Why Ordinary is Tim Walz’s Strength
How Governor Tim Walz shifted the tide of the 2024 election
The game of UNO is not for the weak. As an avid player, I know the card game can spark hours of debate. Everyone agrees, however, that special cards, like the UNO reverse, can change the game. The reverse card shifts the direction, forcing players to adjust their strategies. If you planned to make someone draw four cards, you’ll now have to think about whether the new game flow allows it.
Back on July 28, I shared that Walz’s identity, mass appeal, and government track record made him the ideal number two. America soon discovered this after he called right-wing extremists “weird,” showing he could shift the vibes for good. His presence on the campaign trail has electrified voters. To many, he is now ‘Coach Walz,’ and last night, during his acceptance speech, Tim Walz made it clear: He’s not like other guys, and that’s precisely why he is the right guy — a sort of political “UNO reverse.”
Walz’s presence in the Harris campaign is notably marked by how ordinary he is. A former football coach, schoolteacher, and proud veteran, Walz owns no stocks or properties. He and his wife, Gwen, have faced fertility struggles like many American families. He knows what it’s like to rely on government assistance during tough times. His first political campaign was driven by a grassroots movement led by his students, who believed their favorite teacher would be a great representative of their community. He is the second person, since Ronald Reagan, to be on a presidential ticket and have been part of a union. Walz is arguably closer to the everyday American than to the everyday politician, and that has fundamentally shifted the winds of the election cycle.
As America witnessed last night, Walz’s ordinary story is the perfect foil to the antics of the right. A white guy who loves hunting and fishing, Walz is a gun enthusiast who hates gun violence and advocates for more background checks. Hailing from a small town in a red state, he’s not a raging bigot, and instead stands up for the marginalized among us. A Christian, he and his wife used fertility treatments for their first child, appropriately named “Hope.”
Unlike many Democratic vice-presidential picks before him, Walz shares the same identity as many on the right. He comes from their communities and has worked with their leaders. Yet, Walz does not share their politics. He is them without the bigotry. He is them without the “weirdness”.
The vibe shift has led the right to attack Walz on his military service, teaching experience, and governance. Each attempt, however, has only helped bring to light why Walz was the right pick for the Harris campaign.
Take for example his stance on making feminine products available in bathrooms across high schools in Minnesota. The right tried to spin that as a negative thing, calling him “Tampon Tim”. What they failed to realize, however, is that menstrual products are not widely available across schools and there is such a thing as period poverty– or the phenomenon that people who need menstruation products cannot afford them. Their attacks only made him look like the thoughtful and caring teacher his students and community had come to love.
Then they tried to come for his military record, trying to make “stolen valor” happen. The facts remain the facts though. He served for 24 years. He’s the son of a vet. Although his retirement from the Minnesota’s National Guard happened two months before deployment to Iraq, he filed for retirement five to seven months beforehand, as is protocol in the National Guard. These attacks on his veteran status are now backfiring.
With each attack, the right is alienating voters who identify with Walz’s story. Any attempt they’ve made to undermine him has only “reversed” because this is Walz’s story — these are his real experiences. For Walz, the identity politics of the right aren’t a vehicle to capture more power, but rather a catalyst for his commitment to service.
The cherry on top is that Tim Walz is a masterful public servant. His ordinary upbringing has enabled him to evoke something that is utterly lacking in politics: empathy. As governor, alongside Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan, the democratic majority in Minnesota has set in motion policies to uplift the most vulnerable among us, build up the middle class, and ensure that the next generation is better off. The viral photos of children hugging him and Peggy, after signing into law that free breakfast and lunch should be available statewide, are real.
As we witnessed last night, Walz doesn’t come off as a politician or pundit; he sounds like your neighbor, your not-so-crazy uncle, your favorite teacher, your coach. Walz isn’t trying to outsmart you — he’s trying to tell you the truth as plainly as possible. His humanity takes center stage every time he speaks. His family and loved ones know this too, evidenced by his son’s–Gus Walz–tearful, viral moment where he excitedly pointed to his dad on stage and screamed “That’s my dad!”
This must be what Vice President Kamala Harris recognized: Tim Walz is a man from small-town America who cares about people and country, a man whose ordinary has led to the extraordinary, and an emblem of what the American dream is truly about.
