U.S. Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz speaks on day 3 of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., August 21, 2024. | Photo credit: Reuters
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz accepted his party’s nomination for vice president on Wednesday evening (August 21, 2024) and used his address at the Democratic National Convention to thank the packed arena for bringing “joy” to a US election transformed by the appointment of his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We are all here tonight for one beautiful, simple reason: We love this country,” Mr. Walz said as thousands of delegates held vertical signs reading “Coach Walz” in red, white and blue.
Mr. Walz described his childhood in Nebraska and his work as a football teacher and coach in Minnesota, telling the crowd, “Thank you for bringing joy to this fight.”
“While other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours,” he said. In a reference to his Republican counterpart JD Vance, he added: “I had 24 kids in my high school class and not one of them went to Yale.”
As Mr. Walz spoke about the difficulties encountered in conceiving his daughter Hope, she formed a heart with her hands and held it to her chest. His son Gus cried as he watched his father speak, shouting at least once, “That’s my father!”
“I haven’t given many speeches like this, but I have given a lot of motivational speeches,” Mr. Walz said.
Democrats gathered at Chicago’s United Center hope to build on the momentum Harris has brought since taking over the party’s presidential nomination last month.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton speaks on the third day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., August 21 | Photo credit: Reuters
Many Americans had never heard of Mr. Walz until Ms. Harris picked him as her vice presidential candidate. In the early weeks of his campaign, he charmed supporters with his background, helping to balance Ms. Harris’s coastal background as a cultural representative of the Midwestern states whose voters she needs this fall.
But Mr. Walz has also come under scrutiny, in part for whitewashing his past. His wife clarified this week that she had not undergone artificial insemination, as Mr. Walz has repeatedly claimed, but had sought other fertility treatments. Republicans also criticized Walz for a 2018 remark about carrying weapons in war. Although he served in the National Guard for 24 years, he was never deployed to a war zone.
Bill Clinton condemns Donald Trump
Mr Walz’s speech was followed by that of former President Bill Clinton, who returned to a place he knew well: the stage of the Democratic National Convention to denounce Donald Trump as selfish and praise Kamala Harris for focusing on the needs of Americans – and to inject new energy into his party with his trademark spontaneous outbursts.
Clinton was scheduled to add weight to the third night of the DNC, which culminated in the introduction of vice presidential candidate Tim Walz to a national audience.
“In my opinion, we have a pretty clear choice: Kamala Harris for the people. And the other guy who has proven even more than the first time that he cares about me, myself and me,” Clinton said.
Clinton is the 42nd president of the United States and a veteran of his party’s conventions for decades. Barack Obama once called him the “minister of explanations.” Obama’s chances of re-election in 2012 were boosted by a speech Clinton gave at the national convention that year.
At 78, the same age as Trump, Clinton’s speaking style was sometimes halting, his movements slower, and he mispronounced Harris’s first name twice. His left hand often shook when he wasn’t using it to grip the lectern.
Still, he made several memorable, down-to-earth statements, including the question, “What is your opponent doing with his voice? He talks mostly about himself. So the next time you hear him, don’t count the lies, count the ‘I’s.”
Trump criticizes DNC
Mr Trump called the convention a “farce” and pointed out that he himself had been a frequent topic of conversation. He also attacked his predecessor Obama for a highly critical speech at the convention on Tuesday night, saying Obama had been “mean.”
