team.
With former president Bill Clinton as an opener, Walz will tee up Harris’s Thursday speech and the climax of a convention that has defied predictions of disunity or even chaos in the wake of President Joe Biden’s decision to drop his reelection bid on July 21.
On Tuesday, it was Democratic superstars Michelle and former president Barack Obama who spoke, following up on Biden’s emotional speech Monday, where he passed the torch to his vice president, then both figuratively and literally left the stage.
The convention has seen intense enthusiasm, reflecting Democrats’ relief after an extraordinary month in which the party went from despair over 81-year-old Biden’s stumbling campaign to giddy excitement at Harris’s rebranding.
A big part of that change in atmosphere has been due to Walz, who is getting chants of “Tim! Tim! Tim!” and requests for selfies at the convention.
He has made a name for himself as an able communicator and is credited with coming up with one of the sharpest attack lines on Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance, whom he labeled “weird.”
As a folksy, white Midwesterner, Walz balances Harris’s California background and barrier-breaking status as the first Black woman nominee.
Walz, 60, will likely speak of his upbringing in small-town Nebraska, where he worked on the family farm, and describe his military service, his experiences as a teacher and his record in politics.
“He’s that uncle that you just want to hang out with,” Harrison said.
Battle of the rallies
The chemistry between 59-year-old Harris and Walz and the noisy energy generated at their rallies is helping to fuel Democratic hopes that they can defeat Trump, 78, in November.
Polls show the race remains close, but Harris is moving slightly ahead — a remarkable turn of events, given that only a month ago Trump seemed to be gaining a steadily tightening grip over Biden.
Exhibit number one in that shift has been Harris’s ability to pack arenas in a way that for years Trump had touted as evidence of his seemingly unique political strength.
In a dramatic gesture, Harris and Walz held a mass rally on Tuesday in Milwaukee at the same time as the convention crowd jammed into the Chicago venue.
On Wednesday, Trump was due to gather supporters in North Carolina for his first outdoor rally since an attempt on his life last month that saw him lightly injured and a bystander killed. Security will be especially tight, with a bulletproof glass screen erected around the podium.
Republicans have ramped up attacks on Walz in an attempt to paint him as an extreme leftist, much as Trump routinely brands Harris a “communist” and “marxist.”
But Sabrina Karim, associate professor in the department of government at Cornell University, said Walz was successfully balancing the Harris ticket.
“His form of masculinity stands in contrast to Donald Trump, and provides some voters, particularly white male voters, an alternative way to be masculine that could be appealing.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Hindkesharistaff and is published from a syndicated feed.)