“Thank you for bringing joy to this fight”

CHICAGO, Ill. (KTTC) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz took the stage at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night to accept the Democratic nomination for vice president. He will run alongside Kamala Harris against former President Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance in November.

The Harris-Walz campaign apparently hoped that Walz's speech would showcase his personality as a Midwesterner, husband, father, veteran and coach.

As part of his introduction, former football players he coached appeared on stage in uniform.

Attendees and viewers at home heard classroom video clips and anecdotes about how he supported LGBTQ+ students in his introductory video, which featured Walz's wife, Gwen.

Several Democrats told our news team that the spotlight on Walz is a spotlight on Minnesota.

“Thank you for your passion,” Walz said from the podium. “Thank you for your determination and, above all, thank you for bringing joy to this fight.”

Walz pointed to some of his past successes, including free school meals for students and lowering the cost of prescription drugs.

“We made sure every child in our state got breakfast and lunch every day,” he said. “So while other states were banishing books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours.”

Others, however, are fighting back.

Minnesota Republican Senator Steve Drazkowski said, “Governor Walz's leadership style always seeks all the glory, but never the blame.” He criticized the governor's response to the 2020 unrest following the killing of George Floyd.

The DNC ends Thursday evening with an acceptance speech from Harris.

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