VPresidential candidate Tim Walz delivered a stirring 14-minute speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Wednesday night. The former high school teacher and football coach, now governor of Minnesota, used his experience to cheer on players on the field and encourage Democrats to “block and tackle” and help Vice President Kamala Harris beat former President Donald Trump in November’s election.
“We have 76 days. That’s nothing. When you’re dead, you still have time to sleep,” he said.
The speech brought tears of pride to Walz’s children. They were in the convention hall with their mother, Gwen Walz, and became emotional as they watched their father take the stage and speak about their family’s struggle with infertility.
“That’s my dad!” shouted Gus Walz, a 17-year-old senior in high school, with tears in his eyes as he stood up and pointed to the stage – an emotional “proud son” moment that was caught on camera and has since gone viral. The Walz family told People Earlier this month it was announced that Gus suffers from anxiety disorder, ADHD and nonverbal learning disorder.
After the Democratic vice presidential candidate delivered his final speech of the third day of the DNC, dozens of Minnesota delegates remained on the convention floor chanting “We want Tim,” holding up cutouts of Walz’s face and waving signs that read “Coach Walz.” The group cheered wildly for 30 minutes, only dispersing when convention organizers repeatedly turned the hall lights on and off.
Here are some of the most poignant moments from Walz’s speech.
“Never underestimate a public school teacher”
Walz taught high school in Nebraska and Minnesota before running for Congress and winning in a longtime Republican district. “Never underestimate a public school teacher,” he said Wednesday as he recalled his career. Walz eventually served 12 years in the House of Representatives and then won two terms as governor of Minnesota.
In a video shown before Walz took the stage, many of his former high school students described how he knew the name of every child in his class, built sets for the school’s theater and volunteered as a faculty advisor when students wanted to form an LGBTQ alliance at the school.
Walz said he “fell in love with teaching” and that the experience made him realize how important it is to know “that we are all in the same boat” and “that one person can make a real difference to those around them.”
Of his time in Congress, he said he “learned to compromise without compromising my values.”
Of Walz’s small-town high school class, “none went to Yale”
Walz mocked Trump’s vice presidential nominee, JD Vance, who grew up in difficult circumstances and eventually enlisted in the Marine Corps before graduating from Ohio State University and Yale Law School. He had already accused Vance in his memoirs of looking down on his own origins. Hillbilly Elegy.
Walz grew up in Butte, Nebraska, a town of 400 people. “I had 24 kids in my high school class and none of them went to Yale,” Walz said.
Living in such a small community, Walz says, “you learn how to take care of each other. The family next door may not think like you, they may not pray like you, they may not love like you, but they are your neighbors and you take care of them and they take care of you.”
“We have a golden rule: mind your own business.”
As governor, he cut taxes for the middle class, introduced paid family and medical leave, and reduced the cost of prescription drugs, Walz said. And he worked to ensure that every child in the state received free school breakfast and lunch. “While other states banned books from their schools, we banned hunger from ours,” Walz said, criticizing Republican efforts to remove books from school libraries and reading lists.
“We also protected reproductive freedom because in Minnesota we respect our neighbors and the personal choices they make,” Walz said, citing his work with the state legislature to protect abortion access in the state after the Supreme Court overturned the ruling. Roe v. Wade“Even though we wouldn’t make the same decisions for ourselves, we have one golden rule: Mind your own shit.”
Walz: IVF protection is “personal”
As he often does on the campaign trail, Walz used his speech to the Democrat to focus on access to reproductive care, including in vitro fertilization (IVF), saying the issue was “personal,” alluding to the journey he and his wife took to conceive their children.
“If you’ve never experienced the hell of infertility – I guarantee you know someone who has – I remember praying for a phone call every night, the sinking feeling in my stomach when the phone rang, and the agony of hearing that the treatments hadn’t worked,” he said. “It took Gwen and I years, but then we had access to fertility treatments and when our daughter was born, we named her Hope.”
