Walz Could Help Dems Reach Small Town Voters

The following post was written by Patrick Healy in The New York Times:

Republicans used to brag a lot about family values, but Donald Trump cooked that turkey when the G.O.P. traded moralizing for an immoral president.

In his wake, there hasn’t been much talk in national politics about ideals, principles and conscience — that is, until Wednesday night, when Tim Walz made an awfully persuasive case for Democrats as the party of old-fashioned, small-town and, yes, conservative values, stressing the theme of neighbors looking after neighbors and especially children as the measure of a country’s humanity.

“While other states were banning books from their schools, we were banning hunger in ours,” said Walz, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, in one of several lines that drew effusive applause from the party’s convention hall in Chicago. 

“We respect our neighbors and the personal choices they make,” Walz said, invoking his support for abortion rights while also noting his respect for those who hold differing views. “And even if we wouldn’t make those same choices for ourselves, we’ve got a golden rule: Mind your own damn business.”

On one level, Walz delivered a classic running mate’s speech: He delved into his biography to introduce himself to the country (Nebraska-born, 24 in his high school class, close-knit community, then the National Guard and a career as a social studies teacher); his political beliefs (a center-left agenda focused on health care, education, gun control and a social safety net); and the case for the top of the ticket, Kamala Harris, and some shredding of Trump.

But Walz’s speech was really about something greater: a vision of a party and country that take pride in the military uniform, that show awareness for vulnerable families struggling with illness, poverty and debt, that prize the most essential workers (“never underestimate a public-school teacher” drew huge applause).

I’ve heard quite a few running mate speeches at conventions — John Edwards, Joe Biden, Sarah Palin, Mike Pence, Tim Kaine, Kamala Harris — but I’ve never heard one as values-driven and down-home as Walz’s. (Edwards’s was a little like this, but far more slick.)

Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all sugar and honey — he knocked Trump plenty, like saying “some folks just don’t understand what it takes to be a good neighbor.” Walz knows how to be an attack dog: Speaking of Project 2025, he drew on his football coaching days and said, “when someone takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re going to use it.”

But the man has a way with a speech. “We’ll build a country where workers come first, health care and housing are human rights, and the government stays the hell out of your bedroom,” Walz said.

It was a peroration that would make any progressive proud, but it also felt grounded in core values — dignity, humanity, privacy — that a great many Americans of all parties care about.