Tim Walz introduced his life and background to Americans on the third night of the Democratic National Convention after he accepted the party’s nomination for vice president.
He started with his life, growing up in Butte, Nebraska, “a town of 400 people.”
“I had 24 kids in my high school class, and none of them went to Yale,” he said in an apparent swipe at his Republican rival JD Vance, who is a Yale alumnus.
Walz said he grew up learning to take care of his neighbors in Butte and looking out for them, which instilled in him a “responsibility to contribute.”
“For me, it was serving in the Army National Guard. I joined up two days after my 17th birthday, and I proudly wore our nation’s uniform for 24 years,” he said.
Walz shared that his dad, a Korean war veteran, died of lung cancer and left behind “a mountain of medical debt.”
“Thank God for social security survivor benefits. And thank God for the G.I. Bill that allowed my dad, and me, to go to college, and millions of other Americans,” he said.
He then traced his life to teaching and coaching football — ultimately winning a state championship.
“It was those players and my students who inspired me to run for Congress. They saw in me what I hoped to instill in them — a commitment to the common good, an understanding that we’re all in this together. And the belief that a single person can make a real difference for their neighbors,” Walz said.
