Here's What We Know About The Democratic VP Pick Governor Tim Walz

On August 6, 2024, likely Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris announced her running mate and choice for vice president: Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota. Naturally, a quadrillion articles cropped up online in the days after and analyzed Walz, critiquing his stances on various issues and even taking catty, low-brow pot shots at his appearance. To the last point, the 60-year old Walz responded on X by pointing to his 20-year stint supervising the lunchroom. "You do not leave that job with a full head of hair," he wrote. "Trust me." Thus we get a true glimpse of Walz's character, personal history, and extreme talent for hand-waving nonsense, all of which reveal the truth behind that oldest of adages: "Never judge a book by its cover."

The Economist calls Walz "hard to categorize," as if that's a bad thing in an era of hyper-polemicized political identities and diecast group values. The truth is, Tim Walz's affable, small-town veneer coats a man who has done things that many haven't and taken chances many won't. He served in the Army National Guard for 24 years, for instance, and rose to the non-commissioned rank of command sergeant major (CSM). He was also a high school teacher for years, taught in China, and still speaks Mandarin Chinese. Walz factoids include his love of the "Mortal Engines" young adult book series, winning the Minnesota Congressional Delegation Hot Dish Off in 2014 for his Turkey Trot Tater Tot Hot Dish, giving up booze in 1995 for Diet Mountain Dew, and more.

As Tim Walz's U.S. Congress bio reads, he enlisted in the Army National Guard in 1981 at the young age of 17, right out of high school. Over 24 years of service, he rose to the rank of command sergeant major, the highest enlisted, non-commissioned rank possible in the U.S. Army. He's also the only congressman in American history who's ever held this high of a rank. 

While in the military, Walz served in a variety of roles with various units in Texas, Arkansas, Nebraska, and Minnesota. He ended up retiring from the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion in 2005. AP News says that he never participated in active combat, although he was deployed to Italy in 2003 in support of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq amidst the nation's grim post-9/11 "War on Terror" years. 

Along the way, in 1989, Walz got his bachelor's degree in social science education from Chadron State College in Nebraska. After that he taught in China from 1989 to 1990 through a Harvard University program. Notably, he was part of the first cohort of government-sponsored educators to do so in the country. And yes, like we mentioned, he speaks Mandarin Chinese at a conversational level. Come 1994, Walz got married and started teaching in Mankato West High School in Minnesota. In other words, Walz did quite a lot of honorable and venturesome activities well before he started his political career.

[Featured image by U.S. Army via Wikipedia | Cropped and scaled]

Passing Tim Walz on the streets and thinking, "Hey, that guy looks like a high school teacher" seems pretty spot on. He spent many years at Mankato West High School in Minnesota not with boots on the ground, but loafers on the linoleum. Mr. Walz — as the students called him — was characterized by former students as a "a gifted educator" who "cared deeply," per the BBC. He taught geography and social studies, oversaw the cafeteria, and even did quadruple duty as the school's football coach. All in all, Walz spent 17 total years teaching until he started his term in Congress in 2006. He was also the school advisor for it gay-straight alliance in 1999.

In fact, Walz credits his students for urging him to try his hand at politics. On NPR, he said that he'd "never thought that much about it [politics]." But, his students saw in him what he'd been hoping to instill in them: "This idea of a commitment to a better world, a common good. A belief that one single person can actually make a difference." As Britannica relates, his pupils were there at the very beginning of his political career when they weren't allowed access to a George W. Bush campaign event during a field trip because one of them was sporting a John Kerry sticker. Walz got upset at the injustice of it and volunteered for the 2004 Kerry campaign, which jump-started his interest in politics.  

It might not be clear from the get-go exactly how much Tim Walz operates like an everyday family man. But his upbringing in West Point, Nebraska and time spent as a military officer, teacher, husband, and father have shone through in practically every single decision he's made in political realms, right down to his most recent time as Minnesota governor since 2018. Basically, he really does think about the most common needs that families face and has done what he could to address them.

Case in point: Walz in 2023 signed a law that gives free breakfast and lunch to all K-12 Minnesota students, which is extremely helpful for families suffering economic hardship. The same law also granted a $2.3 billion budgetary increase for Minnesota schools. Walz also authorized $6 million in childcare grants throughout the state. On top of all this, he increased paid family leave and pushed through multiple family-related tax credit programs: tax credits of $1,750 per child under 18 for parents of lower income, working family credits, and credits for older qualifying children. Plus, he's been a longtime advocate of supporting in vitro fertilization treatment for hopeful parents, a point that AP News explains drew him and Harris together to begin with. Walz and his wife even conceived their aptly named daughter, "Hope," via IVF. 

Since being announced as Kamala Harris' vice-presidential pick and running mate, we mentioned that Tim Walz has endured the predictably exhausting gamut of petty insults. In every instance, much like how he responded on X to comments about his baldness, he has shown his sharp wit and no-nonsense attitude. Basically, Walz has no time for your drivel, an attribute that likely helped him succeed as a high school teacher and which will doubtlessly serve him well in the coming months. And yet, even though he is cutting, he's never cruel. 

NPR cites a few Walz zingers. When he was announced as Harris' running mate on August 6, he spoke from the podium, "I see you down there. I see those old, white guys. Some of us are old enough to remember when it was Republicans who were talking about freedom. It turns out now what they meant was that the government should be free to invade your doctor's office." Regarding Trump, he said, "Make no mistake, violent crime was up under Donald Trump. And that's not even counting the crimes he committed." As for Trump vice presidential candidate JD Vance, Walz quipped, "Like all regular people I grew up with in the heartland, JD studied at Yale, had his career funded by Silicon Valley billionaires and then wrote a best-seller trashing that community." He even made a joke about the running gag that Vance once got intimate with a couch.

And finally, we come to a grab-bag of Tim Walz factoids that demonstrate how quirky he is. Yes, he's got a few commonplace hobbies like running, hunting, and tinkering with cars. On that note, you might not recognize older photos of a somewhat pot-bellied Walz because running has done wonders for his health. He's even participated in the Twin Cities Marathon. Speaking of hunting, he lobbed another zinger at JD Vance's direction when he said, "I guarantee you he can't shoot pheasants like I can," per The Hill. On the mechanical front, he likes fixing up his blue International Scout, an off-roading vehicle that went out of production in 1980. It even bears his custom driver's license, "ONE MN," that he got while running for Minnesota governor. 

Regarding books, Walz says that he's "kind of a sci-fi fantasy guy," per the Pioneer Press. He took interest in the "Mortal Engines" series, for instance, because his son Gus likes it. Foodwise, we've got Walz's homemade and gloriously-named Turkey Trot Tater Tot Hot Dish, which took 1st place at the 2014 Minnesota Congressional Delegation Hot Dish Off. Finally, there's the Diet Mountain Dew thing. Walz favored the drink as far back as his high school teaching days, as a former student told NPR. Walz started doing the Dew for a serious reason, though — as a way to reform himself following a DUI charge back in 1995.