Tim Walz Makes Impactful Debut at DNC, Emphasizing America’s Unity

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has accepted his party's nomination for vice president, using his Democratic National Convention address to thank the packed arena for "bringing the joy" to an election transformed by the elevation of his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris.

"We're all here tonight for one beautiful, simple reason: We love this country," Walz said as thousands of delegates hoisted vertical placards reading "Coach Walz" in red, white and blue.

Walz described his upbringing in Nebraska and teaching and coaching football in Minnesota and told the crowd, "Thank you for bringing the joy to this fight."

"While other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours," he said. In a dig at his Republican counterpart, JD Vance, he added, "I had 24 kids in my high school class, and none of them went to Yale."

When Walz talked about the difficulty of conceiving his daughter, Hope, she made a heart with her hands and held it over her chest. His son, Gus, wept watching his dad speak and at least once shouted, "That's my dad!"

"I haven't given a lot of speeches like this, but I've given a lot of pep talks," Walz said.

Democrats gathered at Chicago's United Center are hoping to build on the momentum Harris has brought since taking over the top of the party's presidential ticket last month. They want to harness the Democratic exuberance that followed President Joe Biden's stepping aside while also making clear to their supporters that they face a fierce battle with former President Donald Trump.

Many Americans had never heard of Walz until Harris made him her running mate. In his first weeks of campaigning, he's charmed supporters with his background and helped to balance Harris' coastal background as a cultural representative of Midwestern states whose voters she needs this fall.

But Walz also has faced scrutiny, including questions about embellishing his background. His wife this week clarified that she did not undergo in vitro fertilisation (IVF), as Walz has repeatedly claimed, but used other fertility treatments. Republicans also have criticised Walz for a 2018 comment he made about carrying weapons in war. Though he served in the National Guard for 24 years, he did not deploy to a war zone.

Benjamin C Ingman, one of Walz's old high school students, introduced the man many speakers — and Harris at times — have referred to as "Coach Walz". At Ingman's prompting, many of Walz's former players decked out in their red and white jerseys took the stage to help introduce him.

Walz’s Key Moments at DNC

Walz's speech followed former President Bill Clinton, who returned to a place he knows well, the Democratic National Convention stage, to denounce Donald Trump as selfish and praise Kamala Harris as focused on the needs of Americans — firing up his party with his trademark off-the-cuff flourishes.

Clinton was meant to add heft to a third DNC night, which would be headlined by vice presidential nominee Tim Walz's introduction to a national audience.

"We've got a pretty clear choice, it seems to me. Kamala Harris, for the people. And the other guy who has proved, even more than the first go-around, that he's about me, myself and I," Clinton said.

The nation's 42nd president and a veteran of his party's political convention going back decades, Clinton was once declared the "secretary of explaining stuff" by Barack Obama, whose reelection bid in 2012 was bolstered by a Clinton stemwinder at that year's DNC.

Now 78 — the same age as Trump — Clinton's delivery was sometimes halting, his movements slower, and he mispronounced Harris' first name twice. His left hand often shook when he wasn't using it to grip the lectern.

Still, he delivered several memorable, homespun pronouncements, including asking. "What does her opponent do with his voice? He mostly talks about himself. So the next time you hear him, don't count the lies, count the I's."

Winfrey, who long hosted her signature talk show from Chicago, picked up on one of Democrats' favourite themes of late, scoffing at Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance having once derided "childless cat ladies" as he argued that Americans should have more children.

Winfrey said that if a burning house belonged to a "childless cat lady", neighbours would still help and "try to get that cat out too".

"We are beyond ridiculous tweets and lies and foolery," she said of Trump before referencing a recent comment he made to supporters about only having to vote once more — for him — and never again.

"You're looking at a registered independent who's proud to vote again and again and again because that's what Americans do," she said. "Voting is the best of America."