NAfter Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was thrust into the public spotlight following his nomination as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, voters have now become acquainted with his blunt, Midwestern communication style.
As former President Barack Obama wrote in his statement to Walz this week, “Tim’s hallmark is his ability to speak like a human being.”
Walz’s manner of speaking was evident from his first days as a vice presidential candidate and nominee. Walz’s jibes and jokes went viral, catching the attention of voters and the media. Walz’s nod to the Democrats’ new strategy of calling Republican candidates “weird” ranged from his reference during his very first appearance with Harris to a salacious internet rumor about Ohio Senator JD Vance, former President Donald Trump’s running mate.
Political strategists and experts say Walz’s style could be an advantage for Harris’ campaign. “Vice presidential candidates often take on the role of attack dog and run the risk of coming across as mean. But if you can do it with a smile and a wink and a little humor, you can get that message across without it necessarily backfiring,” says Travis Ridout, a political scientist at Washington State University and co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project. “That’s the Midwestern way that allows him to not sound mean.”
David Karpf, a professor at George Washington University, agrees: “Two weeks ago, he would have gotten no traction by saying that Donald Trump and JD Vance are just weird. But because the ‘governor’s father from the Midwest’ said it, he can make that statement and it’s going down really well.”
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The contrast between Walz and Harris, a California native who spent her early professional years in San Francisco, also lends stylistic balance to the ballot. Born in the small town of West Point, Nebraska, Walz has roots deep in rural America. “Where I grew up, community was a way of life. My high school class was 24 people. I was related to half of them,” Walz said in a video he posted on social media to announce his candidacy with Harris. After high school, Walz spent 24 years in the Army National Guard before moving to Mankato, Minnesota, where he worked as a high school social studies teacher and football coach until winning his first election to Congress in 2006.
“The question is, will people recognize him as a Midwesterner when they see and hear him? And the answer is yes,” says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, professor of communication and director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. “That gives him credibility in the swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan and rural Pennsylvania.”
The Trump campaign is already trying to separate Walz from his identity as a Midwesterner and instead associate him with a “West Coast” liberalism that Harris supposedly represents. On August 6, the Trump-Vance campaign released a statement about the “radical leftist” Walz as Harris’ running mate, calling him a “wannabe West Coast candidate.”
“It’s no surprise that San Francisco liberal Kamala Harris wants West Coast wannabe Tim Walz as her running mate – Walz has spent his time in office remaking Minnesota in the image of the Golden State,” wrote Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. “Walz is obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and wide.”
Vance echoed that rhetoric, telling reporters in Philadelphia on Tuesday that Harris has “picked a running mate who will be a San Francisco-style liberal.”
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A Harris campaign staffer believes the comparison is exaggerated, noting that San Francisco is “a city that (Walz) has spent virtually no time in and that he visited for the first time last month.” The staffer also points out that Vance lived in San Francisco and began his career there.
The Trump-Vance campaign team did not respond to TIME’s request for comment.
Walz and Vance in particular will fight in the coming weeks to establish themselves as representatives of the Midwest and help their respective presidential candidates win the decisive votes. Vance grew up in the Rust Belt of Ohio and rose to fame after the publication of his memoirs. Hillbilly Elegy in 2016.
At the Republican National Convention in July, Vance used his first speech as Trump’s running mate to portray himself as a champion for the working class. Throughout his speech, he claimed he would fight for workers’ interests, repeatedly naming Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. “This moment is not about me,” Vance said. “It’s about the autoworkers in Michigan who are wondering why out-of-touch politicians are destroying their jobs.”
Now, as the Trump campaign tries to portray Walz as a California liberal, Walz has begun to highlight Vance’s ties to Silicon Valley and Yale University to claim he is the one who has lost touch with many Americans. As the campaign gains momentum, voters will scrutinize everything from finances to politics to parenting and speaking style to, Jamieson said, “see if there’s a difference between Vance and Walz, if they can still identify with the people they grew up with.”
