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Attacks Project 2025 and claims the GOP wants to restrict “freedom”

Top line

Democratic vice presidential candidate and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz highlighted the widely criticized “Project 2025,” which envisions a second presidency under former President Donald Trump, in his speech at the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday – a theme that Democratic officials repeatedly emphasized throughout the Democratic National Convention as Trump tries to distance himself from it.

Key data

Accepting the nomination, Walz said Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), “just don't understand what it means to be a good neighbor,” pointing to Project 2025, which Walz said “is going to make the lives of people just trying to live their lives much, much harder.”

Walz warned that if Trump and Vance were re-elected, they would “start driving up costs for the middle class.” He called the 900-plus-page plan “weird” – a word he popularized among Democrats to criticize Republicans – and added, “It's also wrong and dangerous.”

Walz was one of several speakers at the DNC who sharply criticized “Project 2025,” a far-right blueprint for a hypothetical next Republican president drawn up by the Heritage Foundation and several other conservative groups. The document has no official connection to the Trump campaign, and Trump has said he disagrees with some aspects of the document. However, many of the authors are former Trump officials, prompting his opponents to warn that Trump could implement the plan.

Walz portrayed the election campaign as a campaign for freedom, accusing Republicans of wanting the freedom to control Americans' health care choices, rolling back environmental regulations and allowing banks to exploit their customers.

Regarding the gun control measures he and Harris are planning, Walz said they want to give children the “freedom to go to school without fear of being shot in the hallway.”

In an appeal to rural and moderate voters, Walz pointed to his own military background (he served 24 years in the National Guard), saying, “Look, I know guns, I'm a veteran, I'm a hunter and I was a better shot than most Republicans in Congress and I have the trophies to prove it.”

Walz's speech drew on his background as a high school teacher and football coach, made numerous references to the coaching profession throughout the speech, and thanked his players and students for inspiring him to run for Congress. He was introduced by his former student Benjamin C. Ingman, who brought several of his former players to the stage.

Key quote

“I haven't given a lot of big speeches like this, but I've given a lot of motivational speeches,” Walz said. “So let me close with this team: It's the fourth quarter. We're down a field goal, but we're on offense and we have the ball. We're charging down the field, and boy, do we have the right team.”

Surprising fact

In one of the more viral moments of his speech, Walz's 17-year-old son, Gus Walz, was seen crying in the audience and saying, “That's my father,” as Walz took the stage.

tangent

Walz spoke about the fertility issues he and his wife faced when starting their family, while also criticizing some Republican-led legislation to restrict or eliminate in vitro fertilization treatments. Walz said he and his wife became pregnant through “fertility treatments.” Walz's story about the couple's fertility problems has been a point of attack in recent days. Republicans accused Walz of falsely claiming he and his wife, Gwen, conceived their first child through in vitro fertilization, pointing to a line Walz used frequently on the campaign trail and repeated Wednesday night: “In Minnesota … we have a golden rule: 'Mind your own f***ing business,' and that includes IVF and fertility treatments. That's a personal thing for Gwen and me,” he said, before describing the “hell” he and his wife endured trying to get pregnant. Several major news outlets have reported in recent weeks that the Walzes were conceived through artificial insemination, and the Walz-Harris campaign recently clarified that the couple was conceived through a less invasive fertility treatment, intrauterine insemination. IUI is not threatened by GOP-backed proposals that oppose the common practice in artificial insemination of discarding unused embryos.

Important background

Walz closed the program on Wednesday after speeches by former President Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey. Harris is scheduled to speak on the program's final night on Thursday. Harris named Walz as her vice presidential running mate on Aug. 6, after a hasty selection process that began with a list of about a dozen rumored running mate candidates, many of whom were more nationally known than Walz.

Large number

36 percent. That's the share of Americans who view Walz favorably, while 25 percent view him negatively, according to a poll released Wednesday by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. By comparison, 27 percent of American adults view Vance favorably, while 44 percent view him negatively.

More information

Polls by Tim Walz and JD Vance: Walz more popular than Vance in early polls (Forbes)

Everything you need to know about Tim Walz before his DNC speech (Forbes)

Kamala Harris nominates Tim Walz as vice presidential candidate: What you should know about him (Forbes)

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