CHICAGO (AP) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz accepted his party’s nomination for vice president Wednesday night, using his Democratic National Convention address to thank the packed arena for “bringing the joy” to an election transformed by the elevation of his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris. “We’re all here tonight for one beautiful, simple, reason: We love this country,” Walz said as thousands of delegates hoisted vertical placards reading “Coach Walz” in red, white and blue.
Ahead of his speech, Benjamin C. Ingman, one of Walz’s old high school students, introduced the man many speakers — and Harris at times — have referred to as “Coach.” At Ingman’s prompting, many of Walz’s former players decked out in their red and white jerseys took the stage to help introduce him.
Walz described his upbringing in Nebraska, and teaching and coaching football in Minnesota, telling the crowd, “I haven’t given a lot of speeches like this but I’ve given a lot of pep talks.” When talking about his time as Minnesota governor, Walz said, “While other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours.” After Walz spoke about the difficulty conceiving his daughter, Hope, she made a heart with her hands and held it over her chest.
His son, Gus, wept watching his dad speak and at least once shouted, “That’s my dad!” Democrats gathered at Chicago’s United Center are hoping to build on the momentum Harris has brought since taking over the top of the party’s presidential ticket last month. They want to harness the Democratic exuberance that followed President Joe Biden stepping aside while also making clear to their supporters that they face a fierce battle with former President Donald Trump. Many Americans had never heard of Walz until Harris made him her running mate.
In his first weeks of campaigning, he’s charmed supporters with his background and helped to balance Harris’ coastal background as a cultural representative of Midwestern states whose voters she needs this fall. But Walz also has faced scrutiny, including questions about embellishing his background. His wife this week clarified that she did not undergo in vitro fertilization , as Walz has repeatedly claimed, but used other fertility treatments.
Republicans also have criticized Walz for a 2018 comment he made about carrying weapons in war. Though he served in the National Guard for 24 years, he did not deploy to a war zone. Walz’s speech followed former President Bill Clinton who returned to a place he knows well, the Democratic National Convention stage, to denounce Donald Trump as selfish and praise Kamala Harris as focused on the needs of Americans — firing up his party with his trademark off-the-cuff flourishes.
Clinton was meant to add heft to a third DNC night headlined by Walz ‘s introduction to a national audience. “We’ve got a pretty clear choice it seems to me. Kamala Harris, for the people.
And the other guy who has proved, even more than the first go-around, that he’s about me, myself and I,” Clinton said. Now 78 — the same age as Trump — Clinton’s delivery was sometimes halting, his movements slower and he mispronounced Harris’ first name twice. His left hand often shook when he wasn’t using it to grip the lectern.
Still, he delivered several memorable, homespun pronouncements including asking. “What does her opponent do with his voice? He mostly talks about himself. So the next time you hear him, don’t count the lies, count the I’s.
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