CHICAGO: Tim Walz formally accepted his nomination to be the Democratic Party’s vice presidential candidate in a keynote address Wednesday, professing his love for his country.
“It’s the honor of my life to accept your nomination for vice president of the United States. What all we’re all here tonight for one beautiful, simple reason. We love this country,” Walz told the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
The relatively unknown Minnesota governor brings an earthy, Midwestern vibe to Harris’s surging campaign against Donald Trump that was expected to be central to his speech at Chicago’s United Center.
Taking the stage ahead of Harris’s big night on Thursday, the former teacher and National Guard soldier Walz began outlining his life story in a speech that was expected to focus on safeguarding Americans’ freedoms and building for the future.
A highlight of the undercard was former president Bill Clinton, who delighted the crowd with his 12th appearance at the Democratic convention and said Harris had “knocked it out of the park” by picking Walz as her running mate.
“Two leaders with all-American but still improbable life stories — it could only happen here,” Clinton said.
“If you vote for this team, if you can get them elected, and let them bring in this breath of fresh air, you will be proud of it for the rest of your life.”
In a moment that brought the audience to its feet, former students marched onstage to introduce Walz — a football coach in his teaching days — for the biggest speech of his political career, after a musical interlude by Grammy Award-winning musician John Legend.
A rousing rendition of “Higher Ground” by Stevie Wonder warmed up the crowd for the main event, alongside turns from comic actors Mindy Kaling and Keenan Thompson.
Walz will tee up Harris’s Thursday speech and the climax of a convention that has defied predictions of disunity or even chaos in the wake of President Joe Biden’s decision to drop his reelection bid on July 21.
On Tuesday, it was Democratic superstars Michelle and former president Barack Obama who spoke, following up on Biden’s emotional speech Monday, where he passed the torch to his vice president.
Biden left Chicago after his address for a break that turned into a working vacation in California, as he pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal with Hamas as talks on a truce faltered.
The American and Israeli leaders spoke hours after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken ended a tour of the Middle East aimed at reaching an accord as tensions rise in the region.
In a statement on X, Biden said he “made clear that we must bring the ceasefire and hostage release deal to closure and discussed upcoming talks in Cairo to remove any remaining obstacles.”
Back in Illinois, the convention has seen intense enthusiasm, buoyed by Walz’s appearances at sideline events, where he has been mobbed by supporters seeking selfies and chanting, “Tim! Tim! Tim!”
He has made a name for himself as an able communicator and is credited with coming up with one of the sharpest attack lines on Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance, whom he labeled “weird.”
As a folksy, white Midwesterner, Walz balances Harris’s California background and barrier-breaking status as the first Black woman nominee.
The 60-year-old will speak of his upbringing in small-town Nebraska, where he worked on the family farm, and describe his military service, his experiences as a teacher and his record in politics.
The chemistry between 59-year-old Harris and Walz and the noisy energy generated at their rallies is helping to fuel Democratic hopes that they can defeat Trump, 78, in November.
Polls show the race remains close, but Harris is moving slightly ahead — a remarkable turn of events, given that only a month ago Trump seemed to be gaining a steadily tightening grip over Biden.
Exhibit number one in that shift has been Harris’s ability to pack arenas in a way that for years Trump had touted as evidence of his seemingly unique political strength.
In a dramatic gesture, Harris and Walz held a mass rally on Tuesday in Milwaukee at the same time as the convention crowd jammed into the Chicago venue.
Democratic VP pick Tim Walz accepts nomination at party convention
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Democratic VP pick Tim Walz accepts nomination at party convention
- Relatively unknown Minnesota governor brings an earthy, Midwestern vibe to Harris’s surging campaign against Donald Trump
Second death in Minneapolis crackdown heaps pressure on Trump
- Federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, early Saturday while scuffling with him on an icy roadway in the Midwestern city
MINNEAPOLIS: The Trump administration faced intensifying pressure Sunday over its mass immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, after federal agents shot dead a second US citizen and graphic cell phone footage again contradicted officials’ immediate description of the incident.
Federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, early Saturday while scuffling with him on an icy roadway in the Midwestern city, less than three weeks after an immigration officer fired on Renee Good, also 37, killing her in her car.
President Donald Trump’s administration quickly claimed that Pretti had intended to harm the federal agents — as it did after Good’s death — pointing to a pistol it said was discovered on him.
However, video shared widely on social media and verified by US media showed Pretti never drawing a weapon, with agents firing around 10 shots at him seconds after he was sprayed in the face with chemical irritant and thrown to the ground.
The video further inflamed ongoing protests in Minneapolis against the presence of federal agents, with around 1,000 people participating in a demonstration Sunday.
After top officials described Pretti as an “assassin” who had assaulted the agents, Pretti’s parents issued a statement Saturday condemning the administration’s “sickening lies” about their son.
Asked Sunday what she would say to Pretti’s parents, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said: “Just that I’m grieved for them.”
“I truly am. I can’t even imagine losing a child,” she told Fox News show “The Sunday Briefing.”
She said more clarity would come as an investigation progresses.
US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, speaking to NBC’s “Meet the Press,” also said an investigation was necessary to get a full understanding of the killing.
Asked if agents had already removed the pistol from Pretti when they fired on him, Blanche said: “I do not know. And nobody else knows, either. That’s why we’re doing an investigation.”
‘Joint’ probe
Their comments came after multiple senators from Trump’s Republican Party called for a thorough probe into the killing, and for cooperation with local authorities.
“There must be a full joint federal and state investigation,” Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said.
The Trump administration controversially excluded local investigators from a probe into Good’s killing.
Minnesota’s Democratic Governor Tim Walz posed a question directly to the president during a press briefing Sunday, asking: “What’s the plan, Donald Trump?“
“What do we need to do to get these federal agents out of our state?“
Thousands of federal immigration agents have been deployed to heavily Democratic Minneapolis for weeks, after conservative media reported on alleged fraud by Somali immigrants.
Trump has repeatedly amplified the racially tinged accusations, including on Sunday when he posted on his Truth Social platform: “Minnesota is a Criminal COVER UP of the massive Financial Fraud that has gone on!“
The city, known for its bitterly cold winters, has one of the country’s highest concentrations of Somali immigrants.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison pushed back against Trump’s claim, telling reporters “it’s not about fraud, because if he sent people who understand forensic accounting, we’d be having a different conversation. But he’s sending armed masked men.”
Court order
Since “Operation Metro Surge” began, many residents have carried whistles to notify others of the presence of immigration agents, while sometimes violent skirmishes have broken out between the officers and protesters.
Local authorities have sued the federal government seeking a court order to suspend the operation, with a first hearing set for Monday.
Recent polling has shown voters increasingly upset with Trump’s domestic immigration operations, as videos of masked agents seizing people off sidewalks — including children — and dramatic stories of US citizens being detained proliferate.
Barack and Michelle Obama on Sunday forcefully condemned Pretti’s killing, saying in a statement it should be a “wake-up call” that core US values “are increasingly under assault.”
The former president and first lady blasted Trump and his government as seeming “eager to escalate the situation.”
