Tim Walz accepts VP nomination, takes the fight to Republicans

Chicago: On the biggest stage of his political life, Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota who was barely known outside his state and Democratic circles till three weeks ago, formally accepted his party’s nomination to be the vice-presidential candidate in the 2024 elections on Wednesday in Chicago.

With an emphasis on his small town mid-western roots, his role in the army and then as a teacher and a football coach, a sketch of his term in the Congress where he won from a conservative district, and record as governor pushing policies from free meals for students in schools to paid family leave to abortion rights, Walz offered to America his life story.

But through that, Democrats attempted to do something more — take the fight to the Republicans in the American heartland and win over White working class voters who have emerged as Donald Trump’s biggest and most surprising support group in the past eight years. This is the constituency that Walz, the party hopes, will appeal to with his warmth and humour, values and record, and his punchy one liners and takedown of the Donald Trump-JD Vance ticket.

Introduced by a former student and his former football team, now middle-aged men; watched in the front row by his wife Gwen and children Hope and Gus; and welcomed by a rapturous crowd of over 20,000 people in the United Center arena with signs that said “Coach Walz”, the VP candidate first acknowledged Joe Biden’s historic presidency and thanked his boss, Kamala Harris, for picking him to be her running mate.

Sight on freedom

Walz focused on the evening’s theme of freedom and positioned Democrats as the party that will fight for it. Drawing a contrast between the two parties, he said, “When Republicans use the word freedom, they mean that the government should be free to invade your doctor’s office. Corporations free to pollute your air and water. And banks free to take advantage of customers. And when we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people that you love. Freedom to make your own health care decisions.”

He extended the argument to gun safety to suggest that freedom meant that kids could go to school without the fear of being shot. “I know guns. I am a veteran. I am a hunter. And I was a better shot than most Republicans in Congress, and I have got the trophies to prove it. But I am also a dad. I believe in the Second Amendment, but I also believe our first responsibility is to keep our kids safe.”

He attacked Trump for the Project 2025 blueprint, a roadmap prepared by the conservative Heritage Foundation that Trump has disowned but Democrats have insisted remains the far-right roadmap for a future Trump administration given its policy proposals and the background of people, all close to Trump and his ecosystem, who prepared it: “If these guys get back in the White House, they will start jacking up the costs on the middle class. They will repeal the Affordable Care Act. They will gut Social Security and Medicare. And they will ban abortion across this country, with or without Congress,” Walz warned.

The VP candidate then used some of the one liners that have already made him a star on the campaign trail. “It’s an agenda nobody asked for. It’s an agenda that serves nobody, except the richest and the most extreme amongst us…Is it weird? Absolutely. Absolutely. But it’s also wrong, and it’s dangerous.” And Walz repeated another of his lines about what defined American values: “Mind your own damn business”, to suggest that Republicans were attempting to curb liberty.

‘We are not going back’

Walz said that teenagers who ran student bodies in his school could teach Trump about leadership. “Leaders don’t spend all day insulting people and blaming others. Leaders do the work. So I don’t know about you, I’m ready to turn the page on these guys. So, go ahead. Say it with me: We are not going back,” he said, as the crowd responded with the line that has come to define the campaign, “We are not going back”.

Walz then spoke about how Democrats had something better to offer to the people, and that was Kamala Harris candidacy. Telling delegates to take the message to the undecided voters of what she will do, Walz said, “If you are a middle-class family, or trying to get into the middle class, Kamala Harris is going to cut your taxes. If you are getting squeezed by prescription drug prices, Kamala Harris is going to take on Big Pharma. If you are hoping to buy a home, Kamala Harris is going to help make it more affordable. And no matter who you are, Kamala Harris is going to stand up and fight for your freedom to live the life that you want to lead, because that’s what we want for ourselves, and it’s what we want for our neighbours.”

As a closing act, Walz offered a football analogy to motivate Democrats to put in their best. “It’s the fourth quarter. We are down a field goal. But we are on offence and we have got the ball. We are driving down the field. And boy, do we have the right team. Kamala Harris is tough. Kamala Harris is experienced. And Kamala Harris is ready. Our job, our job, our job, our job…is to get in the trenches and do the blocking and tackling. One inch at a time. One yard at a time. One phone call at a time. One door knock at a time…That’s how we’ll turn the page on Donald Trump.”

And that’s how, Walz said, repeating another line that has become synonymous with the campaign, Democrats will fight. “And when we fight, we win,” as the party chanted in unison from the floor and from the stands, “When we fight, we win”.

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