“Hope, Gus and Gwen, you are my whole world and I love you,” Walz added as his entire family burst into tears. “I’m telling you how we built a family because that’s what this election is all about. Freedom. When Republicans use the word freedom, they mean that the government should have the freedom to invade your doctor’s office.”
A hunter who calls for more gun restrictions
Walz, an avid hunter and Army National Guard veteran, said he is a gun owner who believes in the constitutional right to bear arms but wants to protect children from death by assault rifles. During his years in Congress, Walz repeatedly won the annual Congressional Shooting Contest.
“Look, I know guns. I’m a veteran. I’m a hunter and I was a better shot than most Republicans in Congress and have the trophies to prove it,” Walz said. “But I’m also a father. I believe in the Second Amendment. But I also believe that our first responsibility is to protect our children.”
Criticism of the Republicans’ definition of “freedom”
Walz criticized Republicans for misusing the word freedom to justify restrictions on abortion and allowing companies to circumvent the regulations. He said Democrats understand freedom differently.
“When Republicans use the word freedom, they mean that the government should have the freedom to invade your doctor’s office, that corporations should have the freedom to pollute your air and water, and that banks should have the freedom to take advantage of their customers,” Walz said. “But when we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean the freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people you love, the freedom to make your own health care decisions, and yes, the freedom of your child to go to school without fear of being shot in the hallway.”
Walz still finds Trump “strange”
A few months ago, Walz attracted a lot of attention when he called the Republican presidential nomination “weird” – a message that quickly dominated Harris’ campaign’s communications strategy. During his speech to the DNC, he continued to insist on that narrative, calling Trump’s agenda “weird” and “dangerous.”
“I was a high school football coach long enough to know – and believe me – that if somebody takes the time to design a strategy book, they’re going to use it,” Walz said, trying to draw a connection between Trump and Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s controversial package of policy proposals for a future Trump administration that Trump has tried to distance himself from.
Walz listed several ways the Trump-Vance agenda could harm some Americans, including repealing the Affordable Care Act, gutting Social Security and Medicare, and a nationwide abortion ban with or without congressional support. “This is an agenda that no one has asked for,” he added. “It’s an agenda that benefits no one except the wealthiest and most extreme among us. And it’s an agenda that does nothing for our neighbors in need.”
“Is that weird?” asked Walz. “Absolutely. Absolutely. But it’s also wrong and dangerous.”
“What a leader is”
Walz criticized Trump’s vindictive and uncontrollable leadership style, telling the crowd that the student leaders he knew as teachers “could teach Donald Trump a hell of a lot about what makes a leader.”
Leaders “do the work,” Walz said. “So, I don’t know about you. I’m ready to close the chapter with these guys.”
He added that Democrats have “something better” to offer the American people: Harris’ experience fighting transnational gangs and corporate fraud as a prosecutor, as well as her bipartisan work as a U.S. senator and vice president, have made her ready to “fight on the side of the American people,” Walz said.
“Boy, do we have the right team”
Alluding to his time as a high school coach, Walz used several football analogies to explain how Democrats can win the presidency: “You may not know this, but I haven’t given many big speeches like this,” Walz said at the end of his speech. “But I have given a lot of motivational speeches.”
“So, let me close with this,” the Democratic vice presidential candidate added. “Team, it’s the fourth quarter, we’re down a field goal, but we’re on offense and we have the ball.” Walz continued, “We’re charging 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 is to get in the trenches and block and tackle. Inch by inch, yard by yard, phone call by phone, door knock by door, $5 donation by door.”
Walz’s speech at the DNC gave many Americans their first glimpse into his personality and gave the campaign an opportunity to highlight his work as a teacher and football coach. Before Walz spoke, several former football players from Mankato West High School, where he once coached, walked onto the convention stage.
“We played a 4-4 defense,” Walz said in his speech. “We played every single game until the final whistle and even won a state championship. Folks, you should never close the yearbook, but it was those players and my students who inspired me to run for Congress. They saw in me what I wanted to instill in them – a commitment to the common good, an understanding that we are all in this together, and a belief that one person can make a real difference for their neighbors.”
