Just a few weeks ago, if someone said Oprah Winfrey and Bill Clinton would be opening acts for Tim Walz, you’d have been forgiven for thinking, Tim who?
And yet, Wednesday evening, on the biggest stage of his life, Walz completed his remarkable transformation from relatively unknown governor of Minnesota to vice-presidential pick of a newly reinvigorated Democratic ticket alongside Kamala Harris.
The governor rose to prominence thanks to his eagerness to taunt Donald Trump and JD Vance famously branding them and their ilk as “weird,” spawning countless memes and launching a political strategy that has helped bring the party base back from the brink of despair. And Walz was not shy about reminding the DNC crowd of his willingness to play offense: He swiped at a supposedly “anti-elitist” Vance for his Yale pedigree; mocked Trump for his leadership flaws and tendency to blame others; and, yes, called their agenda “weird,” but “also wrong and… dangerous.”
Throughout his remarks, Walz leaned heavily into his Midwestern “dad in plaid” persona—the man walked out to John Mellencamp’s “Small Town,” for crying out loud. His wife Gwen and two kids, Hope and Gus wept as he ran through his biography, from National Guardsman to social studies teacher and state championship-winning football coach to longshot politician.
“Never underestimate a public school teacher,” he said to rapturous applause.
But the speech reached stratospheric heights when it turned into a dramatic pre-game locker room pep talk reminiscent of Al Pacino’s turn in Any Given Sunday.
“I have not given a lot of big speeches like this,” Walz said, once again referencing his humble origins, “but I have given a lot of pep talks. So let me finish with this, team: It is the fourth quarter, we are down a field goal, but we are on offense and we’ve got the ball. We are driving down the field, and, boy, do we have the right team.”
He then hyped up his quarterback, so to speak. “Kamala Harris is tough, Kamala Harris is experienced, and Kamala Harris is ready. Our job, our job, our job,” Walz continued, gesturing to include even those watching at home, “is to get into 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, one five-dollar donation at a time.”
And then, crescendoing as throngs of attendees waved placards reading “Coach Walz,” he concluded: “Look, we’ve got 76 days, that is nothing. There will be time to sleep when you’re dead. We are going to leave it on the field. That is how we keep moving forward. That is how we turn the page on Donald Trump.”
