Who Is Tim Walz?

Now that Kamala Harris has settled on Tim Walz as her running mate, the question becomes: Who is Tim Walz? A look at coverage of the Minnesota governor:

• Profiles: The 60-year-old Nebraska native enlisted in the Army National Guard at 17, served 24 years, and eventually settled in Mankato, Minnesota, where he coached the high school football team and taught geography and social studies, report the Star Tribune and New York Times. Walz and his wife, Gwen, have two children, Hope and Gus, and Walz has spoken of his and his wife's use of IVF, per USA Today.
• Congress: While still teaching, he flipped a GOP congressional seat in rural Minnesota in 2006 and served in Congress until being elected governor in 2018.
• As governor: Walz, working with narrow majorities in the state Legislature, "spent billions of dollars on schools, infrastructure, and other programs while passing a long list of progressive priorities such as marijuana legalization, universal school meals, paid family and medical leave, and abortion rights protections," per the Star Tribune.

• The image: "He comes across as what he is: a straight-talking teacher, America's youth football coach," writes Rachel Leingang at the Guardian. He's "right out of central casting as the way you think [a] Minnesota governor would be like," adds Michael Brodkorb, former deputy chair of the Minnesota Republican Party.
• Interview: New York Times columnist Ezra Klein interviewed Walz before his selection, under the headline, "Is Tim Walz the Midwestern Dad Democrats Need?" Klein takes note of Walz's recent claim to fame that speaks to his persona—the governor described top Republicans as "really weird" in a slam that went viral. "This is where I take offense to JD Vance and Hillbilly Elegy," Walz tells Klein of the Republican's memoir. "Those are my people. I come from a town of 400—24 kids in a class, 12 cousins, farming, those types of things. And I know they're not weird. I know they're not Donald Trump."
• Big moment: Watch the Morning Joe interview that raised Walz's national profile.

(More Tim Walz stories.)