Inside ‘Coach Walz’s’ life from small city boy to Democrat VP choose

Tim Walz is the poster child of the American dream, highlighting on his campaign trail how a ‘small town boy’ rose from middle class farmer, to military veteran, teacher and now vice presidential nominee.

Minnesota Gov Walz, 60, accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president last night, using his DNC address to thank supporters for ‘bringing the joy’ to an election transformed by the elevation of his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris.

But before the Nebraska-native – whose campaign is seemingly focused on his midwestern values – took the stage, his wife Gwen Walz, 58, lauded her husband’s many qualities in a show of strength of their partnership.

Gov Walz is a military veteran, dedicated father, and had a successful career as a teacher and high school football coach, with his students actually being his inspiration to run for Congress.

As Minnesota governor, he worked alongside Republicans to help farmers, expanded veterans benefits and fought for the largest tax cut in state history.

The life-long hunter and gun owner also leapt into action after the Sandy Hook massacre, one of the deadliest school shootings in American history, fighting for background checks and red flag laws.

Gov Walz is seemingly running on a campaign of heartfelt, Midwestern American values, with his family among those touting the narrative last night at the DNC.

The White House hopeful grew up in a small Nebraskan town – with just 24 classmates in his graduating class – and spent his summers working on his family farm.

He served 24 years in the National Guard and rose to command Sergeant Major after enlisting in the Army after he turned 17. The Minnesota Governor had allegedly been inspired by his father’s service in the Korean War.

Gov Walz attended Chadron State College and graduated with a social science degree in 1989, according to his Governor’s Office biography. His wife also revealed that he studied under the GI Bill, which helps military members pay for school and cover expenses while training for a job.

He spent a year teaching overseas before returning to the US to serve full time in the National Guard and accept a job as a high school social studies teacher and coach. 

Gov Walz, who taught for over 15 years, met his wife – also a teacher – at work when the pair were sharing a divided classroom.

‘We shared a classroom with the divider right down the middle. His classroom was a lot louder than mine, but I could hear how engaged his students were,’ his wife recalled as she introduced him at the conference in a pre-recorded eulogy.

Mrs Walz hailed her husband’s successes in the classroom, especially how he taught his students to ‘believe in themselves’ and that ‘we’re all in this together’.

‘He inspired his students, and he changed lives,’ she said, adding how as a football coach he ‘lead the team to a state championship after 0 wins just a few years before’.

But more importantly, the vice presidential nominee acted as an advocate for others, especially his most vulnerable students.

He served as the faculty advisor after his student established the school’s Gay Straight Alliance ‘because he knew how impactful it would be to have a football coach involved’.

Gov Walz also claims it was his pupils that who ‘inspired him to run for Congress in southern Minnesota’. 

As a politician, Gov Walz was focused on ‘helping working people’, dedicating his efforts to helping farmers, small businesses and families.

He strengthened gun laws, advocated for tax cuts and passed Minnesota’s ‘life-saving’ Alex Smith Insulin Affordability Act, which states that qualifying diabetics with less than seven days worth of insulin will pay no more than $35 to get a one-time 30-day supply of the drug from their pharmacy.

Although he made Minnesota ‘one of the best places to raise a family and one of the best states for business’, his family says that ‘of all the things he’s done, Tim loves being a dad’.

Gov and Mrs Walz share two children, daughter Hope, 23, and 17-year-old son Gus, who is a high school senior. The couple recently disclosed to People magazine that Gus has a non-verbal learning disorder, ADHD and an anxiety disorder. 

But they called his condition ‘his secret power’ and said he’s ‘brilliant’ and poised for success. The teen got his driver’s license last fall.

The family has been in the spotlight recently, with Hope having delighted Americans by sharing playful videos on social media that she filmed with their dad.

The video, which featured a video of Gov Walz and his daughter, showed the pair at what appears to be a fair and offers to buy Hope some food.

‘Corn dog?’ he asks, to which she replies, shaking her head: ‘I’m vegetarian.’

‘Turkey then,’ Gov Walz says, but Hope interrupts him: ‘Turkey’s meat.’

‘Not in Minnesota, turkey’s special,’ the Governor joked.

Gus also recently made headlines over how he cheered when his father was elected governor because it meant he could get a dog. The family adopted a black lab named Scout a few months later. 

