By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Minnesota Governor Tim Walz accepts the Democratic nomination for vice president on Wednesday with 11 weeks to go before he and presidential running mate Kamala Harris face Republican former President Donald Trump in the 2024 U.S. election.
Walz, 60, a military veteran, former high school teacher and football coach, will talk about growing up on a farm in Nebraska, his family and freedoms that Democrats say are under attack from Trump, making his third run for the White House.
Walz has brought a folksy charm to the campaign trail, describing himself and Harris as “joyful warriors” focused on a brighter future, in contrast to Republicans who they say are stoking fear and division.
He will take the stage at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago after former President Bill Clinton, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was instrumental in forcing President Joe Biden to step aside a month ago, reversing Democratic Party fortunes.
Biden was trailing Trump nationally and in battleground states before he ceded the party’s top spot to Harris; polls now show her besting Trump in several of the handful of states that will decide the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Walz and Harris got a ringing endorsement on Tuesday from former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama at the Chicago convention.
“I love this guy,” Obama said of Walz. “He knows who he is and what’s important. You can tell those flannel shirts he wears don’t come from some consultant. They come from his closet and they’ve been through some stuff.”
Walz’s rapid rise to national fame has drawn Republican scrutiny and prompted the Harris campaign to issue statements about his 24-year military history and the method of fertility treatment he and his wife underwent to have children.
Retired Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg, a former Trump adviser on security and foreign policy, will also speak, part of Democrats’ enlistment of Republicans to try to beat Trump.
Harris campaign officials are betting Walz’s Midwestern roots and plain-spoken style will appeal to some of the white men in rural areas who voted for Trump by huge margins in the last two elections – and help deliver battleground states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Trump will be campaigning with his running mate, U.S. Senator JD Vance, in another swing state, North Carolina, on Wednesday, where he will speak about national security.
Republicans have sharply criticized the Democrats’ economic plans. As governor, Walz made school meals free, set goals to cut greenhouse gases, expanded paid leave and protected collective bargaining and overtime, progressive policies that Republicans describe as dangerously liberal.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Additional reporting by Gram Slattery; Editing by Heather Timmons and Howard Goller)
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