Did you know Tim Walz was a football coach? The Democrats definitely want you to know he was a football coach.
The Minnesota governor and vice presidential nominee’s part-time job as a high school defensive coordinator was central to the image Democrats presented of him on Wednesday night, with members of his state championship-winning team appearing on stage in their old Mankato West Scarlets football jerseys not long before he spoke.
“I haven’t given a lot of big speeches like this one in my life,” Walz said toward the end of his speech. “But I’ve given a lot of pep talks. So let me finish with this, team. It’s the fourth quarter. We’re down a field goal. But we’re on offense. We’re driving down the field. And, boy, do we have the right team to win this.”
“We’ll sleep when we’re dead,” he ordered. “And we’re gonna leave it all on the field.”
Democrats have not always been the party more associated with football. A former Republican president, Gerald Ford, played the game at the University of Michigan. And Jack Kemp, the Republican vice presidential candidate in 1996, was a former professional quarterback. Former President Donald Trump once owned a football team, liked to play up his associations with legendary coach Bill Belichick and endorsed running back Herschel Walker for Senate.
But the game is central to American life. Of the 100 most-watched television broadcasts in 2023, 93 were National Football League games . College football is the center point of fall Saturdays throughout the South, and Friday night high school games are a core part of America’s self-image. Labeling Walz as “coach” immediately makes him a somewhat familiar figure to an overwhelming swath of the American public.
Democrats are expected to keep up the imagery, with loose plans to have Walz campaign at high school or college football games throughout the fall, as well as possibly to deploy him on sports talk radio or podcasts to reach voters who don’t regularly consume political media.
Building A Border Around Border Security
Trump has a massive advantage over Harris on immigration and border security issues in public surveys, and is trying to build on that with a trip to Arizona on Thursday. Democrats dedicated significant chunks of six different speeches to painting Harris as serious and Trump as an opportunist when it comes to border security, citing Trump’s work to kill a bipartisan border security bill earlier this year.
“When it comes to the border, hear me when I say, you know nothing, Donald Trump,” said Texas Rep. Veronica Escobar. “He and his Republican imitators see the border and immigration as a political opportunity to exploit instead of an issue to address.”
The speakers came from every angle on the issue. Escobar represents the border city of El Paso, while other DNC guests included the sheriff of the county that includes San Antonio; a congressman who won his seat running on tough border policies; and the senator who negotiated the border security bill.
It’s almost impossible for Democrats to close Trump’s advantage on immigration, after the massive surge in migrants crossing the border under President Joe Biden. But emphasizing border security — something they’ve also done in Harris’ television ads — could limit the damage.
Abortion Takes Center Stage Early On
Democrats started off the night by hammering a known weakness for Republicans in the 2024 election: the issue of abortion.
In quick succession, the stage saw a number of leading figures for abortion rights including Mini Timmaraju, president of Reproductive Freedom for All; Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood; Cecile Richards, former president of Planned Parenthood; and Jessica Mackler, President of EMILYs List.
“Trump brags about overturning Roe v. Wade ,” said Timmaraju, pointing to the fact that Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices that tilted the court towards a conservative supermajority and led to the Dobbs v. Jackson decision that overturned the national right to abortion.
Democrats have pegged abortion as a key issue in 2024. A majority of Americans say they support access to legal abortion in “all or most cases,” including a majority of moderate and liberal Republicans. Nevertheless, Republican electeds have continued to push an anti-abortion agenda , even while tacitly acknowledging its unpopularity .
And support for abortion rights has proved a winning issue for Democrats before. In 2022, the Dobbs decision — which had come down only barely four months before — drove pro-choice voters to the polls , and helped stave off what was expected to be a “red wave” for Republicans in that year’s midterm elections.
Democrats Brought Out The Big Guns: Oprah
In a surprise Wednesday night appearance, the cultural juggernaut included abortion as a key issue in her remarks. “Over the last couple of nights, we have all seen brave people walk onto this stage and share their most private pain,” she said, referencing speakers who talked about their experiences with abortion bans on the main stage.
“If you do not have autonomy over this [body]?” she said. “If you cannot control when and how you choose to bring your children into this world and how they are raised and supported, there is no American dream.”
Jan. 6 Was Really Bad
Several speakers at the DNC brought up the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters seeking to overturn his loss in the 2020 election – includ ing former Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell, who retired because of injuries he sustained that day.
“I was a sergeant in the U.S. Army,” Gonell said. “I had seen violence while serving in Iraq, but nothing, nothing, prepared me for January 6. We officers risked everything to protect innocent people. We were beaten and blinded.”
And a four-minute video aired at the DNC replayed some of Trump’s remarks from that day, telling his supporters he would walk with them to the Capitol, over video of rioters marching toward Congress and then fighting police as they tried to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
The video also featured audio of Trump saying he would pardon the rioters — one of the more remarkable policy differences between the Democratic and Republican candidates for president this year.
“Almost 1,500 people have been charged with crimes related to the insurrection,” read the text on the screen. “Donald Trump says he will pardon them.”
And while the Republicans who spoke on Tuesday mostly referred to Trump’s personal behavior, both former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan and former Trump administration staffer Olivia Troye emphasized the damage Jan. 6 had done.
“His actions disqualified him from ever, ever, ever stepping foot in the Oval Office again,” Duncan said.
‘That’s My Dad’
Few people at the DNC stole the spotlight quite like 17-year-old Gus Walz.
Cutaway shots during Walz’s address captured Walz’s son crying and clapping while mouthing, “That’s my dad.”
Walz’s wife, Gwen, and daughter, Hope, also appeared to be choking back tears as the crowd lit up for Walz.
It was one of several moments from the past three nights that helped humanize Harris and Walz, an important part of connecting with voters and building trust. One of Biden’s most endearing and effective features as a politician was the empathy he displayed for those grieving major losses.
Harris and Walz are doing that in their own way. On Tuesday, voters got to hear from second gentleman Doug Emhoff about how Harris and Emhoff began dating more than a decade ago and established their blended family, which includes Emhoff’s two adult children from his first marriage. The Walzes have shared how, like many families, they struggled to conceive and ultimately turned to fertility treatments .
It never hurts to come off as a real person, to help voters see themselves and their families in your story. It’s also an especially potent counter to the argument from JD Vance, the GOP vice presidential nominee, that Democrats represent the party of “childless cat ladies” — Vance’s clumsy swipe at Harris and other Democratic women who do not have biological children — as well as the argument from Republicans that Democrats do not champion family values because they support reproductive health care access.
If that argument falls flat for Republicans in November, Democrats will have Gus Walz to thank.
More Project 2025
Democrats have found new and creative ways to spotlight Project 2025, the brainchild of the conservative Heritage Foundation that provides a blueprint for a second Trump term.
Most voters do not have a high opinion of Project 2025, which is why Trump has tried to distance himself from the plan. But Democrats will not let it go.
At one point in the night, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis thumbing through a gigantic prop representing the almost 1,000-page document and pointing out a passage that advocates for criminalizing doctors who perform abortions.
“We’re not weirdos telling families who can and can’t have kids, who to marry, or how to live our lives,” Polis said.
“Saturday Night Live” cast member Kenan Thompson brought it out again, quipping: “You ever see a document that can kill a small animal and democracy at the same time?”
And Walz also mentioned it in his closing address: “Look, I coached high school football long enough to know — and trust me on this — when somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it,” he said.
Most Popular
Comments / 0