Since Minnesota Governor Tim Walz has been getting some well-earned attention for his great messaging as well as his wholesome personality, I wanted to make a few observations from the perspective of someone who is around the same age and from roughly the same area.
First, Walz went to Chadron State College (I’ve been in Chadron many times, long story) and used the GI Bill to pay for his education. (Chadron State used to be called “Nebraska State Teachers College”. If you grew up on the plains, most of your teachers went to the nearest teachers college.) He’s obviously a smart, accomplished guy, but he didn’t go to an Ivy or Berkeley/Stanford. This to me is a big deal, for two reasons. First, this is a far more humble educational background than the average DC Democrat. There’s such a gross prejudice in the major media against anyone who didn’t go to a big name school, and Walz is a walking, talking demonstration that some great people have come from places that aren’t even on the map for DC reporters. Second, East Coast reporters have no fucking clue how to deal with a smart guy who doesn’t fit their mold. Their default mode when doing Cletus safaris is to remark on the quaint habits of these people who live in places where you can’t even get a decent Negroni. I think they might pull their punches because of their discomfort.
Second, refreshingly, he isn’t a god damned lawyer who thinks they’re so fucking smart and subtle (Schiff is a good example of this, but there are many, many others). More importantly: he’s a teacher, and teachers are used to repeating their message over and over, without excessive subtlety. This is an incredibly undervalued political skill. Also, he taught on the Pine Ridge reservation, and that inspired him to go into teaching. If you teach in Pine Ridge and you decide to become a teacher after that, there’s something special about you.
Third, he won a tough district, Minnesota’s 1st, which is pretty rural and is currently R+7. He’s only the fourth Democrat/DFL candidate to hold that district since 1863.
Fourth, he rose to high enlisted rank in the Army National Guard, retiring as a Master Sergeant. That’s a perspective on military service that’s also sorely lacking in modern politics.
Finally, I don’t know how Josh Shapiro could be the pick when Walz has been loud-and-proud against vouchers, especially for rural communities where they would just bleed the already-hurting rural public schools dry.
There’s a lot more to like about Walz — though he’s not from Wisconsin or Michigan (or Ohio if you’re a dreamer), he’s got the ability to communicate with persuadable rural voters in those states.
This is long enough, and Kelly would be a fine pick, too, but I think there’s something rare in Walz that deserves a closer look.
