Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday night that he and Vice President Kamala Harris will ‘turn the page on Donald Trump.”
“We’ve got something better to offer the American people,” said Walz, as he accepted the Democratic nomination in Chicago to be Harris’ running mate.
In a brisk, energetic speech, Walz recounted his personal history growing up in the “small town of Butte, Nebraska,” and his professional history as a public school teacher, football coach, member of the National Guard and eventually a member of Congress.
“Never underestimate a public school teacher,” Walz said.
He also talked about his and his wife’s struggle to have children.
“This is personal for Gwen and me. Let me just say this — even if you’ve never experienced the hell of infertility, I guarantee you know somebody who has,” Walz said. “I remember praying each night for a call with good news, the pit in my stomach when the phone would ring, and the agony when we heard the treatments hadn’t worked. It took me and Gwen years.”
Walz said he was talking in detail about that history “because that’s a big part of what this election is about — freedom.”
“When Republicans use that word, they mean that the government should be free to invade your doctor’s office,” he said. “Corporations free to pollute the air and water. Banks free to take advantage of customers.”
“But when we Democrats talk about freedom, we mean your freedom to make a better life for yourself and the people you love. The freedom to make your own health care decisions. And, yeah, your kids’ freedom to go to school without worrying they’ll be shot dead in the halls.”
Like many speakers at the DNC, Walz mentioned Project 2025, a blueprint for a second Trump administration advanced by the Heritage Foundation, which contains proposals so controversial that Trump has claimed not to have anything to do with it.
“Take Donald Trump and JD Vance,” Walz said, referring to the Ohio senator who is Trump’s Republican running mate.
“Their Project 2025 will make things much, much harder for people who are just trying to live their lives,” Walz said. “They’ve spent a lot of time pretending they know nothing about it. But look, I coached high school football long enough, I promise you this — when somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they plan on using it.”
Walz called Project 2025 “an agenda that serves nobody but the richest people and most extreme voices in our country.”
Walz’s speech, which clocked in at just 15 minutes, was the shortest acceptance speech by a vice presidential nominee since at least 1984, according to NBC News.