Gov Walz has made his family’s struggle with fertility a central part of his narrative, seemingly as a tangible way to connect with voters alarmed at the erosion of reproductive rights in the US.

During her pre-recorded introduction last night, Mrs Walz also addressed the topic: ‘We struggled to have kids and fertility treatments made it possible. There’s a reason our daughter is named Hope. Hope and Gus mean the world to us.’

In March, after an Alabama court halted in vitro fertilization procedures in the state, Gov Walz decided to speak about the couple’s fertility struggles.

The same month, his team sent a fundraising email titled ‘our IVF journey’ sharing an article that referenced ‘his family’s IVF journey’ in the headline.

But earlier this month his Republican rival for the vice presidency, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, accused Gov Walz of having ‘lied about having a family via IVF. Who lies about something like that?’ 

Gov Walz later criticized Sen Vance, by saying, ‘If it was up to him, I wouldn’t have a family because of IVF.’

On Tuesday this week, Mrs Walz issued a statement that detailed her fertility experience more comprehensively and disclosed that the couple relied on a different process known as intrauterine insemination, or IUI.

UI is often attempted before IVF but doesn’t face the same level of political controversy because it doesn’t risk destroying unused embryos that anti-abortion advocates say equate to unborn children.

‘Like so many who have experienced these challenges, we kept it largely to ourselves at the time – not even sharing the details with our wonderful and close family,’ Mrs Walz said in the statement. ‘She was a nurse and helped me with the shots I needed as part of the IUI process.’

Mia Ehrenberg, a campaign spokesperson, defended Walz’s comments and denied that he had been misleading.

‘Governor Walz talks how normal people talk,’ she said. ‘He was using commonly understood shorthand for fertility treatments.’

Gov Walz also addressed the topic in his DNC speech last night, saying: ‘If you’ve never experienced infertility, I guarantee you know someone who has.’

‘Hope, Gus and Gwen,’ he said to his family, ‘you are my entire world, and I love you.’ 

Hope made a heart with her hands and held it over her chest. Gus openly wept throughout the speech and wiped his eyes with tissues while watching from the front row. Through tears he mouthed, ‘That’s my dad.’

The Walzes have further charmed Democratic supporters with his background and helped to balance Harris’ coastal roots as a cultural representative of Midwestern states whose voters she needs this fall. 

‘Out here, in the wide open spaces, we are reminded of the values we share: a commitment to community, country, and standing up for what’s right,’ Mrs Walz said in her introduction last night.

‘He’s as at home on a farm, a fishing boat, a football field or a factory floor as he is on the floor of Congress.’

She added: ‘Tim’s commitment to service all comes back to the values we grew up with. Love your country, help your neighbor, and fight for what’s right because that’s what America is all about.’

Gov Walz, while accepting his party’s nomination for vice president last night, also touted a similar narrative.

‘We’re all here tonight for one beautiful, simple reason: We love this country,’ he said as thousands of delegates hoisted vertical placards reading ‘Coach Walz’ in red, white and blue.

Many Americans had never heard of Gov Walz until Harris made him her running mate, and his DNC speech was an opportunity to introduce himself. 

He leaned into his experiences as a football coach, his time in the National Guard and his recounting of his family’s fertility struggles – all parts of his biography that Republicans have questioned in the days since Harris picked him.

He described his upbringing in Nebraska and teaching and coaching football in Minnesota and told the crowd, ‘Thank you for bringing the joy to this fight.’

But he also criticized former President Donald Trump and Sen Vance, and took several swipes at Republican policies. 

‘While other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours,’ Gov Walz said.

He added: ‘Some folks just don’t understand what it takes to be a good neighbor. Take Donald Trump and JD Vance.’ 

Harris, has also touted Gov Walz’s working-class narrative, telling a recent campaign rally: ‘Two middle class kids, one a daughter of Oakland, California. The other a son of the Nebraska Plains – only in America is it possible for them together to make it all the way to the White House.’ 

The Harris campaign said Gov Walz had worked on his speech for multiple days and he used a teleprompter for the first time, practicing to ensure he was prepared. 

He told the crowd, ‘I haven’t given a lot of speeches like this but I’ve given a lot of pep talks.’

Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, has bashed the DNC as a ‘charade’ earlier and noted that he has been a frequent topic of conversation. 

He also singled out his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, for a highly critical convention speech Tuesday night, saying Obama had been ‘nasty.’